NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 25a0561n.06
No. 23-5429
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED Dec 05, 2025 FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT KELLY L. STEPHENS, Clerk ) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED ) STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE v. ) WESTERN DISTRICT OF ) TENNESSEE GARY CRAWFORD, ) Defendant-Appellant. ) OPINION ) )
Before: STRANCH, BUSH, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.
JOHN K. BUSH, Circuit Judge. Gary Crawford appeals his conviction under 18 U.S.C.
§ 922(g)(1), arguing it violated the Commerce Clause and the Second Amendment. Because he
did not object below, we review only for plain error. Binding precedent forecloses the Commerce
Clause argument. His Second Amendment as-applied challenge fails based on our caselaw and
prior convictions showing his dangerousness. We therefore AFFIRM.
I.
Gary Crawford has a long, mostly violent criminal record. It began at the age of sixteen,
with convictions for criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment: he fired a handgun
into a crowd and killed someone. In his early twenties came several more convictions, including
one for simple possession of marijuana and two for possessing it with intent to distribute. His
twenty-second year brought a domestic assault conviction for punching his girlfriend under her
left eye. No. 23-5429, United States v. Crawford
When Crawford was twenty-four, that same girlfriend contacted law enforcement, alleging
that he had punched her in the face, repeatedly choked her, and threatened to kill her. A handgun
found at the scene led to his conviction for possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and a
sentence of seventy months’ imprisonment followed by three years’ supervised release.
While incarcerated, Crawford repeatedly violated prison rules. Among other infractions,
he twice possessed a dangerous weapon.
In January 2021, he began his supervised release. But Crawford’s time in the free world
did not last long. On October 27, 2021, the Memphis Police Department received a report of a
man walking down a street waiving a machete and firing a handgun into the air. It was Crawford.
He became irate when officers arrived on the scene and attempted to speak with him. He
screamed while brandishing his handgun back and forth. The officers drew their weapons.
Crawford eventually lowered his handgun, sat down, and placed the gun on his lap. The officers
repeatedly ordered him to give up possession of the handgun, but he did not comply. In time,
though, Crawford stood up, at which point the gun slid off his lap and onto the ground. He then
walked toward the officers and began taking off his clothes. The officers promptly tackled
Crawford and took him into custody.
The jury found Crawford guilty of violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) based on his possession
of a firearm as a convicted felon. The district court sentenced him to 100 months’ imprisonment.
Crawford now appeals his conviction.
II.
Crawford admits that he did not raise his constitutional challenges in the district court, so
we review his conviction for plain error. United States v. Johnson, 95 F.4th 404, 415 (6th Cir.
2024). That means Crawford must show “(1) an error, (2) that was ‘plain,’ (3) that affected [his]
2 No. 23-5429, United States v. Crawford
‘substantial rights,’ and (4) that seriously impacted ‘the fairness, integrity or public reputation of
judicial proceedings.’” Id. at 416 (quoting Greer v. United States, 593 U.S. 503, 507–08 (2021)).
An error is plain when it is clear under current law at the time of appellate consideration. Johnson
v. United States, 520 U.S. 461, 467–68 (1997); United States v. Al-Maliki, 787 F.3d 784, 794 (6th
Cir. 2015). “An error affects a defendant’s substantial rights if there is ‘“a reasonable probability
that, but for the error,” the outcome of the proceeding would have been different.’” United States
v. Hobbs, 953 F.3d 853, 857 (6th Cir. 2020) (quoting Molina-Martinez v. United States, 578 U.S.
189, 194 (2016)).
We begin with Crawford’s Commerce Clause challenge. He seeks to preserve the
argument “that 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) is unconstitutional because it fails to require that a felon’s
possession of a firearm substantially affect interstate commerce.” But, as he concedes, our
precedent forecloses this argument. See United States v. Chesney, 86 F.3d 564, 570 (6th Cir. 1996)
(“§ 922(g)(1) clearly contains a ‘jurisdictional element which would ensure, through case-by-case
inquiry, that the firearm possession in question affects interstate commerce.’” (quoting United
States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 561 (1995))).
