The core federal firearms offense is 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), which prohibits possession of a firearm or ammunition by people in listed categories: most commonly a person convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment, and also a person under a qualifying protective order, an unlawful user of a controlled substance, and others.¹ Unlike Texas law, there is no five-year window after which possession becomes lawful and no exception for the home; the federal bar is continuing.

To convict under Section 922(g)(1), the government must prove a qualifying prior conviction, knowing possession of a firearm or ammunition, and a connection to interstate or foreign commerce, usually shown through an expert who traces where the firearm was manufactured.¹ The penalty comes from the federal sentencing structure, not a Texas grade ladder, which is why the prior-conviction record and the circumstances of the seizure decide most cases.

Federal firearms exposure is set by the statutory maximum, then refined by the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and any mandatory enhancement tied to the prior-conviction record. These are the variables that decide what a firearms charge means.

The elements the government must prove

Under Section 922(g)(1) the government must prove a qualifying prior conviction, knowing possession of a firearm or ammunition, and the interstate-commerce connection.¹ Possession can be actual or constructive, and whether the proof shows the person knowingly possessed the firearm, as opposed to being merely present where it was found, is a frequent fault line.

The statutory maximum and the Guidelines

A Section 922(g) conviction carries a statutory maximum term of imprisonment, and within that ceiling the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines calculate an advisory offense level that rises with the type and number of firearms, a stolen firearm, an altered serial number, and any use of the firearm in connection with another felony, with the court also weighing the factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).³⁴ An enhancement applied incorrectly can translate into years.

When prior convictions trigger a mandatory minimum

Where the person has three qualifying prior convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses, a separate provision imposes a fifteen-year mandatory minimum, far above the ordinary range.⁵ Whether each prior actually qualifies is heavily litigated, so the prior-conviction record is examined before anything else.

When a firearm is tied to another crime

A separate charge under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) applies where a firearm is used or carried in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime or a crime of violence, and it adds a mandatory sentence that runs consecutively to any other count.² That count, when it is charged, changes the exposure independently of the possession charge.

Many people charged under Section 922(g) believed the page had turned. A felony from years ago, fully discharged, does not restore the right to possess a firearm under federal law, and there is no home exception as there is in Texas.¹ A person who keeps a firearm for protection, who is a passenger in a car where one is found, or who is under a qualifying protective order can be charged long after any underlying case closed.

The collateral exposure is heavy. A federal firearms conviction is a felony with the licensing, employment, and housing consequences that follow any felony, and for a noncitizen it carries immigration consequences. A custodial sentence is followed by a multi-year term of supervised release, and a violation of that term can return the person to federal court for additional prison time. That is why the predicate convictions and the legality of the seizure are examined first.

The criminal exposure on a Section 922(g) count is set by the statutory maximum, and within it the Guidelines calculation and the Section 3553(a) factors shape the sentence the court imposes.¹³⁴ Where the person has three qualifying violent-felony or serious-drug priors, a fifteen-year mandatory minimum can apply,⁵ and a separate Section 924(c) count stacks a further mandatory consecutive term on top.²

The realistic questions are whether each prior the government relies on actually qualifies, whether the searches and seizures hold up, whether a Guidelines enhancement was applied correctly, and, in some cases, whether a constitutional challenge to the charge as applied is available. Detention pending trial is decided early under the Bail Reform Act.⁶ Outcomes turn on the specific record and are never promised.

A federal firearms case is built from the prior-conviction record and the circumstances of the seizure, and what a person does in the first days affects both. The most common mistake is explaining the situation to agents at the scene; statements are recorded and used, and they can convert a contested possession question into a concession.

A few steps help in nearly every case. Gather any paperwork from the prior cases, including judgments and discharge records, because whether each prior qualifies decides the exposure. Preserve anything that shows who owned or controlled the firearm and the place it was found. Keep all paperwork from the arrest. Say nothing about the facts to anyone other than counsel, assume every jail call is recorded, and do not contact any co-defendant. Where federal agents are involved, assume the matter may be charged federally even if the arrest began with a state stop.

