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Sentencing Law and Policy
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US Sentencing Commission releases notable new “Quick Facts” on firearm offenses

By Douglas Berman

Earlier this week, the US Sentencing Commission released a few more of its terrific “Quick Facts” publications.  As regular readers know, I find so very interesting all the these short data documents, which are designed to “give readers basic facts about a single area of federal crime in an easy-to-read, two-page format.”  The newest set of postings by the USSC on the “Quick Facts” page involve firearm offenses:

There are so many interesting elements to these data reports, especially against the backdrop of the uptick in Second Amendment litigation since the Supreme Court’s landmark Bruen ruling in June 2022.  Notably, the report on 922(g) cases indicates that the number of gun possession sentencings from FY 2022 to FY 2024 declined about 15%.  And yet, there were still more 922(g) sentencings in FY 2024 than in FY 2020.  The USSC document also reports that the average sentencing outcomes in these cases has increased 15% in recent years: “The average sentence imposed was 62 months in fiscal year 2020 and 71 months in fiscal year 2024.”