§2K2.5 Possession of Firearm or Dangerous Weapon in Federal Facility: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021
In fiscal year 2021, 10 people were sentenced under §2K2.5. 4 (40%) received a prison term, with a median of 5.5 months, and 5 (50%) received probation only. A quarter of those sent to prison received 28.5 months or more.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2K2.5 Possession of Firearm or Dangerous Weapon in Federal › §2K2.5: FY2021
In brief: In fiscal year 2021, 10 people were sentenced under §2K2.5. 4 (40%) received a prison term, with a median of 5.5 months, and 5 (50%) received probation only. A quarter of those sent to prison received 28.5 months or more.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 10 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021. 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.
5 of the 10 People Received Probation Only
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 10 people sentenced in fiscal year 2021 with §2K2.5 as the primary guideline. 5 of them (50%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. 4 (40%) received a prison term.
The median prison term among the 4 was 5.5 months. A quarter received 3.8 months or less, and a quarter received 28.5 months or more. With only 4 people, the median and the quartiles each depend on very few sentences.
4 people (40%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, and the median term was 27 months.
Pleas and the Mandatory Minimum
All 10 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none went to trial. 90% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement and 10% were straight pleas.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 10 people (10%). The data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it.
Sentences Against the Guideline Range
9 of the 10 sentences (90%) were within the guideline range, and 1 (10%) was above it. None was below the range.
The previous year, fiscal year 2020, had 65% of sentences within the range, and the following year, fiscal year 2022, had 58%. The 90% figure for 2021 is higher than both and higher than the 73% for all years from 2016 to 2025.
Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History
A fine was ordered for 1 person (10%), and restitution for 0 (0%).
90% of the people were in the lowest criminal history category, category I, and 0% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
The Year in Context
Fiscal year 2021 ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. For all guidelines that year, 57,287 people were sentenced. The median prison term was 29 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 43% of sentences were within the range.
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 132 people were sentenced under §2K2.5. 59% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 11.2 months, and 98% pleaded guilty. The 2021 share sent to prison and the 2021 median were both lower.
The yearly table shows 17 people in fiscal year 2020 and 12 in fiscal year 2022.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 10 | 7.3 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 12 | 10.5 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 12 | 10.8 months | 92% |
| 2019 | 17 | 5 months | 94% |
| 2020 | 17 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 10 | 5.5 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 12 | 13.9 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 21 | 18.5 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 12 | 18.7 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 9 | 10 months | 9 of 9 |
What the Records Leave Out
The guideline is titled "Possession of Firearm or Dangerous Weapon in Federal Facility; Possession or Discharge of Firearm in School Zone." The Commission counts these cases as Firearms offenses. The records do not describe the facts of any case or explain why 5 of the 10 people received probation.
The crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal numbers are reported.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2K2.5 (10), 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)
- §2K2.5 Possession of Firearm or Dangerous Weapon in Federal Facility: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2K2.5 Possession of Firearm or Dangerous Weapon in Federal Facility: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2K2.5 Possession of Firearm or Dangerous Weapon in Federal Facility: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022 (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.