§2K2.1 Unlawful Receipt, Possession, or Transportation of Firearms or Ammunition: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017
In fiscal year 2017, the median prison term under §2K2.1 was 38 months after a guilty plea and 96 months after a trial. The Commission counted 6,366 people, and 236 of them were convicted after a trial. The overall median prison term was 40 months (3.3 years).
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2K2.1 Unlawful Receipt, Possession, or Transportation of Fi › §2K2.1: FY2017
In brief: In fiscal year 2017, the median prison term under §2K2.1 was 38 months after a guilty plea and 96 months after a trial. The Commission counted 6,366 people, and 236 of them were convicted after a trial. The overall median prison term was 40 months (3.3 years).
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 6,366 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
Guilty Pleas and Trials Under §2K2.1 in Fiscal Year 2017
Of the 6,366 people sentenced under §2K2.1 in fiscal year 2017, 6,130 (96%) pleaded guilty. A total of 236 were convicted after a trial.
The median prison term was 38 months after a guilty plea. After a trial it was 96 months, based on 231 people convicted at trial and sent to prison.
Among the guilty pleas, 75% had a written plea agreement and 25% were straight pleas with no agreement. The records compare groups of cases and cannot show what any one person would have received under a different plea.
The Overall Prison Term
A prison term went to 6,081 people (96%), and 192 (3%) received probation only. The median prison term for those sent to prison was 40 months (3.3 years). A quarter received 70 months or more, and a quarter received 24 months or less.
The median was 42 months in fiscal year 2016 and 41 months in fiscal year 2018. Fiscal year 2017 was lower than 2016 and about the same as 2018.
What the Guideline Covers
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2K2.1 "Unlawful Receipt, Possession, or Transportation of Firearms or Ammunition; Prohibited Transactions Involving Firearms or Ammunition". For each person counted, it was the guideline that set the offense level for the most serious count.
The Commission files the 6,366 cases under its Firearms offense type. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017.
Guideline Range and Mandatory Minimums
For 6,365 people with the information, 55% (3,475) were sentenced within the guideline range. A sentence below the range without a government request applied to 25% (1,588), and below the range at the government's request to 15% (978). Above the range applied to 5% (324).
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 408 of the 6,364 people with that information recorded (6%).
The share within the range was 54% in fiscal year 2016 and 55% in fiscal year 2018, so fiscal year 2017 was about the same as both.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
Supervised release followed prison for 5,977 people (94%), with a median term of 36 months. 3 people (less than 1%) received it for life. A fine was ordered for 354 people (6%), and restitution for 188 (3%).
Fiscal Year 2017 Compared With the Full Period and All Guidelines
The count of 6,366 was higher than the 5,707 in fiscal year 2016 and lower than the 7,032 in fiscal year 2018. Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, §2K2.1 covered 74,599 people. Of those, 94% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 40 months, 97% pleaded guilty, and 51% were within the range.
In fiscal year 2017, all guidelines combined covered 66,873 people, with a median prison term of 24 months and 49% within the range. The table gives the yearly numbers for §2K2.1.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 5,707 | 42 months | 96% |
| 2017 | 6,366 | 40 months | 96% |
| 2018 | 7,032 | 41 months | 97% |
| 2019 | 7,952 | 40 months | 97% |
| 2020 | 7,091 | 37 months | 97% |
| 2021 | 7,735 | 37 months | 98% |
| 2022 | 8,875 | 40 months | 97% |
| 2023 | 8,393 | 41 months | 97% |
| 2024 | 7,742 | 41 months | 97% |
| 2025 | 7,706 | 42 months | 97% |
What the Data Cannot Show
The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not included, and prison terms are those imposed, not time served.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline. This post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2K2.1 (6,366), U.S. Sentencing Commission individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Mandatory minimum sentences. Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- §2K2.1 Unlawful Receipt, Possession, or Transportation of Firearms or Ammunition: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2K2.1 Unlawful Receipt, Possession, or Transportation of Firearms or Ammunition: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2K2.1 Unlawful Receipt, Possession, or Transportation of Firearms or Ammunition: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.