Kwan

MEMORANDUM *

The United States seeks reversal of the district court’s grant of a new trial to defendant Albert Kwok-Leung Kwan (“Kwan”). A jury found Kwan guilty of possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle in violation of 26 U.S.C. §§ 5861 (d), 5871, because Kwan possessed an unregistered pistol that was stored inside a detachable shoulder stock and holster. The pistol indisputably would have become a “firearm” and subject to registration if the shoulder stock had been attached.

Following the verdict, Kwan moved for and the district court granted a new trial. The district court concluded the rule of lenity required the jury to receive an instruction that “would require the Government to prove defendant had no ostensible legal purpose for possessing the [pistol] and shoulder stock.”

A conviction for violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861 (d) requires proof that “the defendant knew that the item he possessed had the characteristics that brought it within the statutory definition of a firearm.” Rogers v. United States, 522 U.S. 252, 254-55 , 118 S.Ct. 673 , 139 L.Ed.2d 686 (1998). For Kwan to be convicted, therefore, the aggregation of the pistol and shoulder stock must have…