Crawford’s as-applied Second Amendment challenge does not fare much better. He argues
that his right to bear arms precludes the government from prosecuting him for possessing a firearm
because—despite being a felon convicted of misusing a weapon—he is not a dangerous individual.
He asks us to vacate his conviction and remand the case for a dangerousness determination to be
made by the district court or, better yet, a jury.
Our caselaw forecloses this argument, too. In United States v. Williams, we held that
§ 922(g)(1) is facially constitutional, while contemplating that it “might be susceptible to an
as-applied challenge in certain cases.” 113 F.4th 637, 657 (6th Cir. 2024). But the general
3 No. 23-5429, United States v. Crawford
principles we provided for resolving those as-applied challenges do not support Crawford’s
argument. In fact, they confirm that the district court did not plainly err.
First, Williams placed the burden of proving non-dangerousness squarely on the
defendant—a burden that is “very difficult” to meet when the defendant was previously convicted
of a “crime ‘against the body of another human being’” like “murder, rape, assault, and robbery.”
Id. at 663. And Crawford has been convicted of such a crime: criminally negligent homicide.
Crawford’s only argument on this point is that he committed the homicide when he was sixteen,
and people tend to get less dangerous as they age. But he correctly recognizes that this argument
finds no purchase in Williams. While some district courts applying Williams have contemplated
that juvenile offenses may be less indicative of lasting dangerousness, see United States v. Wynn,
No. 23-cr-29, --- F. Supp. 3d ---, 2025 WL 2602605, at *8–9 (E.D. Tenn. June 23, 2025); United
States v. Green, No. 23-cr-20506, 2024 WL 4469090, at *4 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 10, 2024), controlling
precedent from this court has never suggested—much less held—the same. So even if the failure
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NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 25a0561n.06
No. 23-5429
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED Dec 05, 2025 FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT KELLY L. STEPHENS, Clerk ) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED ) STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE v. ) WESTERN DISTRICT OF ) TENNESSEE GARY CRAWFORD, ) Defendant-Appellant. ) OPINION ) )
Before: STRANCH, BUSH, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.
JOHN K. BUSH, Circuit Judge. Gary Crawford appeals his conviction under 18 U.S.C.
§ 922(g)(1), arguing it violated the Commerce Clause and the Second Amendment. Because he
did not object below, we review only for plain error. Binding precedent forecloses the Commerce
Clause argument. His Second Amendment as-applied challenge fails based on our caselaw and
prior convictions showing his dangerousness. We therefore AFFIRM.
I.
Gary Crawford has a long, mostly violent criminal record. It began at the age of sixteen,
with convictions for criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment: he fired a handgun
into a crowd and killed someone. In his early twenties came several more convictions, including
one for simple possession of marijuana and two for possessing it with intent to distribute. His
twenty-second year brought a domestic assault conviction for punching his girlfriend under her
left eye. No. 23-5429, United States v. Crawford
When Crawford was twenty-four, that same girlfriend contacted law enforcement, alleging
that he had punched her in the face, repeatedly choked her, and threatened to kill her. A handgun
found at the scene led to his conviction for possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and a
sentence of seventy months’ imprisonment followed by three years’ supervised release.
While incarcerated, Crawford repeatedly violated prison rules. Among other infractions,
he twice possessed a dangerous weapon.
In January 2021, he began his supervised release. But Crawford’s time in the free world
did not last long. On October 27, 2021, the Memphis Police Department received a report of a
man walking down a street waiving a machete and firing a handgun into the air. It was Crawford.
He became irate when officers arrived on the scene and attempted to speak with him. He
screamed while brandishing his handgun back and forth. The officers drew their weapons.
