United States v. Mason, No. 11-544 (2d Cir. September 4, 2012, (Walker, Pooler, Livingston, CJJ)
In this part of the country, the “lawful sporting purposes” provision of U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(2) and Application Note 6 – a downward adjustment that the defendant bears the burden of proving – is rarely invoked. Indeed, this decision is only the Circuit’s second look at it. Here, the court concludes that the district court misapplied the provision, but that the error was harmless.
Rodney Mason, resident of Vermont, pled guilty to being a felon in possession. He had four firearms and, in connection with his sentencing hearing, introduced some evidence that, at least for three of them, he kept the guns for hunting purposes. The district court nevertheless refused to apply the enhancement, finding that Mason had not shown that he actually used the guns for hunting. This was error because the focus of …