Penalty for Giving a Gun to a Felon: Federal and State Charges

Giving a gun to a felon is a federal felony that carries up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, and a judge can impose both. The penalty applies to gifts, loans, and trades, not only sales, and the exposure doesn’t stop at the criminal sentence: related charges often get stacked, civil lawsuits can follow, and a conviction permanently reshapes your own gun rights and career.

The Federal Law and What It Covers

Under 18 U.S.C. 922(d), it is illegal to sell or otherwise transfer a firearm or ammunition to anyone you know or have reasonable cause to believe is a prohibited person. The statute reaches every form of transfer, including gifts, trades, and loans.¹ The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives enforces it and refers cases to federal prosecutors.

A knowing violation carries up to 15 years in federal prison under 18 U.S.C. 924(a)(8).² That ceiling is relatively new. Before the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022, the maximum was 10 years. Congress raised it specifically to treat these transfers more seriously. Because the statute says “fined under this title” rather than naming a dollar amount, the general federal fine provision applies: up to $250,000 for a felony conviction.³

While the question of giving a gun to a felon is the most common one, the same 15-year penalty applies to transfers to any federally prohibited person. Those categories include fugitives, unlawful drug users, people subject to qualifying domestic violence restraining orders, people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence, people adjudicated mentally defective, certain noncitizens, dishonorably discharged service members, and people who have renounced U.S. citizenship.¹

Prosecutors Have to Prove You Knew

The knowledge element is the hinge of almost every case under Section 922(d). The government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you knew or had reasonable cause to believe the recipient was a prohibited person.¹

If you genuinely did not know the recipient had a felony record and nothing about the situation would have put a reasonable person on notice, that undercuts the government’s case. The defense is strongest when the recipient actively concealed their background, such as by presenting false identification. Willful blindness is a different story. Courts have consistently held that deliberately avoiding information about a buyer’s status is functionally the same as knowing it.

Other defenses come up less often. If the firearm never actually changed hands or the deal fell apart, there was no completed transfer. Evidence obtained through an unlawful search can be suppressed, which may gut the government’s proof. Entrapment requires showing both that law enforcement induced the offense and that the defendant wasn’t predisposed to commit it.

Related Charges Prosecutors Stack On

A single transaction often triggers more than one federal charge. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act added two companion offenses that frequently travel with a Section 922(d) count.

Straw purchasing under 18 U.S.C. 932 makes it a crime to buy a firearm on behalf of someone else while knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that person is prohibited from possessing one. The base penalty is up to 15 years. If the buyer knows the firearm will be used in a felony, an act of terrorism, or a drug trafficking crime, the ceiling rises to 25 years.⁴

Firearm trafficking under 18 U.S.C. 933 covers anyone who ships, transports, transfers, or disposes of a firearm to another person knowing that doing so would violate federal law or that the gun will be used in a felony, terrorism, or drug trafficking offense. The maximum is 15 years.⁵

Someone who buys a handgun at a store and hands it to a friend with a felony conviction can face a straw purchasing charge, a trafficking charge, and a transfer-to-prohibited-person charge in the same indictment.

What Sentences Actually Look Like

The 15-year maximum is a ceiling, not a typical sentence. What a defendant receives depends on the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, especially Guideline 2K2.1, which sets a base offense level and then adjusts it.

The starting point depends on the firearm and the defendant’s record. A transfer involving a semiautomatic firearm capable of accepting a large-capacity magazine starts at a base offense level of 20. A defendant with a prior felony conviction for a violent crime or a drug offense starts at 22. Two or more such priors push the base to at least 24, and it can reach 26.⁶

Several facts push the number higher:

Transferring three to seven firearms adds 2 levels. Eight to 24 adds 4. The scale continues up to 10 additional levels for 200 or more.
Transferring a rocket launcher, missile, or similar weapon adds 15 levels. Other destructive devices add 2.
Knowing or having reason to believe the gun would be used in another felony adds 4 levels, with a floor of level 18.⁶

That last enhancement is where sentences get long. Under a cross-reference provision, if the firearm was transferred for use in another offense, the sentencing court can apply the guidelines for that underlying crime when they produce a higher offense level than the firearms guideline alone.⁶ Hand someone a gun knowing they plan to rob a store, and the guidelines treat you much like a participant in the robbery.

Living With a Felon Can Be Enough

You don’t have to physically hand over a gun to be liable. Federal courts apply a doctrine called constructive possession: a felon constructively possesses a firearm when they know it is present and have the practical ability to control it.

If your spouse has a felony conviction and knows the combination to the safe where you keep a handgun, a court can find they possess the firearm under federal law without ever touching it. The person who made the gun accessible can be charged under Section 922(d) for effectively transferring possession. Courts draw one line: mere proximity isn’t enough. The government has to show both knowledge and the ability to control the weapon. If you live with a prohibited person, store firearms where only you can access them.

When a Prior Conviction Doesn’t Disqualify the Recipient

Not every felony conviction permanently bars someone from receiving firearms. Under 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(20), a conviction that has been expunged, set aside, or pardoned does not count as a disqualifying conviction for firearms purposes, and the same applies when the person’s civil rights have been restored. There is one exception: if the expungement, pardon, or restoration order explicitly says the person still cannot possess firearms, the conviction still disqualifies them.⁷

Verifying this is harder than it sounds. A verbal assurance from the recipient isn’t worth much if it turns out to be wrong, and the law doesn’t care whether they lied to you if a reasonable person would have been suspicious. The safe move is a background check through a licensed dealer rather than taking anyone’s word for it.

State Charges on Top of Federal Ones

Federal law sets a floor. Most states have their own laws prohibiting firearm transfers to convicted felons and other prohibited people, and the specifics vary. Some states require background checks on every transfer, including private sales. Others leave private sales largely unregulated, placing the burden on the seller to evaluate the buyer.

State penalties also range from misdemeanor fines to prison terms comparable to the federal maximum. A single transfer can be prosecuted in both state and federal court. Double jeopardy doesn’t block parallel prosecutions, because state and federal governments are considered separate sovereigns.

Civil Lawsuits From the Victim

Criminal charges aren’t the only risk. If you give or sell a firearm to someone who isn’t legally allowed to have one, and that person uses it to injure or kill someone, the victim or their family can sue you for negligent entrustment. The theory holds you civilly responsible for damages caused by someone you should have known was unfit to possess the weapon.

The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act shields gun sellers from many lawsuits, but only for lawful sales. The PLCAA explicitly carves out negligent entrustment claims and cases where the seller violated a state or federal firearms law.⁸ An illegal transfer to a felon who then shoots someone falls outside the shield. Damages can include medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and in egregious cases, punitive damages.

What a Conviction Costs Beyond the Sentence

Because a Section 922(d) violation is a federal felony, a conviction almost always means losing your own right to possess firearms permanently. Any Federal Firearms License you hold will be revoked. Jobs in law enforcement, security, the military, and any field requiring a security clearance are effectively closed off, and many private employers who run background checks will pass on a felony firearms conviction.

Depending on your state, a felony conviction can also strip the right to vote, serve on a jury, or hold public office. Rights restoration is possible in many jurisdictions but varies widely and often takes years. For someone who runs a gun shop or regularly buys and sells firearms, a single illegal transfer can end a career.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 924 – Penalties
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3571 – Sentence of Fine
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 932 – Straw Purchasing of Firearms
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 933 – Trafficking in Firearms
6
United States Sentencing Commission. USSG 2K2.1 – Unlawful Receipt, Possession, or Transportation of Firearms or Ammunition
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 921 – Definitions
8
Legal Information Institute. 15 USC 7903(5)(A) – Qualified Civil Liability Action