Firearms offenses
A conviction for buying, selling, owning, possessing, carrying or using a firearm makes an admitted person deportable, with no sentence threshold, no time limit and no 212(h) waiver. It also makes detention mandatory. But the ground has no counterpart on the inadmissibility list, so a person deportable for a firearms offense may still be admissible, and it does not bar cancellation for a permanent resident unless the offense is also an aggravated felony. What the weapon is, under the federal definition, decides most of it.
Current as of October 2026. We re-check this page regularly and after any rule change.
Two questions decide what a weapons plea does. Is the weapon a firearm or destructive device under the federal definition in 18 U.S.C. 921(a), and does the offense require one as an element? If the answer to both is yes, an admitted person is deportable and detention is mandatory. A third question, whether the offense is trafficking or possession by a prohibited person, decides whether it is also an aggravated felony. This page takes the ground, the definition, the detention rule, the aggravated felony entries, and what the ground leaves open. The map of every criminal ground is on the crimes and removal page.
The ground
INA 237(a)(2)(C) makes deportable any person who at any time after admission is convicted under any law of purchasing, selling, offering for sale, exchanging, using, owning, possessing or carrying, or of attempting or conspiring to do any of those things, any weapon, part or accessory which is a firearm or destructive device as defined in 18 U.S.C. 921(a). Read the list of verbs. Possession is enough. Carrying is enough. Attempt and conspiracy are enough. There is no sentence threshold, no requirement that the offense be a felony, and no five-year window. Nothing about the offense has to involve violence, and a license violation with a lawful purpose can fit.
What the ground does require is a conviction, under the immigration definition in INA 101(a)(48)(A), and an offense whose elements, compared under the categorical approach, require a firearm as defined by the federal statute. Those two requirements are where the analysis lives.
The federal definition of a firearm
Under 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(3), a firearm is any weapon which will, is designed to, or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; the frame or receiver of such a weapon; a firearm muffler or silencer; or a destructive device. Under 921(a)(16), antique firearms are excluded from that definition.
The antique exclusion matters because of the categorical approach. A state weapons statute that reaches antique firearms punishes conduct the federal definition does not, which makes it broader than the federal definition on its face. The Board has discussed the antique-firearm mismatch, and the question whether a person must show a realistic probability that the state actually prosecutes antique cases is litigated. So the argument exists and the Board has addressed it, and that is as far as we would take it without reading your statute. Whether any particular state statute is broader on this basis is decided statute by statute.
INA 237(a)(2)(C); 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(3), (16); Matter of Chairez-Castrejon, 26 I&N Dec. 349 (BIA 2014) (overbreadth for antique firearms not shown without a realistic probability of prosecution; the 2014 and 2015 decisions were later stayed by the Attorney General).
The definition turns on a projectile expelled "by the action of an explosive." A knife, a club or a weapon that works by compressed air does not fit those words. A conviction under a statute that covers weapons generally, without an element requiring a firearm, is analyzed differently from one under a statute that names a firearm. Whether a generic weapons statute is divisible so that the record can show which weapon was involved is a question for the categorical approach page.
Mandatory detention
INA 236(c)(1)(B) requires the government to take into custody, and hold without a bond hearing before the immigration judge, any person deportable under INA 237(a)(2)(C). This is the second consequence of a firearms plea, and for many people the first one they feel. Under Nielsen v. Preap, 586 U.S. 392 (2019), the rule applies even where immigration authorities did not take custody immediately on release from criminal custody, and under Jennings v. Rodriguez, 583 U.S. 281 (2018), there is no implied six-month bond hearing. The mandatory detention page explains the rule and the arguments against it, and our detention practice at icebail.com handles bond.
The aggravated felony entries
Two entries on the aggravated felony list in INA 101(a)(43) are about firearms, and neither carries a sentence threshold.
| Entry | Offense | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| (C) | Illicit trafficking in firearms or destructive devices (18 U.S.C. 921) or explosive materials (18 U.S.C. 841(c)) | Trafficking. Simple possession is not trafficking |
| (E) | Listed federal offenses under 18 U.S.C. 842(h)-(i), 844(d)-(i), 922(g)(1)-(5), (j), (n), (o), (p), (r), 924(b), (h), and 26 U.S.C. 5861 | An offense "described in" one of the listed statutes. The most common is 922(g), possession by a prohibited person, of which possession by a person with a prior felony conviction is the usual case |
Entry (E) reaches state convictions. Under Luna Torres v. Lynch, 578 U.S. 452 (2016), a state offense matches a federal statute on the list even though it lacks the federal statute's interstate-commerce element; the comparison is to the substantive elements. So a state conviction for possession of a firearm by a person with a prior felony conviction can be an (E) aggravated felony, with everything that label closes. A state conviction for possession by a person with no prior felony and no other disqualifying status is not on entry (E), because 922(g) does not describe it. It remains a ground of deportability under 237(a)(2)(C).
The difference between the two is the difference between the aggravated felony page and this one. An aggravated felony bars cancellation for permanent residents, bars asylum, is a permanent bar to good moral character, and bars the 212(h) waiver for a person who entered as a permanent resident. The firearms ground alone does none of those.
