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Federal- Sale of Firearm to a Convicted Felon

Statute
18 USC 922(d)(1). Sale of Firearm to Convicted Felon

(d) It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such person—
(1) is under indictment for, or has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;

Jury Instruction
The Defendant can be found guilty of that offense only if all of the following facts are proved beyond a reasonable doubt:

  1. That the Defendant sold the firearm described in the indictment, at or about the time alleged;
  2. That the person who brought the firearm had been convicted in a court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, that is, a felony; and
  3. That the Defendant acted with knowledge or reasonable cause to believe that such person had been so convicted.

The term “firearm” means any weapon which is designed to, or may readily be converted to, expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; and the term includes the frame or receiver of any such weapon, or any firearm muffler or firearm silencer.

To have “reasonable cause to believe” that someone is a convicted felon means to have knowledge of facts which, although not amounting to direct knowledge, would cause a reasonable person, knowing the same things, to reasonable conclude that the other person was in fact a convicted felon.