C · Law–case relations
Part 1 lists the elements of the law. Part 2 lists each case; its numbered items use the same numbers as the elements, with the holding and the quoted passage it rests on. Quotations are verbatim; labels are derived annotations, not the source of truth. Muted blocks are not counted as merits applications.
1 · Elements of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)
- One applicable prohibited category OR
(g) It shall be unlawful for any person - Section 925(a)(1) government-use firearm or ammunition exception EXCEPTION
(g) It shall be unlawful for any person - Actual or constructive possession OR
possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition - Firearm or ammunition under section 921 AND
any firearm or ammunition - Possession in or affecting commerce AND
possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition - Knowledge of possessing the firearm or ammunition AND
possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition - Knowledge of the relevant disqualifying status AND
(g) It shall be unlawful for any person - Second Amendment limit on the unlawful-user theory applied to Hemani DEFENSE
(3) who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)); - Ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce AND
to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce - Knowing shipping, transportation or receipt AND
to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce - Receipt of the prohibited object AND
to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce - Received object previously shipped or transported across borders AND
which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce
2 · Cases (15)
Case identity unavailable — citation unavailable · United States District Court for the Western District of New York · 1998 (18usc922: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
- Actual or constructive possession○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: comparator/procedural
fact · supports It involves a charge that a convicted felon possessed and sold four semi-automatic guns in August of 1998, for the sum of $2,000.
fact · supports The proffer by the Government is that the gun sale was a hand-to-hand transaction and that there was surveillance by police officers and that some of the proceedings may indeed have been video taped.
held In addition, I believe the evidence against Mr. Campbell on the pending federal charges are quite strong.
Not addressed: elements 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Case identity unavailable — citation unavailable · United States District Court for the District of Oregon · 2016 (18usc922: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
- Actual or constructive possession○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: background/merits
fact · supports The indictment in this case alleged that on January 13, 2014, Defendant knowingly and unlawfully possessed a handgun and that Defendant had at least three prior convictions for violent felonies.
fact · supports Defendant was tried before a jury and, on May 15, 2015, Defendant was convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g).
Not addressed: elements 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Case identity unavailable — citation unavailable · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 1990 (18usc922: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
- Knowing shipping, transportation or receipt○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: applied/meritsNo source quotation linked.
- Receipt of the prohibited object○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: applied/meritsNo source quotation linked.
- Received object previously shipped or transported across borders○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: applied/meritsNo source quotation linked.
Not addressed: elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Case identity unavailable — citation unavailable · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · 1994 (18usc922: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
- Actual or constructive possession○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: applied/meritsNo source quotation linked.
Not addressed: elements 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Case identity unavailable — citation unavailable · United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit · 1994 (18usc922: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
- Actual or constructive possession✓ satisfied · proved
fact · supports A pat-down revealed a .32 caliber bullet in his right front pants pocket. Rogers announced that the officers were lucky they found him before he got to his gun, or he would have blown his brains out.
fact · supports In the meantime, the third officer went to the bedroom in the northwest comer of the apartment, where he found a .32 caliber Smith and Wesson handgun in plain view on top of the dresser.
fact · supports He stated that the gun seized at the apartment was a “throw-away” weapon that he had purchased for fifty dollars.
fact · cuts-against At trial, Rogers testified that the gun belonged to Michael Glennon, and denied making any statement about shooting himself, or being the owner of the gun. In fact, none of the fingerprints found on the gun belonged to Rogers.
fact · cuts-against When the officers arrived at the apartment, Rogers hid in the closet of the northeast bedroom rather than move toward the gun in the northwest bedroom.
rule Constructive possession, however, is possession.
rule To be sure, ownership alone does not establish possession, but it may be highly relevant where the authority to exercise control is disputed.
held This evidentiary tripod is sufficient to establish power as well as intent to exercise dominion and control over the gun.
held That Rogers did not shoot himself simply illustrates a fact of constructive possession: power and intent to act do not always result in action.
○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: rule-announced/proceduralrule A person who, although not in actual possession, knowingly has both the power and the intention at a given time to exercise dominion or control over a thing, or to exercise dominion or control over the area in which that thing is found, whether directly or through another person, is then in constructive possession of the thing [emphasis added].
rule Pursuant to the court’s instruction, there could have been no conviction absent a finding of control.
held We discern no error in this explanation. The instructions correctly stated that ownership is relevant to the question of possession.
- Possession in or affecting commerce○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: applied/meritsNo source quotation linked.
- Knowledge of the relevant disqualifying status○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: applied/meritsNo source quotation linked.