What the firearms ground closes, and what it leaves open
| Consequence | Effect | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Deportability | Removable at any time after admission, any sentence | INA 237(a)(2)(C) |
| Mandatory detention | No bond hearing before the immigration judge | INA 236(c)(1)(B) |
| Inadmissibility | No firearms ground. A person deportable for a firearms offense may still be admissible on this basis | INA 212(a)(2) (no firearms ground) |
| The 212(h) waiver | Neither available nor needed for this ground: there is nothing in 212(a)(2) to waive | INA 212(h); INA 212(a)(2) |
| Cancellation for permanent residents | Not barred unless the offense is also an aggravated felony | INA 240A(a) |
| Cancellation for non-permanent residents | Barred: any conviction of an offense under 237(a)(2) bars it | INA 240A(b)(1)(C) |
| VAWA cancellation | Barred: requires that the applicant not be deportable under 237(a)(2) | INA 240A(b)(2) |
| Good moral character | Not among the listed conditional bars; unlawful acts outside the list may still be found to reflect adversely on character | INA 101(f); 8 C.F.R. 316.10(b)(2), (b)(3)(iii) |
| DACA | Unlawful weapons possession is a misdemeanor listed in the regulation (8 C.F.R. 236.22(b)(6)(i); the regulation itself does not use the phrase "significant misdemeanor"); as of January 2025 USCIS accepts but does not process initial requests after the Fifth Circuit's decision in Texas v. United States, and continues to process renewals | 8 C.F.R. 236.22(b)(6) |
| Voluntary departure | Barred before the conclusion of proceedings only for an aggravated felony; at the conclusion, good moral character for five years is required | INA 240B(a)(1), (b)(1)(B) |
Two things on that table are unusual. The first is the inadmissibility line. Because INA 212(a)(2) has no firearms ground, a permanent resident who is deportable under 237(a)(2)(C) and who is otherwise eligible can still adjust status again through a qualifying relative, and can still be admissible on return from travel on this basis, unless the offense is also a crime involving moral turpitude or the record supports another ground. The second is the cancellation line for permanent residents. Cancellation under INA 240A(a) is barred only by an aggravated felony, so a resident with five years as a resident and seven years of continuous residence after admission can apply, and a firearms possession conviction that is not on entry (C) or (E) does not bar it. Whether the offense stops the seven-year clock is a separate question: the stop-time rule in INA 240A(d)(1) is written in terms of an offense "referred to in" 212(a)(2), and the firearms ground is not on that list. We would not take that point beyond the text without reading your record; the stop-time page explains the rule and how it is argued.
Whether a weapons-possession offense is also a crime involving moral turpitude is a question for your specific statute. The answer depends on the elements, including whether the statute requires knowledge and whether it reaches lawful purposes, and on the circuit. The plea tool marks that question "depends," and the moral turpitude page explains the test.
What this means at the plea
The negotiating points follow from the definition. First, a count under a statute whose element is a weapon that is not a firearm under 921(a)(3): a knife, an air gun, a dangerous instrument, a generic weapon. Second, a count whose elements do not require a firearm at all, such as an offense against the person that could have been committed with anything, where the statute is not divisible on the weapon. Third, where the offense is charged as possession by a prohibited person, a count that does not carry the prohibited-status element, because that is the difference between an (E) aggravated felony and a firearms ground. Fourth, a disposition that is not a conviction under INA 101(a)(48)(A), which the conviction page covers. None of these removes the risk from a weapons plea, and each has to be checked against the actual statute and the record the plea will produce. What you say in the colloquy about the weapon becomes part of the record of conviction where the statute is divisible.
If the plea has already been entered, the questions become whether the statute of conviction actually requires a firearm under the federal definition, whether it is broader than that definition, and whether the record establishes which weapon or which status was involved. Those are litigated in removal proceedings, and they are the subject of the after a plea pages and of the criminal convictions pages on immigrationtrial.com.
Read next: aggravated felonies, mandatory detention, the categorical approach, or pleas for green card holders.
Common questions
Is there a waiver for a firearms conviction?
Not under 212(h). The 212(h) waiver forgives grounds of inadmissibility listed in INA 212(a)(2), and there is no firearms ground on that list. The firearms ground is a ground of deportability under INA 237(a)(2)(C) only. For a permanent resident, the question becomes whether cancellation of removal under INA 240A(a) is available, and it is unless the offense is also an aggravated felony, provided the residence and continuous-presence requirements are met.
Does a firearms conviction make me inadmissible?
By itself, no. INA 212(a)(2) has no firearms ground, so a firearms conviction that is not also a crime involving moral turpitude does not, on its own, make a person inadmissible or block adjustment on that basis. Whether a particular weapons offense is also a crime involving moral turpitude depends on the elements of the statute, and the answer varies by statute and circuit, so ask us about yours.
Will I be detained without bond?
Yes, if the conviction is charged under the firearms ground. INA 236(c)(1)(B) requires detention without a bond hearing before the immigration judge for a person deportable under INA 237(a)(2)(C). Under Nielsen v. Preap, that applies even if immigration authorities do not take custody immediately on release from criminal custody. Our detention practice at icebail.com handles the bond side.
When is a firearms offense an aggravated felony?
Under two entries. INA 101(a)(43)(C) covers illicit trafficking in firearms or destructive devices. INA 101(a)(43)(E) lists specific federal firearms and explosives offenses, including possession by a prohibited person under 18 U.S.C. 922(g). Under Luna Torres v. Lynch, a state offense can match a listed federal statute even though it lacks the federal interstate-commerce element. Simple possession by a person who is not a prohibited person is not on either entry, though it is still a ground of deportability.
Tell us about the charge before you take the plea. Not after.
You get a free conversation with an immigration attorney, in your language. We speak English, Russian, Spanish and Uzbek in-house, and we bring in a live interpreter for anything else. We will read the charge against the immigration statute, tell you what the offered plea does to your status and to every form of relief, and tell you what to ask your criminal lawyer to negotiate instead. If the plea has already been entered, we will tell you what can still be done.