The punishment for threatening someone with a gun runs from up to a year in county jail for a misdemeanor to multi-year state prison terms for a felony, and federal mandatory minimums that start at seven years when the threat happens during another violent crime. The exact sentence depends on what you did with the weapon, where it happened, who the victim was, and whether state or federal prosecutors file the case. Even without a shot fired or anyone injured, a conviction usually brings a lifetime firearm ban and a permanent record.
What You Can Be Charged With
Prosecutors pick from several overlapping charges, and the choice shapes the penalty more than almost anything else.
Assault with a deadly weapon is one of the most common. Criminal assault doesn’t require touching anyone. It requires that your conduct put the victim in reasonable fear of imminent physical harm. Pointing a loaded gun clears that line easily, and in many jurisdictions so does gesturing toward a holstered weapon during a confrontation.
Aggravated assault applies when something elevates the conduct beyond simple assault. Using a firearm is one of the most common triggers for the aggravated label, though intent to commit another crime or the victim’s protected status can also qualify.
Brandishing a firearm is a separate offense in many states. Under federal law, brandishing means displaying all or part of a firearm, or otherwise making its presence known, to intimidate another person, even if the gun is never directly visible.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 924 Penalties – Section: Definition of Brandish State definitions vary but typically cover pulling back a jacket to reveal a holstered weapon during an argument or waving a gun around without aiming it at anyone in particular.
Criminal threats, sometimes called terroristic threats or menacing, apply when someone verbally threatens to kill or seriously injure another person and has the apparent ability to follow through. Holding a gun while making that kind of statement makes the charge easy to prove.
When It’s a Misdemeanor vs. a Felony
Whether the case is charged as a misdemeanor or a felony usually comes down to what you actually did with the weapon.
Misdemeanors tend to involve displaying a weapon without pointing it or voicing explicit threats. Someone who lifts a shirt to flash a holstered gun during a road-rage incident might face misdemeanor brandishing. That’s still serious: weapons-related misdemeanors carry real jail time and lasting collateral consequences. The ceiling is just lower.
The charge jumps to a felony when the offender points the weapon directly at someone, voices explicit threats to harm or kill, uses the gun to demand money or force compliance, or is already committing another crime. Whether the gun was loaded matters too. States that distinguish between loaded and unloaded firearms consistently treat a loaded, accessible weapon as the more serious offense, sometimes moving the charge from misdemeanor to felony on that factor alone.
State Prison Time and Fines
Most gun-threat cases are prosecuted in state court, and the specific penalties vary by jurisdiction. The ranges below are general patterns, not any single state’s code.
A misdemeanor conviction typically brings up to twelve months in county jail. Fines commonly run from $1,000 to several thousand dollars. Courts also routinely add probation, community service, and mandatory anger management or counseling.
Felony sentences are a different scale entirely. Time shifts from county jail to state prison, and sentences commonly land between two and ten years, sometimes longer. State felony fines often cap around $10,000 to $25,000. Federal felony convictions can carry fines up to $250,000 for an individual defendant.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3571 Sentence of Fine
When Federal Charges Apply
Federal prosecution carries some of the harshest mandatory minimums in the criminal code, and the circumstances that trigger it aren’t limited to obvious federal crimes.
Brandishing During a Violent or Drug Crime
Brandishing a firearm during a federal crime of violence or drug trafficking offense carries a mandatory minimum of seven years, stacked on top of the sentence for the underlying crime.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 924 Penalties Simply possessing a firearm during the crime triggers a five-year mandatory minimum. Firing it raises the floor to ten.
The weapon type matters. For a short-barreled rifle, short-barreled shotgun, or semiautomatic assault weapon, the minimum is ten years. For a machine gun, destructive device, or any firearm with a silencer, it’s thirty.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 924 Penalties
Threats Across State Lines
A gun threat delivered by phone call, text, email, or social media across state lines can be charged federally. Transmitting a threat to injure another person interstate carries up to five years. Pair it with intent to extort money or something of value, and the maximum jumps to twenty.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 875 Interstate Communications
Threats Against Federal Officers
Assaulting a federal officer or employee during their duties carries up to a year in prison on its own. Use a deadly weapon, and the maximum climbs to twenty years.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 111 Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers or Employees
Factors That Make the Sentence Worse
Beyond the base penalty, several factors drive sentences higher.