Not addressed: elements 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Case identity unavailable — citation unavailable · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · 2005 (18usc922: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
- Actual or constructive possession✗ not satisfied · no-evidence Not counted: applied/superseded
fact · supports Moye was seen by another officer crawling out of the doorway at Bart’s after Cooper took off. Moye ran but was caught a short time later.
fact · cuts-against Thirteen firearms were found inside the vehicle. Briggs was later apprehended with two firearms in his pocket.
fact · cuts-against No weapons were found in Moye’s possession and Moye’s fingerprints were not on the weapons recovered from Briggs and Cooper.
fact · cuts-against The Government did not present testimony that Moye had been seen with any of the guns.
rule that the defendant exercised, or had the power to exercise, dominion and control over the item.
rule However, mere presence at the location where contraband is found is insufficient to establish possession.
held The only evidence the Government presented to support constructive possession was that Moye was present in the same location from which the guns were stolen.
held Because no evidence exists that Moye was ever in a position to exercise dominion and control over the weapons, we conclude that insufficient evidence existed for the jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Moye was a felon in possession.
✓ satisfied · proved Not counted: applied/dissentfact · supports Officer Walters saw Moye crawling out of the store through the cubbyhole below the side door’s knob. This cubbyhole was the only one that was not cluttered with boxes and/or store equipment/merchandise.
fact · supports The distance between the side-by-side doors and the store’s gun display cabinets, which ran perpendicular to the doors, is approximately three feet.
fact · supports The car was found to contain thirteen firearms and two more were recovered on Briggs’ person.
fact · cuts-against The fingerprints of Cooper, Briggs, and Moye were not found on any of the firearms.
rule With two reasonable interpretations available to the jury, it was for the jury, not this court, to decide which version was more credible.
held In this case, the jury was entitled to reach the reasonable and quite unremarkable conclusion that Moye possessed the firearms as they made their way from the store to Briggs’ person and the getaway car.
- Possession in or affecting commerce○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: applied/meritsNo source quotation linked.
Not addressed: elements 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Case identity unavailable — citation unavailable · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 2007 (18usc922: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
- Actual or constructive possession○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: applied/procedural
fact · supports Upon executing the search warrant, officers discovered a locked safe containing a firearm. Nance told the officers which key to use to open the safe.
fact · supports Terry Wayne Curry, an informant who had been assisting the gang task force, testified that he had seen Nance open the same safe using a key on a prior occasion.
fact · supports Nance stated that four days prior to his December 12 arrest he had been asked to put the gun away by Nicole Parker, who was at the house, and that he did so because children were sometimes at the house.
fact · cuts-against On December 12, 2003, members of the Jackson police department’s gang task force went to 228 Shelby Street in Jackson, Tennessee to serve an arrest warrant on Martedis McPhearson, who lived at the residence.
rule The government's obligation was to prove the particular possession charged, not some earlier occasion of possession.
rule The “on or about” language permits the jury to conclude that the offense charged occurred on some date reasonably close to the one contained in the indictment, but does not permit conviction of an uncharged offense that occurred in close temporal proximity to the charged offense.
held The December 8 evidence was relevant to establish Nance’s access to the safe and his ability to exercise control over the weapon on December 12 and properly admissible.
held If this evidence could be considered a variance, its admission did not prejudice defendant.
○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: applied/dissentfact · cuts-against It is undisputed that on the date of the offense charged in the indictment, December 12th, the defendant did not have actual possession of the firearm. It was found by the police in a safe in the home of a friend of the defendant.
fact · cuts-against The evidence of this separate, uncharged incident of possession, however, was submitted to the jury without any limitation.
rule The only method of convicting the defendant of the offense charged in the indictment was to prove that he had constructive possession of that firearm, i.e., he had the right to exercise physical control over it, knew that he had that right, and intended to exercise that right.
held Because I strongly believe that there is a substantial likelihood that Nance was convicted of a crime other than the one charged in the indictment, I would reverse the conviction.
- Possession in or affecting commerce○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: rule-announced/merits
rule The district court instructed the jury that the government must prove that the firearm in question had traveled in interstate commerce prior to Nance’s possession of it and that this fact could be proven by showing that prior to the date of the crime the firearm had crossed a state line.
rule The jury was not required to find that the firearm had a substantial effect on interstate commerce.
held Rather, the instruction given was sufficient to establish an interstate nexus.
Not addressed: elements 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Case identity unavailable — citation unavailable · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 1995 (18usc922: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
- Actual or constructive possession✓ satisfied · proved
fact · supports Both weapons were found in a bedroom on the first floor of the residence. The .357 magnum was discovered in the bed area, leaning up against the back of the headboard. The .9 millimeter was recovered from a dresser drawer along with an additional magazine of ammunition.
fact · supports The search revealed, in addition to the firearms, a number of Kitchen’s possessions — his El Rukn bracelet, bills and papers bearing his name and various articles of men’s clothing.
fact · supports In many of the recorded drug conversations with Kitchen, agents had reached him by calling the telephone number at that address. According to the government, Kitchen had stated that he lived at that address. Agents in fact saw Kitchen at that address on numerous occasions.
fact · cuts-against Kitchen argues that he in fact lived with his mother in Robbins, Illinois, and only visited Williams occasionally.
fact · cuts-against It is not material, contrary to Kitchen’s assertions, that he was incarcerated at the time the agents actually seized the guns.
fact · cuts-against The fact that Williams, too, had access to the firearms fails to negate the inference that Kitchen did as well.
rule Constructive possession exists when a person does not have actual possession but instead knowingly has the power and the intention at a given time to exercise dominion and control over an object, either directly or through others....
rule If he in fact resided at Williams’s home, then he had the power to exercise control over the two firearms.
held The jury might have determined that he lived at the residence and occupied the bedroom where the guns were located. Under these circumstances, we believe that Kitchen constructively possessed the guns in question.
held Because the evidence established that Kitchen resided in the home in which the police located the firearms, it was sufficient to support Kitchen’s conviction for the possession of a firearm.
