The Fourth Circuit has determined that a Virginia statute criminalizing willful discharge of a firearm in a public place without resulting bodily injury is not a firearms offenses because it does not contain an antique firearms exception. “We hold that the plain language of Virginia Code § 18.2-280(A), as supported by later acts of Virginia’s legislature and by decisions of its appellate courts, prohibits conduct involving the use of ‘any firearm,’ including antique firearms. Thus, Gordon was not required to identify a prosecution under the Virginia statute involving an antique firearm to defend against removal.”
“Our conclusion is not affected by the government’s claim that the Virginia conviction nevertheless qualifies as a removable offense because Gordon failed to present evidence of a conviction in Virginia under Section 18.2-280(A) for the discharge of an antique firearm.” “The flaw in the government’s argument, however, is its failure to recognize that when the state, through plain statutory language, has defined the reach of a state statute to include conduct that the federal offense does not, the categorical analysis is complete; there is no categorical match.”
The full text of Gordon v. Barr can be found here: