BOISE – Brandon Wayne Long, 30, of Boise, Idaho, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court in Boise to possession of an unregistered firearm, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.

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, 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 it had a barrel less than 18 inches in length. The firearm is subject to forfeiture.

The charge is punishable by up to ten years in prison, a maximum fine of $10,000, and up to three years of supervised release.

Sentencing is set for August 20, 2012, before U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge at the federal courthouse in Boise.

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.