Crawford eventually lowered his handgun, sat down, and placed the gun on his lap. The officers
repeatedly ordered him to give up possession of the handgun, but he did not comply. In time,
though, Crawford stood up, at which point the gun slid off his lap and onto the ground. He then
walked toward the officers and began taking off his clothes. The officers promptly tackled
Crawford and took him into custody.
The jury found Crawford guilty of violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) based on his possession
of a firearm as a convicted felon. The district court sentenced him to 100 months’ imprisonment.
Crawford now appeals his conviction.
II.
Crawford admits that he did not raise his constitutional challenges in the district court, so
we review his conviction for plain error. United States v. Johnson, 95 F.4th 404, 415 (6th Cir.
2024). That means Crawford must show “(1) an error, (2) that was ‘plain,’ (3) that affected [his]
2 No. 23-5429, United States v. Crawford
‘substantial rights,’ and (4) that seriously impacted ‘the fairness, integrity or public reputation of
judicial proceedings.’” Id. at 416 (quoting Greer v. United States, 593 U.S. 503, 507–08 (2021)).
An error is plain when it is clear under current law at the time of appellate consideration. Johnson
v. United States, 520 U.S. 461, 467–68 (1997); United States v. Al-Maliki, 787 F.3d 784, 794 (6th
Cir. 2015). “An error affects a defendant’s substantial rights if there is ‘“a reasonable probability
that, but for the error,” the outcome of the proceeding would have been different.’” United States
v. Hobbs, 953 F.3d 853, 857 (6th Cir. 2020) (quoting Molina-Martinez v. United States, 578 U.S.
189, 194 (2016)).
We begin with Crawford’s Commerce Clause challenge. He seeks to preserve the
argument “that 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) is unconstitutional because it fails to require that a felon’s
possession of a firearm substantially affect interstate commerce.” But, as he concedes, our
precedent forecloses this argument. See United States v. Chesney, 86 F.3d 564, 570 (6th Cir. 1996)
(“§ 922(g)(1) clearly contains a ‘jurisdictional element which would ensure, through case-by-case
inquiry, that the firearm possession in question affects interstate commerce.’” (quoting United
States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 561 (1995))).
Crawford’s as-applied Second Amendment challenge does not fare much better. He argues
that his right to bear arms precludes the government from prosecuting him for possessing a firearm
because—despite being a felon convicted of misusing a weapon—he is not a dangerous individual.
He asks us to vacate his conviction and remand the case for a dangerousness determination to be
made by the district court or, better yet, a jury.
Our caselaw forecloses this argument, too. In United States v. Williams, we held that
§ 922(g)(1) is facially constitutional, while contemplating that it “might be susceptible to an
as-applied challenge in certain cases.” 113 F.4th 637, 657 (6th Cir. 2024). But the general
3 No. 23-5429, United States v. Crawford
principles we provided for resolving those as-applied challenges do not support Crawford’s
argument. In fact, they confirm that the district court did not plainly err.
First, Williams placed the burden of proving non-dangerousness squarely on the
defendant—a burden that is “very difficult” to meet when the defendant was previously convicted
of a “crime ‘against the body of another human being’” like “murder, rape, assault, and robbery.”
Id. at 663. And Crawford has been convicted of such a crime: criminally negligent homicide.
Crawford’s only argument on this point is that he committed the homicide when he was sixteen,
and people tend to get less dangerous as they age. But he correctly recognizes that this argument
finds no purchase in Williams. While some district courts applying Williams have contemplated
that juvenile offenses may be less indicative of lasting dangerousness, see United States v. Wynn,
No. 23-cr-29, --- F. Supp. 3d ---, 2025 WL 2602605, at *8–9 (E.D. Tenn. June 23, 2025); United
States v. Green, No. 23-cr-20506, 2024 WL 4469090, at *4 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 10, 2024), controlling
precedent from this court has never suggested—much less held—the same. So even if the failure
to consider Crawford’s age at the time of his homicide conviction constitutes error, such error is
far from clear under current law.
