The charges against Jared Loughner for shooting Representative Gabrielle Giffords put into sharp focus a little-known federal statute, 18 U.S.C. 351. This law provides for a death penalty for killing a member of Congress, a presidential or vice presidential candidate, or a Supreme Court justice, as well as imprisonment up to life for attempting to kill such a person.

Let’s take the offense of murder as an example. Normally prosecuted at the state level, murder committed in a state can be prosecuted at the federal level as well. Murder can be prosecuted as a federal crime under ten distinct statutes:Murder of an elected/appointed federal official (18 U.S.C. §§ 351, 1751);Murder of a federal judge or law enforcement official (18 U.S.C. § 1114);Killing of an immediate family member of law enforcement officials (18 U.S.C. § 115(b)(3);Killing designed to influence the outcome of a court case (18 U.S.C. § 1512);Killing committed during a bank robbery (18 U.S.C. § 1111);Murder abroad a ship (18 U.S.C. § 2280);Murder related to rape, child molestation, and sexual exploitation of children (18 U.S.C. §§ 2248, 2251);Murder for hire (18 U.S.C. § 1958);Drug-related murder (18 U.S.C. §§ 36. 924(1)); andMurder by mail (19 U.S.C. § 1716).The simple fact is the federal government has sweeping authority under the Constitution to regulate interstate commerce. Criminal offenses with even a loose relationship to interstate commerce can fall under federal jurisdiction.