- Possession in or affecting commerce✓ satisfied · conceded
rule (3) that the firearm had traveled in or affected interstate commerce.
- Knowledge of possessing the firearm or ammunition○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: applied/meritsNo source quotation linked.
Not addressed: elements 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Case identity unavailable — citation unavailable · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 2009 (18usc922: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
- Actual or constructive possession✓ satisfied · conceded Not counted: comparator/merits
fact · supports TPC § 46.04(a) has two elements that are relevant to this decision: (1) prior felony conviction and (2) possession, of a firearm.
held Nieto concedes in his brief that TPC § 46.04(a)’s two elements correspond with 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(l)'s first two elements.
- Possession in or affecting commerce○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: comparator/merits
fact · cuts-against Specifically, he argued that his conviction under TPC § 46.04(a) was not an aggravated felony as “described in” 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) because TPC § 46.04(a) did not contain an interstate commerce element, whereas § 922(g)(1) did.
rule Because § 922(g)(l)’s interstate commerce element is simply an element that ensures federal jurisdiction, finding that such an element is necessary for a state offense to be one that is “described in” § 922(g)(1) would undermine Congress’s evident intent that jurisdiction be disregarded in applying this definition of “aggravated felony.”
held We hold that state felon-in-possession offenses, such as TPC § 46.04(a), need not have an interstate commerce element in order for the offense to be an offense “described in” 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).
Not addressed: elements 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Case identity unavailable — citation unavailable · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · 2012 (18usc922: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
- Actual or constructive possession○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: rule-announced/procedural
fact · supports Inside the house, authorities found ammunition in a dresser drawer in one of the bedrooms;
fact · supports Witt testified that he searched Cochran and found in Cochran’s pocket a key that unlocked the door of the residence.
fact · cuts-against He also obtained Cochran’s driver’s license, which reflects that Cochran’s address is 116, rather than 110, Lucille Avenue.
fact · cuts-against The jury’s decision to convict Cochran of the drug charges but acquit him of the ammunition charges demonstrates an understanding of that instruction, given that the ammunition was hidden in a bedroom dresser drawer while the drugs were located in plain sight in the converted garage and present in common areas of the home.
rule We have indicated that the essence of constructive possession is the power to control the contraband itself and that control of the premises simply permits an inference of that power.
rule Such a juxtaposition could create an inference that constructive possession, as defined by the government’s instruction, lacks an intentionality requirement.
held In conclusion, although we disapprove of the constructive possession instruction given to the jury, we do not find that under the circumstances of this particular case it misled the jury or prejudiced Cochran.
Not addressed: elements 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Case identity unavailable — citation unavailable · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 2012 (18usc922: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
- Possession in or affecting commerce○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: comparator/merits
rule The firearm in question was never recovered, so the government could not prove that it was manufactured outside the state and therefore had previously traveled in interstate commerce.
rule When it comes to evaluating the effect on interstate commerce, however, producing a fraudulent driver’s license is not analogous to possessing a firearm, the offense at issue in Groves.
rule interstate nexus requirement is a factual predicate, not a mens rea element of the crime that would require proof of defendant’s knowledge of facts supporting the nexus.
Not addressed: elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Case identity unavailable — citation unavailable · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 2025 (18usc922: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
- Actual or constructive possession✓ satisfied · conceded Not counted: applied/lower-court
fact · supports As Kimble fled, officers observed him discard a handgun from his waistband. The officers caught up, arrested Kimble, and recovered the gun.
fact · supports Kimble then pleaded guilty without the benefit of a plea agreement.
- Possession in or affecting commerce○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: applied/proceduralNo source quotation linked.
Not addressed: elements 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Case identity unavailable — citation unavailable · Supreme Court of the United States · 1997 (18usc922: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
- Actual or constructive possession○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: rule-announced/meritsNo source quotation linked.
Not addressed: elements 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Case identity unavailable — citation unavailable · Supreme Court of the United States · 2005 (18usc922: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
- Actual or constructive possession○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: applied/meritsNo source quotation linked.
Not addressed: elements 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Case identity unavailable — citation unavailable · Supreme Court of the United States · 2009 (18usc922: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
- Actual or constructive possession○ not reached · basis not recorded Not counted: applied/meritsNo source quotation linked.
Not addressed: elements 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12