1. United States v. Bass, (1971)
2. Facts: A man was convicted of possession of a firearm in violation of a provision of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 which applied to any felon “who receives, possesses, or transports in interstate commerce or affecting commerce, any firearm.”
3. Procedural Posture: There had been no showing that the defendant’s firearms were commerce-related, but the lower court convicted anyway.
4. Issue: Whether the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 applied to merely the possession or receiving of firearms without a nexus to interstate commerce demonstrated.
5. Holding: No.
6. ∏ Argument: The commerce limitations in the law applied only to “transports” and that possession and receipt were punishable without a showing that there was a nexus with commerce.
7. ∆ Argument: The interpretation by the government is unconstitutional because it reaches into purely intrastate activities which have no relations to interstate commerce.
8. Majority Reasoning: Since the statute was criminal in nature, such a broad reading as the government asserted would be too intrusive to the police powers of the states. In the absence of clear direction of Congressional intent to do so, the court would not construe the statute so broadly as to not require a showing of nexus with commerce.
9. Notes: In Scarborough v. United States, the government came prepared to show that the firearm in question had once moved in interstate commerce, but did not provide a strong link that the person convicted was involved in any way in interstate commerce or got the firearms after his felony conviction. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court found that the showing was “sufficient to satisfy the statutorily required nexus between the possession of the firearms by a convicted felon and commerce.”