- Firing the weapon. A warning shot that hits nothing still counts as a discharge and triggers the highest sentencing tier. In federal cases, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence adds a mandatory ten-year minimum.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 924 Penalties
- Protected locations. Simply possessing a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school can bring up to five years in federal prison and a $5,000 fine, before any threat is charged separately. Government buildings and courthouses carry similar enhancements.6Office of Justice Programs. Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990
- Who the victim was. Threatening a law enforcement officer, judge, child, or elderly person typically adds years. A deadly-weapon assault on a federal officer can reach twenty years.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 111 Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers or Employees
- Prior record. Federal sentencing guidelines raise the offense level by four when a firearm was used in connection with another felony offense. State repeat-offender laws produce similar jumps.7United States Sentencing Commission. USSG 2K2.1 Unlawful Receipt, Possession, or Transportation of Firearms or Ammunition
- Domestic violence. When the victim is a spouse, intimate partner, or dating partner, charges and collateral consequences intensify, especially for firearm rights.
- Committed during another crime. Using the gun to threaten someone during a robbery or carjacking adds separate charges and activates the federal mandatory minimums above.
Losing Your Right to Own a Gun
One of the heaviest punishments for a gun-threat conviction has nothing to do with incarceration.
Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year of imprisonment from possessing any firearm or ammunition.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 Unlawful Acts That means almost any felony conviction, including aggravated assault, assault with a deadly weapon, or felony brandishing, triggers a lifetime federal firearm ban. The ban applies whether or not the underlying crime involved a gun.
A misdemeanor can strip firearm rights too if it qualifies as a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. Federal law bars anyone convicted of a misdemeanor involving the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon, against a spouse, intimate partner, or family member from possessing firearms.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 Unlawful Acts Threatening a domestic partner with a gun is the clearest trigger for that provision.
In 2024, the Supreme Court held in United States v. Rahimi that individuals a court has found to pose a credible threat to another person’s physical safety can be disarmed consistent with the Second Amendment. The Court noted that “since the Founding, the Nation’s firearm laws have included regulations to stop individuals who threaten physical harm to others from misusing firearms.”9Supreme Court of the United States. United States v. Rahimi, No. 22-915
Restoring firearm rights is possible in some states but rarely easy. Waiting periods before a petition can even be filed range from five to twenty years after conviction or release. A presidential or gubernatorial pardon, or an expungement, can restore rights under federal law, but those outcomes are uncommon.
When Pulling a Gun Isn’t a Crime
Displaying a firearm toward another person isn’t automatically a crime. Self-defense is the most common successful defense, and its limits are strict.
A valid self-defense claim for threatening or using a firearm generally requires three elements: an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm, that deadly force or the threat of it was genuinely necessary to stop that threat, and that a reasonable person in the same situation would have reached the same conclusion. Fail on any one, and what you thought was self-defense becomes an aggravating factor at sentencing.
The castle doctrine, recognized in some form in most states, gives you broader latitude to use or threaten force against someone who unlawfully enters your home. In castle-doctrine states, a homeowner who draws on an intruder usually has a strong defense and may not need to prove safe retreat was impossible.
Stand-your-ground laws extend that principle beyond the home, removing the duty to retreat anywhere you have a legal right to be. More than half of U.S. states recognize some form of stand-your-ground protection by statute or case law. In states without it, the duty to retreat applies: if you could have safely walked away before drawing the weapon, your self-defense claim weakens considerably.
Consequences Beyond the Sentence
A conviction creates problems that outlast the sentence itself.
The victim can sue in civil court separately from the criminal case. Civil assault doesn’t require physical contact. Intentionally creating a reasonable fear of imminent harm, which pointing a gun plainly does, is enough. Damages typically include medical bills, therapy, lost wages, and emotional distress, and courts can add punitive damages when the conduct was intentional, reckless, or malicious. A criminal acquittal doesn’t block a civil judgment. The two proceedings are independent, and the civil burden of proof is lower.
A violent-offense conviction shows up permanently on background checks and is among the most damaging for employment, especially in healthcare, education, finance, and government. Professional licensing boards routinely weigh firearm-related convictions, and the result can range from extended review to automatic disqualification.
Courts regularly issue protective or restraining orders at sentencing or as a release condition, barring contact with the victim for years. Violating one is a separate crime that can trigger immediate arrest.
For non-citizens, the stakes rise sharply. Federal immigration law makes any noncitizen convicted of a firearm offense deportable, including purchasing, using, owning, possessing, or carrying a firearm in violation of any law. Assault with a deadly weapon is also widely treated as a crime involving moral turpitude, a separate deportation ground when committed within five years of admission to the United States with a potential sentence of one year or more.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1227 Deportable Aliens If the conviction qualifies as an aggravated felony, deportation is mandatory with very limited relief. Any noncitizen charged with a firearms offense should talk to an immigration attorney immediately, separate from the criminal defense lawyer.