Hard Time for Gun Crime
Under Project Safe Neighborhoods, United States prosecutors are ready to bring cases involving illegal gun use to federal court. This means that if anyone is caught with an illegal gun, they probably won’t be entitled to bail — instead, they'll go straight to jail. If they are convicted in federal court, they can spend up to 10 years in jail. There are no second chances under this program.

So it’s smart to stay away from guns if you or anyone you know is in one of the categories described below.

Do You Belong to One of These Groups?
If you fit into one of these categories, you are prohibited from possessing any kind of gun or ammunition:

• Convicted felons (convicted at state or federal level)

• Fugitives from justice (interstate flight to avoid prosecution or testimony)

• Drug users or addicts

• Aliens in the U.S. illegally or on temporary status

• Persons committed to mental institutions

• People who have formally given up their U.S. citizenship

• People who have been dishonorably discharged from the armed services

• People involved in committing domestic violence

• Anyone subject to a court order (protective order) forbidding him or her from stalking, harassing, or threatening an intimate partner or that partner’s child

• Anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime involving violence or a threat with a deadly weapon if the convicted person was the victim’s current or former spouse, live in boyfriend or girlfriend, parent, or guardian.

If you’re caught with a gun you cannot legally possess, you can face harsh penalties in federal prison with no possibility of parole. And, if you have three or more prior violent felony or serious drug offense convictions, you face a minimum of 15 years in prison without parole.

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Thinking of helping someone in one of the groups above to get a gun or ammunition? Don’t risk it!
Even if you are not in one of these groups, you have committed a crime and can go to federal prison if you help anyone in one of the categories above get a gun or ammunition. It may not matter whether you knew the person was in one of the groups: if you buy a gun for someone else and lie on the federal form about who the gun is for, you have committed a federal crime.

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Using, Carrying, or Possessing a Firearm in Connection with a Drug trafficking Crime or Crime of Violence
Whether or not you have ever been convicted of any crime, if you use or brandish, display, carry, or possess a firearm in a way designed to further or carry out a drug trafficking crime or a federal crime of violence, you can be charged—in addition to the crime itself—with a federal firearms crime. In fact, you can be convicted of this offense even if the gun is not on you! The lightest sentence you can get for this crime is five years minimum, with no parole. The sentence must be served in addition to any other sentence for the drug trafficking or violent crime. And, if you get convicted of having a gun during a second violent crime or drug trafficking offense—even during the same trial—you’re automatically going to prison for at least 30 years. Other considerations...

• If you steal guns or have anything to do with guns that you know or have reasonable cause to believe were stolen, you can go to prison for up to 10 years.

• Possessing or discharging a firearm in a school zone can get you a prison sentence of up to five years.

• If you give or sell a handgun (or ammunition used only in handguns) to someone under 18, and you knew or had reasonable cause to know that the juvenile intended to carry, possess, or discharge the handgun, or otherwise use the handgun or ammunition during a violent crime, you can go to prison for up to 10 years.

• Obliterating or altering the manufacturer’s serial number on a firearm, or even transporting or possessing such a firearm—is punishable by up to five years in prison.

• Possessing or transferring a machine gun is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

• Making or possessing a machine gun, sawed off shotgun or rifle, silencer, or destructive device without registration through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (U.S. Department of the Treasury) can result in a 10 year prison term.

(This information is intended only to highlight key aspects of federal law with respect to firearm purchase, possession, and use, particularly as they relate to Project Safe Neighborhoods, which is a national initiative to vigorously enforce gun laws. The preceding is not a complete statement of the law nor should it be relied upon as such. Other terms, conditions, and exceptions not spelled out here may be applicable.)

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