Federal Firearms Trafficking Charges Under 18 USC 922, 924, 932, and 933: New 2022 Laws
So your probably facing federal firearms trafficking charges and your ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED because you thought private gun sales were legal. Maybe you sold firearms at gun shows or online. Maybe there’s allegations you purchased guns for someone else who couldn’t buy them. Or maybe prosecutors claim your firearms sales made you dealer without license. Look, we get it. Your COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED by these charges. And you should be! Because firearms trafficking under NEW 18 USC 933 carries 15 YEARS in federal prison and Bipartisan Safer Communities Act passed in 2022 created FIRST-EVER federal gun trafficking and straw purchase crimes with harsh penalties – and ATF’s 2024 rule dramatically expanded who qualifies as dealer requiring license!
What Are Federal Firearms Trafficking Laws?
Let me explain the NEW laws passed in 2022 that criminalized conduct that wasn’t federal crime before. Bipartisan Safer Communities Act signed June 25, 2022 created FIRST specific federal gun trafficking and straw purchase offenses! Before 2022, no dedicated federal firearms trafficking statute!
The Act added TWO new crimes: Section 932 (straw purchases) and Section 933 (firearms trafficking)! Both carry up to 15 years imprisonment – significantly higher than previous penalties! Represents major expansion of federal gun prosecution authority!
Here’s what’s really scary – since law took effect October 31, 2023, over 300 defendants have been charged with gun trafficking or straw purchases! Feds prosecuting aggressively! Over 1,500 firearms seized in first year!
Existing laws still apply too! Section 922(a)(1)(A) prohibits dealing firearms without Federal Firearms License (FFL)! Section 924 sets penalties! Multiple overlapping statutes create complex web of gun crimes!
What Is Firearms Trafficking Under 18 USC 933?
NEW crime created by 2022 Act targeting interstate gun trafficking!
Section 933 criminalizes knowingly purchasing, receiving, disposing of firearms KNOWING or having reasonable cause to believe they’ll be transferred to prohibited persons or used in crimes! Trafficking means acquiring guns to illegally distribute to those who can’t legally possess them!
Elements prosecutors must prove: (1) knowingly engaged in purchasing, disposing, or transferring firearms (2) knowing or having reasonable cause to believe (3) firearms would be transferred to prohibited person OR used to commit crime! All three elements required for conviction!
“Prohibited person” means anyone barred from possessing firearms! Felons, domestic violence misdemeanants, fugitives, drug users, illegal aliens! If you knew or should have known buyer was prohibited, that’s trafficking!
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(212) 300-5196Penalties: up to 15 years imprisonment! If trafficking involves three or more firearms in single transaction OR five or more in series of transactions, enhanced penalties apply! Organized trafficking operations face decade-plus sentences!
“Reasonable cause to believe” is LOWER standard than “knowing”! If circumstances should have alerted you that guns were going to prohibited persons, satisfied element even if didn’t actually know! Willful blindness qualifies!
What Are Straw Purchases Under 18 USC 932?
NEW separate crime for buying guns on behalf of prohibited persons!
Section 932 criminalizes knowingly purchasing or conspiring to purchase firearm for someone you know or have reasonable cause to believe is prohibited person! Straw purchase is when person who can legally buy gun purchases it for person who cannot!
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Featured on Netflix's "Inventing Anna," Todd Spodek brings decades of high-stakes criminal defense experience. His aggressive approach has secured dismissals and acquittals in cases others deemed unwinnable.
Classic straw purchase scenario: girlfriend with clean record buys gun for boyfriend who’s felon! Boyfriend gives her money, tells her what gun to buy, she fills out forms claiming it’s for herself! When actual buyer is prohibited person and straw purchaser falsely claims gun is for them, that’s 932 violation!
Must prove straw purchaser knew or should have known actual buyer was prohibited! If your cousin who’s felon asks you to buy gun for him, you know he’s prohibited – that’s straw purchase! Reasonable cause to believe sufficient – don’t need actual knowledge!
You sold several firearms from your personal collection at local gun shows over the past year, and now federal agents have shown up at your door with a warrant, claiming you were acting as an unlicensed firearms dealer under 18 USC 922(a)(1)(A). They're also alleging that two of the buyers were convicted felons, which has triggered additional trafficking charges under the new 18 USC 933 enacted by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022.
Can I really face federal trafficking charges for selling guns I personally owned, and what kind of prison time am I looking at under these new laws?
The new Section 933, added by the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, specifically targets firearms trafficking and carries penalties of up to 15 years in prison — or up to 25 years if the trafficking results in death or is connected to drug trafficking or violent crime. Prosecutors will argue that the volume and pattern of your sales crossed the line from private collector sales into dealing without a federal firearms license under 18 USC 922(a)(1)(A), which itself carries up to five years. The fact that two buyers were prohibited persons significantly worsens your exposure, because Section 924(a) enhances penalties when firearms end up in the hands of felons. We need to immediately challenge the government's characterization of your sales as commercial dealing versus legitimate private transactions, scrutinize how they obtained evidence against you, and determine whether any of the new 2022 statutory definitions actually apply to your specific conduct.
This is general information only. Contact us for advice specific to your situation.
Penalties: up to 15 years imprisonment! Same maximum as trafficking! Represents HUGE increase from prior penalties for false statements on ATF forms! Previous max was 10 years – now 15!
Conspiracy to commit straw purchase also criminalized! Just agreeing to make straw purchase is separate crime even if purchase never completed! Planning alone is prosecutable!
