18 U.S.C. § 2231 — Assault or resistance

(a) This section applies to anyone who forcibly assaults, resists, opposes, prevents, impedes, intimidates, or interferes with a person doing search-warrant work. That protected person must be authorized to serve or carry out search warrants, or to conduct searches and seizures. The law covers interference during their duties. It also covers interference because of work they already did. Someone who does this can be fined under this title. They can also be imprisoned for up to three years. A court may impose both penalties together. (b) This subsection increases the punishment if a deadly or dangerous weapon is used. The weapon must be used while committing the act described in subsection (a). In that case, the person can be fined under this title. They can also be imprisoned for up to ten years. A court may impose both penalties together.

The record. According to the source credit, this section was enacted as part of the Act of June 25, 1948, chapter 645, 62 Stat. 802, which established the codification of Title 18 as positive law. The credit further indicates a single subsequent amendment, made by Public Law 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(K), (L), enacted September 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147. Beyond identifying the enacting act and this one amendment, the source credit does not describe the substance of the changes. Historical context. The 1948 enactment occurred as part of the general revision and codification of federal criminal law into Title 18, a broad congressional effort to consolidate and restate existing criminal statutes in organized form rather than to create novel policy in each instance. The commonly cited purpose of this consolidation was to bring clarity and uniformity to federal criminal provisions previously scattered across the Statutes at Large. The 1994 amendment coincides with the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a large omnibus crime measure; that Act is generally understood to have addressed a wide range of criminal justice concerns, including penalty structures for offenses against law enforcement and other officials. However, the record here does not establish the specific legislative reasoning behind the particular changes made to this section by the 1994 amendment, and no further detail should be inferred.