State v. Scott, 55 A.3d 728

Defendant convicted of second-degree possession/receiving/transferring a community gun and second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun; aggregate ten-year sentence affirmed.
Multiple participants in a drug-related murder retrieved a gun from a mattress; defendant fetched it and handed it to another who killed the victim.
Gun was old, rusty, known to participants, and readily accessible in the mattress for about 18 months.
Issue centers on whether the State must prove defendant knew the firearm was a community gun.
Statutory framework: community gun defined in N.J.S.A. 2C:39-4a(2); amended in 2007 to create heightened penalties without a knowledge mens rea requirement.
Court emphasizes mens rea not required for community gun under the statute; relies on statutory interpretation and legislative history.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether knowledge the gun is a community gun is required	State must prove weapon is a community gun	Knowledge of the community characteristic should be an element	No; no such knowledge element required

State v. Pelleteri, 294 N.J. Super. 330 (App.Div.1996) (interprets possession of a gun without knowledge of its illicit character for analogous statutes)
State v. Gandhi, 201 N.J. 161 (N.J.) (statutory interpretation; use of plain meaning and extrinsic aids)
State v. Smith, 197 N.J. 325 (2009) (possession mens rea standards in gun-related offenses)
State v. Des Marets, 92 N.J. 62 (1983) (possession offenses and mens rea considerations)
United States v. Campos-Serrano, 404 U.S. 293 (U.S.) (principle that penal statutes must be strictly construed)
State v. Chapland, 187 N.J. 275 (2006) (legislative acquiescence in court interpretations of gun statutes)
State v. Malik, 365 N.J. Super. 267 (App.Div.2003) (headnote/court interpretation considerations in gun offenses)
State v. King (hypothetical for formatting), N.J. 000 (2011) (associated with statutory interpretation canon (not cited in text))