The Modified Rifle

Police and federal agents searched a man's home with a warrant and found a semiautomatic rifle. Tests showed it held military-rifle parts and a filed-down pin, so it could fire fully automatically. Federal law makes it a crime, punishable by up to ten years, to possess an unregistered machine gun. The man testified the rifle had only ever fired one shot per pull while he owned it, and badly. He says the government must prove he knew it could fire automatically. The government says it need only prove he knew he had a dangerous gun.