In Wake of 'Heller,' 3rd Circuit OKs Ban on Unnumbered Guns

[shadowrider]

n an important Second Amendment decision that charts a course for evaluating the validity of gun laws now that the U.S. Supreme Court has declared the right to be an individual one, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to strike down a federal law that bans possession of guns with obliterated serial numbers.

Perhaps the most important lesson to be gleaned from U.S. Circuit Judge Anthony J. Scirica's opinion in United States v. Marzzarella is that courts faced with unanswered questions in the Second Amendment arena should consider looking to the extensive jurisprudence on First Amendment claims for guidance.

"The First Amendment is the natural choice," Scirica wrote, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court's watershed decision in District of Columbia v. Heller repeatedly invoked the First Amendment in establishing principles governing the Second Amendment.

"We think this implies the structure of First Amendment doctrine should inform our analysis of the Second Amendment," Scirica wrote.

Scirica, who was joined by 3rd Circuit Judge Michael A. Chagares and visiting U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez of the District of New Jersey, looked to First Amendment law in deciding that the federal ban on guns with obliterated serial numbers should be subjected to "intermediate scrutiny."

But even if the law were held to strict scrutiny, Scirica said, it would still pass constitutional muster.

"Serial number tracing serves a governmental interest in enabling law enforcement to gather vital information from recovered firearms," Scirica wrote, "Because it assists law enforcement in this manner, we find its preservation is not only a substantial but a compelling interest."

In the appeal, Michael Marzzarella argued that his conviction under Section 922(k) for possessing a gun with an obliterated serial number should be overturned because the law is unconstitutional under the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller.

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202464062676&In_Wake_of_Heller_rd_Circuit_OKs_Ban_on_Unnumbered_Guns

[TheWraith]

1. No surprise there.

They wouldn't be too kind to someone caught stealing who then pleaded it was part of his religion, either.

[Hoopla Phil]

2. How would this concept be evaluated if the item was something other than a firearm?

I mean, if someone has a typewriter with an obliterated serial number and there was a law prohibiting this would it be found to meet constitutional muster?

[DissedByBush]

4. Cuba requires all printed material to be identifiable to the printer

Distributing material without it can get you busted.

I think that would be the First Amendment approximation.

I don't think it's acceptable in a free society either.

[TheWraith]

10. That's exactly the case with cars.

Defacing a VIN number is illegal. And for the same reason: to be able to identify stolen goods.

[Hoopla Phil]

12. So it is illegal to remove the VIN on my ranch truck that never touches a public road?

I know I don't have to have insurance, license plates, or inspection but I didn't know I could not remove the VIN number.

[TheWraith]

16. That's correct.

USC title 18, Section 511(a). It's a felony to deliberately remove, obliterate, tamper with, or alter a VIN number.

[Hoopla Phil]

17. Looking further down on that statute, to me it reads that the owner is exempt

from that.

I admit that reading these laws can be very confusing but that is how I'm reading it. What do you think?

http://law.onecle.com/uscode/18/511.html

[TheWraith]

20. Nope.

The reference to the owner or a person authorized by the owner refers to tampering with "a decal or device affixed to a motor vehicle pursuant to the Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Act." Not the VIN itself.

[PavePusher]

3. All books and should have serial numbers applied to them.

And there should be records kept by the sellers to record who they were sold to.

And watch the anti-gun folks heads explode over that.....

[safeinOhio]

5. Well that make sense

wouldn't want any felons buying or possessing books.

[PavePusher]

6. Ideas are dangerous.

The wrong ones can get you thouroughly castigated here.....

[Paladin]

7. The Next Time Somebody Uses A Danielle Steele Novel......

....to turn a school or an office building or a college campus or a shopping mall or a church into a slaughter house, I'll give your bullshit comparison between guns and books some consideration.....

[X_Digger]

8. The inquisition, the crusades, the fucking dark ages..

.. no, nobody ever used a religious tract to kill anyone.

Riiiiiight.

[Euromutt]

9. Not to mention "divinely inspired" serial killers

You know, guys like the Yorkshire Ripper and the Green River Killer who firmly convinced themselves they were doing God's work by offing people who were naughty in His sight. It's such an oddity that the people who call for censorship of movies (e.g. Taxi Driver), music (Marilyn Manson) and video games after a high-profile murder never argue for restricting availability of copies of the Bible...

[jeepnstein]

19. Read "The Turner Diaries"...

and then get back to me.

[sofa king]

15. Well, actually, they pretty much do.

All books have an ISBN, which is unique to the book and even different editions of the same book. And if you check it out from a public library, well, The Man knows it whether he admits it to us or not, and whether the Patriot Act allows it or not.

When I worked at a bookstore in Tyson's Corner, VA, all of us there noticed that credit transactions took considerably longer when certain books were purchased.

[old mark]

11. It's not "unnumbered" guns, but guns that have had the SN's

removed or obliterated, which is a federal violation.
There were many guns-usually .22 rifles and several makes of shotguns-made before the gun control act of '68 that were made without serial numbers, and are perfectly legal.

mark

[shadowrider]

13. Agreed

I put the title of the article as it appeared. Far be it from me to change a headline to suit an agenda (unlike some anti's who post here and routinely change them to reflect their views).

[pipoman]

14. I have several without serial numbers,

they never had numbers, I wouldn't own a gun with a destroyed number...even if it isn't illegal it would seem to be easily found to be probable cause to seize for investigation of theft.

[slackmaster]

18. That is true. I own several firearms that never have had serial numbers.

My old Mossberg shotgun, for example.