Background
Arryel Skye Waters pleaded guilty to making a false statement when purchasing a firearm. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa imposed a sentence below the advisory Guidelines range.
Waters appealed, arguing that the district court’s application of Sentencing Guidelines provisions concerning people prohibited from possessing firearms was inconsistent with the Second Amendment under N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen. She also contended that applying the provisions resulted in impermissible double counting.
The Court’s Holding
The Eighth Circuit affirmed. Assuming without deciding that a Bruen analysis was required, the court concluded that the Guidelines provisions were properly applied for the reasons given by the district court.
The court also rejected Waters’s double-counting argument. It explained that double counting is prohibited only when the Guidelines provisions at issue specifically forbid it.
Key Takeaways
- The panel affirmed Waters’s below-Guidelines sentence for making a false statement during a firearm purchase.
- The court assumed without deciding that Bruen applied and upheld the challenged Guidelines provisions.
- Applying multiple Guidelines provisions is not impermissible double counting unless the Guidelines specifically prohibit it.
Why It Matters
The unpublished decision shows that the Eighth Circuit may resolve a Second Amendment challenge to firearm-related sentencing provisions without deciding whether Bruen governs the Guidelines analysis when the provisions are valid under the assumed framework.
It also reinforces the circuit’s rule that overlapping sentencing consequences do not constitute prohibited double counting unless the Guidelines expressly say otherwise.