Weapons Prosecutions for September 2025
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during September 2025 the government reported 657 new weapons prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 4.8 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged with weapons-related offenses are based on case-by-case information obtained by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (see Table 1).
When monthly 2025 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was only slightly up (2%). Prosecutions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are down 7.1 percent from levels reported in 2020.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Weapons Prosecutions
The leveling out from the levels five years ago in weapons prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of weapons prosecutions of this type recorded on a month-to-month basis. Where a prosecution was initially filed in U.S. Magistrate Court and then transferred to the U.S. District Court, the magistrate filing date was used since this provides an earlier indicator of actual trends. The superimposed line on the bars plots the six-month moving average so that natural fluctuations are smoothed out. The one and five-year rates of change in Table 1 and in the sections that follow are all based upon this six-month moving average. To view trends year-by-year rather than month-by-month, see TRAC's annual report series for a broader picture.
Within the broad category of weapons, cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
Case types within weapons are
Armed Career Criminal Act
Firearms/Triggerlock
Other Operation Triggerlock Prosecutions
The largest number of prosecutions of these matters in September 2025 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 100 percent of prosecutions. See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for weapons prosecutions in September 2025 was ATF accounting for 58 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of weapons referrals were: FBI (18% ), Local (8%), DHS (7%), DEA (2%). See Figure 3.
Weapons Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In September 2025, 125 defendants in weapons cases for these matters were filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. These courts handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In addition, complaints are sometimes filed in the magistrate courts before an indictment or information is entered. In these cases, the matter starts in the magistrate courts and later moves to the district court where subsequent proceedings take place.
In the magistrate courts in September the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 involving "Firearms; Unlawful acts". This was the lead charge for 75.2 percent of all magistrate filings in September.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "Other US Code Section" (12%).
Weapons Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In September 2025, 532 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during September there were an additional 124 defendants whose cases moved from the magistrate courts to the U.S. district courts after an indictment or information was filed. The sections which follow cover both sets of cases and therefore cover all matters filed in district court during September.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of weapons matters filed in U.S. District Court during September 2025.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 538 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 25 2 3 5 More 18 USC 554 - Smuggling goods from the United States 12 4 5 8 More 18 USC 2119 - Carjacking 10 5 8 9 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 8 6 6 4 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 7 7 4 2 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 5 8 11 10 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 5 8 9 7 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 5 8 7 6 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Firearms; Unlawful acts" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Firearms; Unlawful acts" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841. "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Other US Code Section" under Title U.S.C Section. "Other US Code Section" under Title U.S.C Section was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 38.3 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 924 that involves " Firearms; Penalties ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 118.4 percent — was registered for prosecutions under "Other US Code Section " (Title U.S.C Section ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 48.1 percent — was " Smuggling goods from the United States " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 554 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 36.4 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In September 2025 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 235 weapons prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of weapons prosecutions that are filed in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of prosecutions per capita for these matters last month are shown in Table 3. Districts must have at least 5 weapons prosecutions to receive a ranking.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago D. C. 3,358 19 1 57 28 More Tenn, W 1,392 18 2 28 42 More Ala, S 1,243 9 3 41 69 More Ala, M 1,204 12 4 36 75 More Mo, E 1,195 29 5 1 1 More S Dakota 1,192 9 6 33 30 More Montana 1,165 11 7 9 14 More Okla, N 1,083 10 8 40 43 More Iowa, N 992 11 9 17 13 More N Mexico 908 16 10 37 22 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of Washington, D.C. (Washington) — with 3358 prosecutions as compared with 235 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during September 2025.
The Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 2nd.
Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Northern District of Iowa (Cedar Rapids), now ranked 9th , and Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) at 2nd In the same order, these districts ranked 17th and 28th one year ago and 13th and 42nd five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of weapons prosecutions compared to one year ago — 296.3 percent — was Washington, D.C. (Washington). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 350 percent — was Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of weapons prosecutions — 11.3 percent — was Northern District of Iowa (Cedar Rapids). But over the past five years, Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) showed the largest drop — 39.9 percent.
Top Ranked District Judges
At any one time, there are about 680 federal District Court judges working in the United States. The judges recorded with the largest number of new weapons crime cases of this type during September 2025 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Rosenthal, Lee Hyman Texas, S 16 1 More Bell, Kenneth Davis, Sr. N Car, W 11 2 More Pearson, Benita Yalonda Ohio, N 6 3 More Hanks, George C., Jr. Texas, S 6 3 More Counts, Walter David, III Texas, W 6 3 More Marks, Emily Coody Ala, M 5 6 More Van Tatenhove, Gregory Frederick Ken, E 5 6 More Cogburn, Max Oliver, Jr. N Car, W 5 6 More Fowlkes, John Thomas, Jr. Tenn, W 5 6 More Dooley, Kari Anne Conn 4 10 More Edmunds, Nancy Garlock Mich, E 4 10 More Adams, John R. Ohio, N 4 10 More White, Ronald A. Okla, E 4 10 More Parker, Thomas Lee Robinson Tenn, W 4 10 More Pittman, Mark Timothy Texas, N 4 10 More Rodriguez, Xavier Texas, W 4 10 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 3 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of weapons filings per capita, while the remaining 13 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 16 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Lee Hyman Rosenthal in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 1st with 16 defendants in weapons cases.
Judge Kenneth Davis Bell, Sr. in the Western District of North Carolina (Asheville) ranked 2nd with 11 defendants in weapons cases.
Judges Benita Yalonda Pearson in the Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland), George C. Hanks, Jr. in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) and Walter David Counts, III in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 3rd with 6 defendants in weapons cases.
Report Generated: December 8, 2025
