The United States Sentencing Commission released a 40 page document titled “What Do Federal Firearms Offenses Really Look Like?” It’s available at this link
It begins with the explanation “The Commission’s prior research shows that firearms offenders are generally younger, have more extensive criminal history, and are more likely to commit a new crime than other offenders. The Commission’s previous research also shows that firearms offenders are more likely than other offenders to engage in violent criminal behavior.”
The Key Findings include:
Firearms offenses are among the most common crimes prosecuted and sentenced in federal court.
The guidelines exert a strong influence on the sentences imposed in firearms cases.
Firearms offenders sentenced under §2K2.1 have criminal histories that are more extensive and more serious than other offenders.
The vast majority of firearms offenders (88.8%) sentenced under §2K2.1 were prohibited from possessing a firearm.
In addition to most §2K2.1 offenders being prohibited from possessing a firearm, firearms offenders often engaged in aggravating criminal conduct.
Firearms offenses often involved stolen firearms or particularly dangerous weapons.
The average sentence for §2K2.1 firearms offenders varied depending on the presence of aggravating factors.
Prohibited persons who did not engage in aggravating conduct received an average sentence of 35 months. Courts imposed longer sentences on prohibited persons whose offenses involved:
- • a stolen firearm or a firearm with an altered or obliterated serial number (55 months);
- a prohibited weapon (such as a sawed-off shotgun or machine gun) (58 months);
- trafficking in firearms (62 months); or
- the use of, or conspiracy to use, a firearm in connection with a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime (119 months).
The report does a pretty good job of showing how firearms cases are treated in the federal courts.
Still, it seemed supported by this article at: courant.com
““The investigation revealed that the firearm was registered to a family member of Boucher, and that Boucher had purchased 10 other firearms at various gun stores in Connecticut between 2018 and 2021,” federal prosecutors said in a statement. Boucher admitted to investigators that she had purchased firearms for others, and no longer had any of the 10 firearms that were registered to her, the statement said,
Authorities in September 2021 recovered from another felon one of the 10 firearms Boucher purchased, but the other nine firearms have not been found, the statement said.
Boucher was arrested on a federal criminal complaint on Oct, 15, 2021, and has been in custody since February 23, 2022, when her bond was revoked, according to federal prosecutors. She pleaded guilty on April 29 to making a false statement to a firearms dealer.”
She got one year for 10 straw purchases, and the felon she bought for got five years for possession.
The article seems worth reading.
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