United States v. Lopez

Facts

In the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, Congress made it a federal offense for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm at a place the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone. A school zone includes the grounds of a school and the area within 1,000 feet of them. The Act did not regulate a commercial activity. It also did not require that the possession be connected in any way to interstate commerce, and neither the statute nor its legislative history contained express congressional findings about how gun possession in a school zone affects interstate commerce. On March 10, 1992, Lopez, then a 12th-grade student, arrived at Edison High School in San Antonio, Texas, carrying a concealed handgun and five bullets. Acting on an anonymous tip, school authorities confronted him, and he admitted he was carrying the weapon. He was arrested and charged under Texas law with possessing a firearm on school premises. The next day, the state charges were dismissed after federal agents charged him with violating the federal Act. Lopez was a local student at a local school, and nothing showed that he had recently moved in interstate commerce.

Issues

1. Does the Commerce Clause give Congress the power to make it a federal crime to possess a gun in a local school zone, when the statute regulates no commercial activity and requires no connection to interstate commerce?
2. When Congress regulates an intrastate activity because of its effect on interstate commerce, must the activity substantially affect interstate commerce, or is any effect enough?

Holding

The Gun-Free School Zones Act exceeds the authority of Congress under the Commerce Clause. Possessing a gun in a local school zone is not an economic activity that, through repetition elsewhere, substantially affects interstate commerce, and the Act contains no jurisdictional element tying each case to interstate commerce.