This is general information about how these cases work in Texas. It is not legal advice about any specific case, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.

A federal case moves faster and on heavier paper than a state case. Knowing the order of events makes the decision points easier to see. The matter is heard in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division, and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for that district.⁷⁸

Initial appearance

After arrest, the person is brought before a U.S. Magistrate Judge for an initial appearance under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 5, where the charge and rights are stated and counsel is addressed.⁹

Detention hearing

Release or detention pending trial is decided under the Bail Reform Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3142, and the question turns on the subsection charged and any tied predicate.⁶ Pretrial Services interviews the person beforehand, and that report shapes the hearing.

Grand jury indictment

A federal felony proceeds by indictment returned by a grand jury, and a superseding indictment can add counts or defendants later.

Discovery and motions

The government produces its evidence under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16, supplemented by the prosecution's constitutional duty to disclose exculpatory evidence under Brady and credibility evidence under Giglio.¹⁰¹¹¹² Motion practice on the legality of the stop, the search, and the seizure happens here, along with any available challenge to the charge as applied.

Plea or trial, then sentencing

A case resolves by a guilty plea taken under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11 or by trial.¹³ At sentencing the court calculates the advisory Guidelines range and weighs the factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) to impose sentence.³⁴

A federal case runs on the Speedy Trial Act clock and on a series of court-set deadlines, and the early ones decide what evidence survives and what options remain.

A federal firearms case is worked from the bottom of the discovery up. The prior-conviction record drives the indictment, the Guidelines, and any mandatory-minimum exposure, so it is read first and pulled at the source. State plea papers, judgments, indictments, and presentence reports for the predicates are obtained where available and compared against the federal recitations for accuracy, because whether each prior qualifies decides the case.¹

Suppression posture is mapped on every traffic stop, consent encounter, and protective sweep that led to the firearm,¹⁴ and the discovery is requested in full under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16.¹⁰ Brady and Giglio scrutiny applies to any cooperator or informant in the file.¹¹¹² Sentencing mitigation begins early because the firearms enhancements run hot, and an enhancement for using the firearm in connection with another felony, applied incorrectly, translates into years.³ The Presentence Investigation Report is reviewed line by line and met with written objections to overstated firearm counts, mischaracterized priors, and enhancements the proof does not support. Where the predicate and the current state of the law support it, a constitutional challenge to the charge as applied is filed and preserved on the record.

The hour estimate

Forrest Good PLLC estimates this matter at 50 to 120 hours of attorney time, billed at $250 per hour. The lower end reflects a single-firearm Section 922(g)(1) case with a clean suppression record that resolves by an early plea; the upper end reflects a case with three priors and mandatory-minimum exposure, contested suppression, an as-applied constitutional challenge, or a Section 924(c) count stacked on another indictment. The pricing methodology explains how the charging instrument, the evidence load, and the procedural stakes drive the estimate.

How the fee is set

This matter is priced by scoped consultation rather than a fixed flat fee, because federal exposure depends on the Guidelines calculation, the volume of discovery, and whether the case resolves by plea or goes to trial, and those variables are only knowable after the indictment and the predicate documentation are reviewed.³ After that review, the engagement letter sets the scope and the fee for the matter in writing, still billed at the $250-per-hour rate for work beyond the scoped fee. The fee approach shown here is honored while this page is published, consistent with Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct 7.02(d).¹⁵

Any work outside the scoped fee is billed at $250 per hour and is disclosed in the written engagement letter before it begins. The engagement letter is the binding contract for the matter.

The first step is a conversation. The initial 30-minute consultation with Forrest Good PLLC is free and is scheduled through the office's Google Booking page. It is the time to walk through which subsection has been charged, the prior-conviction record the government will rely on, and the circumstances of the seizure, and to understand whether a mandatory minimum or a constitutional challenge is in play. Bringing the prior judgments and any arrest paperwork makes the half hour far more useful.

No attorney-client relationship is formed until a written engagement letter is signed; the consultation itself carries no obligation.

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