BOISE – Brandon Wayne Long, 30, of Boise, Idaho, was sentenced in United States District Court today to 41 months in prison for possessing an unregistered firearm, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge also ordered Long to serve three years of supervised release and forfeit the shotgun found in his possession. Long pled guilty to the charge on June 7, 2012.

According to the plea agreement, on October 31, 2010, Boise Police responded to a report of an armed person in a parking lot at the Alarm Co. building in Boise. Officers encountered Long, who admitted he had a BB pistol in his vehicle. Long also advised police that he had a shotgun in his vehicle and gave officers permission to conduct a search. Officers found both a BB pistol and a loaded sawed-off shotgun. Long told police that he possessed the shotgun in order to protect himself from a drug dealer who believed Long had stolen methamphetamine from him. An ATF agent examined the Mossberg 12 gauge pump-action shotgun and determined it had been sawed-off to less than 18 inches long, and that it was not registered to Long in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. Long admitted that he had possessed the shotgun and knew that it was illegal to do so. The firearm is subject to forfeiture.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

The case was prosecuted as part of Idaho's Project Safe Neighborhoods Program, which seeks to reduce gun violence in Idaho.