Second, Williams outlined another category of crimes that may “pose a significant threat
of danger” despite “not always involv[ing] an immediate and direct threat of violence against a
particular person.” Williams, 113 F.4th at 659. Chief among these is drug trafficking. See id.
Crawford has two such convictions. Crawford argues that these convictions do not evidence
dangerousness because they did not involve violence, firearms, or a large amount of marijuana.
But that argument is not convincing because a specific instance of drug trafficking does not need
to involve violence, or even an immediate threat of violence, to pose a significant threat of danger.
Id. And Crawford’s argument does not properly contextualize his trafficking convictions.
4 No. 23-5429, United States v. Crawford
Crawford, who had been convicted of homicide as a juvenile, chose to repeatedly commit crimes
that “pose a significant threat of danger,” id., several years into his adulthood. His trafficking
convictions are part of a broader pattern of serious criminal conduct that establishes his continuing
dangerousness.
Third, Crawford’s domestic-violence conviction is significant independent evidence of his
dangerousness. Id. at 658, 660. We have held that Congress can lawfully “deprive people with
domestic-violence convictions from possessing firearms.” United States v. Gailes, 118 F.4th 822,
827 (6th Cir. 2024). And we frequently have found domestic-violence convictions highly
probative of dangerousness in reviewing as-applied challenges under Williams. See, e.g., United
States v. Martin, No. 24-3750, 2025 WL 1913185, at *3 (6th Cir. July 11, 2025); United States v.
Watson, No. 24-3002, 2025 WL 833246, at *2 (6th Cir. Mar. 17, 2025); United States v. Morton,
123 F.4th 492, 499 (6th Cir. 2024); United States v. Wellington, No. 24-3151, 2024 WL 4977138,
at *2 (6th Cir. Dec. 4, 2024). The government correctly points to this conviction as evidence of
Crawford’s dangerousness.
When assessing past convictions for evidence of dangerousness, “we are not confined to
the fact of conviction alone, but may consider how an offense was committed.” Morton, 123 F.4th
at 499. And the facts underlying Crawford’s domestic-violence conviction—he punched his
girlfriend in the face—show that the conviction was exactly the type of “crime against the person”
that Williams considered the most probative evidence of dangerousness. See Martin, 2025 WL
1913185, at *3 (finding that a domestic-violence conviction involving “pushing and repeatedly
punching the mother of [the defendant’s] children” “squarely fit[] Williams’ definition of
‘dangerous’ because it ‘demonstrate[d] . . . that he has committed violent crimes against the
person’” (quoting Morton, 123 F.4th at 500)). Notably, Crawford does not address his
5 No. 23-5429, United States v. Crawford
domestic-violence conviction in his briefing. But it is difficult to imagine any argument that would
mitigate the probative effect of this conviction.
Moreover, Crawford’s previous felon-in-possession conviction involved alleged domestic
violence. There, officers responded to a call from the victim of Crawford’s previous
domestic-violence conviction, claiming Crawford again punched her in the face, choked her,
threatened to kill her, and brandished a handgun. This kind of underlying conduct is highly
probative of dangerousness. See Morton, 123 F.4th at 499 (finding criminal history demonstrated
dangerousness when it contained, inter alia, a felon-in-possession conviction stemming from a
domestic-violence incident). While Crawford does not directly address this conduct in his briefing,
he does broadly argue that considering the underlying conduct of a prior felon-in-possession
offense is inappropriate. But Morton explicitly allows such consideration. Id. So, Crawford’s
argument is unconvincing.
Simply put, the district court’s failure to make an explicit dangerousness determination did
not affect Crawford’s substantial rights. There is enough evidence in his criminal history for any
reasonable factfinder to determine that he is a dangerous person. Crawford’s Second Amendment
challenge therefore fails.
III.
For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.