Criminal Law—Distinction with a Difference: First Circuit Misapplies Smith by Holding Bartering Drugs for Guns “Use” Under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)—United States v. Cotto, 456 F.3d 25 (1st Cir. 2006)

In 1986, Congress amended the criminal code to make the use of a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime separately punishable by up to thirty years imprisonment. The Supreme Court subsequently held that bartering firearms in exchange for drugs constituted “use” within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1). In United States v. Cotto, the First Circuit Court of Appeals considered whether the reverse exchange, bartering drugs for firearms also constituted “use” under § 924(c)(1). The court held that the Supreme Court’s conclusion that bartering guns for drugs constituted “use” applied with equal force to the reverse exchange of drugs for guns. . . .