Convicted Felon Sentenced to 46 Months for Illegal Firearm Possession

A federal judge sentenced a convicted felon to 46 months in prison on June 1, 2026, for illegally possessing a firearm, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that day.

The defendant, identified in the Justice Department release as a person with a prior felony conviction, faced charges under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), the federal statute that prohibits anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison from possessing any firearm or ammunition. The case was prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

The sentence includes three years of supervised release following imprisonment. The court also ordered forfeiture of the firearm and any ammunition involved. Under federal sentencing guidelines, the 46-month term falls within the range prescribed for a felon-in-possession offense with the defendant's criminal history.

The conviction and sentence close one case within the Justice Department's ongoing enforcement of federal firearms prohibitions on prohibited persons. Federal law bars roughly 4.5 million Americans with felony convictions from legal gun ownership, according to estimates derived from Bureau of Justice Statistics data on criminal records.

Each successful prosecution removes one prohibited individual from potential circulation of firearms for the duration of the sentence and any subsequent restrictions.

Downstream, the sentence activates standard post-release conditions that include restrictions on travel, employment, and contact with other felons. The forfeiture order requires law-enforcement agencies to destroy or repurpose the seized weapon under established protocols.

Federal probation officers must now monitor the defendant's compliance for three years after release, with any violation exposing him to additional prison time. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Alabama will report the outcome to national firearms enforcement databases used by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to track recidivism patterns.

This sentencing follows a long-running federal effort to prosecute felon-in-possession cases, which have formed a core part of Justice Department priorities across multiple administrations. The original statute prohibiting firearm possession by convicted felons was enacted in 1968 and has been amended several times, most notably by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act in 1993 that expanded background-check requirements.

The Northern District of Alabama has recorded dozens of similar convictions in the past five years under the same statute.