United States v. John William Dalton

SEYMOUR, Circuit Judge.

John Dalton, an attorney, accepted a firearm as a fee from a client, who was a licensed firearms dealer and who had converted the weapon into a machinegun in 1989. Dalton was found guilty of possessing and transferring an unregistered firearm in violation of the National Firearms Act, I.R.C. §§ 5861(d), (e) (NFA). A separate criminal statute prohibits the possession of any machinegun made after that statute’s effective date in 1986. 18 U.S.C. § 922(o) (1988). It is undisputed that the government will not permit the registration of machineguns covered by section 922(o),…