§2K2.5 Possession of Firearm or Dangerous Weapon in Federal Facility: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025
Federal courts sentenced 132 people under §2K2.5 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Of those, 78 (59%) received a prison term, with a median prison term of 11.2 months, and 46 (35%) received probation only. Of the 132, 130 (98%) pleaded guilty.
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In brief: Federal courts sentenced 132 people under §2K2.5 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Of those, 78 (59%) received a prison term, with a median prison term of 11.2 months, and 46 (35%) received probation only. Of the 132, 130 (98%) pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 132 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 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.
What Does Guideline §2K2.5 Cover?
The title of §2K2.5 in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual is "Possession of Firearm or Dangerous Weapon in Federal Facility; Possession or Discharge of Firearm in School Zone." The title names these kinds of conduct: having a firearm or dangerous weapon in a federal facility, and having or discharging a firearm in a school zone.
The numbers here count cases in which §2K2.5 was the primary guideline. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. The U.S. Sentencing Commission files these cases under the offense type Firearms, and all 132 fall in that group.
Prison or Probation?
Probation was a common result. In 46 of the 132 cases (35%), the person received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. Prison was ordered in 78 cases (59%).
Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 11.2 months. A quarter received 34.5 months or more, and a quarter received 4.2 months or less. These are the terms imposed by the court, not the time actually served.
Guilty Pleas and Trials
Nearly every case ended in a plea: 130 of 132 (98%) pleaded guilty, and 2 people were convicted after a trial. Among guilty pleas, 75% had a written plea agreement and 23% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 10.5 months. After a trial it was 12 months, but that figure rests on 1 person convicted at trial and sent to prison. One case cannot show how plea and trial sentences compare in general.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Guideline Range
The guideline range is the span of months that the Guidelines calculate for a case. In 96 cases (73%), the sentence was within the range. In 27 cases (20%), the sentence was above the range.
Sentences below the range were less common. In 6 cases (5%), the sentence was below the range at the government's request, and in 3 (2%) it was below the range without a government request.
Mandatory Minimums, Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 8 people (6%). Supervised release after prison was ordered for 71 (54%), and the median supervised release term was 36 months.
A fine was ordered for 29 people (22%). Restitution was ordered for 0 (0%).
In criminal history, 54% were in the lowest category I and 14% were in the highest (VI).
How Have Sentences Changed Over the Years?
The yearly counts are small, so single years move a lot. Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 51 people with a median prison term of 7.8 months. Fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 81 people with a median prison term of 12 months.
The table gives each year. The records cannot show why any year differs from another.
| 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 Cannot Show
The Sentencing Commission data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are not in it. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own. Court-martial records also have no criminal history field.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2K2.5 (132), from the U.S. Sentencing Commission's 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 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2K1.4 Arson: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2K1.3 Unlawful Receipt, Possession, or Transportation of Explosive Materials: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2K1.1 Failure to Report Theft of Explosive Materials: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- 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.