Man who argued gunrunning was legal under the Second Amendment gets 3 1/2 years for running guns from Alabama up to Boston

A federal judge yesterday sentenced an alleged Creston Street gang associate to 42 months in federal prison for his role in a ring that transported at least 24 guns purchased in Alabama to Boston, where they sold most of them to people on the street, including one seized after a shooting.

Jahquel Pringle, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to illegally transport firearms, two counts of illegal transportation or receipt in state of residency of firearm purchased or acquired outside of state of residency and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm in February. The other three men in the ring - Brandon Moore of Alabama and Jarmori Brown and Kobe Smith of Boston - have all also pleaded guilty to the scheme, in which Moore would buy guns at gun shops in the Montgomery area that Pringle and Brown would then pack in some luggage and take with them on buses to Boston.

Pringle's plea came after US District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor rejected his and Smith's argument that their arrests were illegal under recent Supreme Court rulings on the Second Amendment that people have the right to possess guns - such as the ones they were charged with moving from Alabama to the more restrictive Massachusetts. Saylor ruled that even the Supreme Court still recognizes that states have the right to set requirements for gun ownership.

In her recommendation for a 44-month sentence, Assistant US Attorney Elianna Nuzum acknowledged Pringle's difficult childhood and mental health problems and his efforts to deal with them, in part by moving to Washington State - he was arrested in Oregon - to try to get away from Boston's mean streets, in part through in-prison counseling. But, she continued, Pringle's crime was just too serious to not merit punishment:

Because of the conduct by the defendant and his co-conspirators, dozens of firearms have been illegally distributed on the streets of Boston and surrounding communities. At least seven of the firearms purchased by Moore's straw purchaser in Alabama in 2020 and then provided by Moore to Pringle and/or Brown have been recovered in and around Boston. On July 17, 2020 – the same day Pringle arrived in Boston from Alabama – one of the firearms Moore's straw purchaser obtained in Alabama on July 14, 2020 was recovered in Boston at the scene of a shooting. All three of the firearms purchased by Moore's straw purchaser in Alabama on July 30, 2020 and transported to Boston by Pringle and Brown in August of that year have been recovered in Boston thus far – one on November 13, 2020 in the possession of a then-juvenile suspected of being involved in a shots-fired incident that day and the other two on December 17, 2020 in the possession of individuals observed fleeing the area of a ShotSpotter activation. The two firearms recovered in December 2020 were loaded with large capacity magazines at the time.

At least two of the individuals from whom the firearms provided by Moore were recovered from were considered to be active members of the Creston Street gang by Boston Police at the time; likewise, Pringle was also considered to be a Creston Street associate by Boston Police at least as of January 2019. At least three of the individuals from whom these firearms were recovered were felons with prior unlawful firearm possession convictions.

Pringle's attorney, Michael Tumposky, asked for a sentence of 36 months, arguing that would be long enough to punish him, but also reflect the steps he has taken to get away from his former life:

The crimes to which Mr. Pringle has pled are serious – and reflective of a period in his life that was reckless and unmoored. It is in recognition of that fact and out of a desire to close that chapter of his life that he has made the choice to accept responsibility and enter into an agreement that puts him in prison for several years during critical years of his adult life and the life of his young son.

This case was the culmination of many factors. Mr. Pringle’s choices are one critical factor, but there were many others that were beyond his control. His desire to now close this chapter, as evidence not only by his acceptance of responsibility, but also by his earnest and successful commitment to his own education and betterment for the very first time in his life, is an attempt to wrest control over his life in a way that departs significantly from the early experiences that marked him, and all the choices that followed.