In United States v. Matthews, No. 20-10554 (July 6, 2021) (Wilson, Rosenbaum, Ed Carnes), the Court affirmed the defendant’s 57-month sentence for making false statements to a firearms dealer.
Defendant objected to the application of enhancements for (1) an offense involving a semiautomatic firearm that is capable of accepting a large capacity magazine, and (2) having a prior conviction for a crime of violence.
The Court first acknowledged that neither it nor its sister circuits had published an opinion addressing how the sentencing enhancement under § 2K2.1(a)(3) applies when the underlying offense is making a false statement to a firearms dealer. At issue here is the commentary’s definition of semiautomatic firearm that is capable of accepting a large capacity magazine as “a magazine or similar device that could accept more than 15 rounds of ammunition was in close proximity to the firearm. Here, the district court reasonably inferred that a magazine capable of accepting more than 15 rounds of ammunition–that comes standard with the rifle defendant tried to purchase–was in close proximity to the rifle defendant tried to purchase. As such, the district court did not err in applying the enhancement.
The Court also reaffirmed that a conviction for felony battery under Fla. Stat. § 784.041 is categorically a crime of violence. Therefore, the district court did not err in determining that defendant’s prior conviction for Florida felony battery constitutes a crime of violence.
https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202010554.pdf