In 2023, law enforcement was cracking down on violent crime in Cleveland to combat homicides and shootings that spiked during the pandemic.
Ideastream Public Media’s Matt Richmond spoke with Josh Boose about dozens of federal cases that came down that summer to understand the illegal firearms trade in Northeast Ohio and what’s being done to stop it.
JOSH BOOSE: Matt, thanks for joining us.
In August 2023, the Justice Department announced 59 indictments for gun and drug charges. You’ve looked at the outcomes of those cases. What did you learn about how illegal guns move through Northeast Ohio?
MATT RICHMOND: First of all, these were not bulk gun sales. The people charged were selling one or two or three guns to an undercover agent, coming back the next day or a week later to sell another gun or two.
The sales were often arranged by a ringleader but, from the court documents, it appears that person was just sending out people to find guns to sell again. In one case a defendant said they went to a gun shop to buy a gun to sell at a profit to the agent.
In some cases, the guns were linked to several crimes in Cleveland going back years. So, some of these guns likely circulated in the area for a long time before landing with these federal agents.
BOOSE: The charges included trafficking in machine guns. What kind of guns were in circulation?
RICHMOND: These were mostly handguns. The machine gun charges stem from a law dating to the 1930s that makes selling parts that can be installed on a handgun or a rifle to make it fully automatic.
A fully automatic weapon can fire multiple shots on a single trigger pull without needing to be manually reloaded.
The National Firearms Act of 1934 was passed in reaction to Prohibition Era gang war shootouts like the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago.
It restricts owning or selling fully automatic weapons and puts possession or sale of those mechanical pieces in the same category as having the machine gun itself.
BOOSE: So, how much do these pieces, called Glock switches or autosears, sell for?
RICHMOND: Undercover buyers were paying $500 to $700 each. I looked at another case — of someone manufacturing these devices in Fort Worth on a 3D printer out of their home. And he was selling each one for $50 and created hundreds. That manufacturer was eventually sentenced to seven years in prison.
BOOSE: What was the result of the cases in Cleveland? What sort of prison time did they result in?
RICHMOND: A couple defendants received a few years probation. The vast majority with the gun sales charges got a few years, with more guns leading to an increase in sentencing. Some got up to around ten years
The longest sentence I saw was for 14 years, for machine gun charges — selling a firearm with a destroyed serial number. That defendant is appealing that sentence.
It does appear from the court documents that many of the defendants facing machine gun charges are young men from the inner city who were looking to make some easy money and didn’t realize the consequences they’d face for selling those parts.
BOOSE: The maximum for the machine gun charges is 10 years. The firearm charges are up to five years. Why is there a variation in those sentences?
RICHMOND: I learned a few things about how sentencing works in federal court.
After the guilty plea, the probation department creates a presentencing report. And they use a numerical calculation that takes into account all kinds of things: criminal history, your actions while waiting for trial, and then there’s add-ons that can increase your sentence.
These sales were made to undercover agents, who were often sitting in a car in a parking lot and offhand remarks that were made during the transaction could result in a longer sentence. In a lot of these cases, the undercover agent mentioned that they traffic guns to Canada and just making that statement made you aware of the possibility that the guns would be exported and that increased sentences.
In another case, the undercover agent showed that they had a hidden compartment in their car. And that knowledge could increase your sentence.
Really, it comes down to the judge in the end. They were very similar acts and the judge in one case gave a 14-year sentence to a young man and in another case a couple guys got probation.
BOOSE: Wow, huge difference. Matt, thanks for coming on.
