FACTS:

-Petitioner Gary Sherwood Small was convicted in a Japanese Court of trying to smuggle firearms
and ammunition into that country.
-He served (five) years in prison and then returned to the U.S., where he bought a handgun.
-According to the government, because Small had been convicted in Japan in 1994, when he
purchased the handgun at the Delmont Sport Shop he violated Title 18 United States Code § 922(g)
(1), which makes it unlawful:
(g) . . . for any person
(1) who has been “convicted in any court” of a crime punishable by imprisonment
for a term exceeding one year: . . .
to possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm.
ISSUE: Whether or not the phrase in Sec. 922 (g)(1) of the Code “convicted in any court” include
convictions in foreign courts.

HELD:
-NO
-The Court assumes a congressional intent that the phrase “convicted in any court” applies
domestically, not extraterritorially, unless the statutory language, context, history, or purpose shows
the contrary.
-The statute’s language suggests no intent to reach beyond domestic convictions.
-The Congress did not consider whether the generic phrase “convicted in any court” applies to
foreign convictions.