Lil Wayne faces new federal weapons charge - Pop It Records

Lil Wayne faces a new federal weapons charge, TMZ and Pitchfork report. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida has charged him with a single count of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon. He faces up to ten years in prison if convicted.

The charge originates from an incident in December of 2019, where, Miami Herald reported, federal agents held up and searched a private jet that Wayne had flown into Miami-Opa locka Executive Airport from California. Guns and drugs were found aboard the plane, sources told Miami Herald at the time, but Wayne's defense attorney, Howard Srebnick, said that Wayne was "cleared" to leave the scene, and no immediate charges were filed.

Srebnick told Pitchfork, "[Lil Wayne] is charged with possessing a gold-plated handgun in his luggage on a private plane. There is no allegation that he ever fired it, brandished it, used it or threatened to use it. There is no allegation that he is a dangerous person. The charge is that because he was convicted of a felony in the past, he is prohibited from possessing a firearm."

"Although the Supreme Court has not yet decided the constitutional question," his statement continues, "Justice Amy Coney Barrett recently wrote an appellate dissenting opinion in which she stated that 'Absent evidence that he either belongs to a dangerous category or bears individual markers of risk, permanently disqualifying [a convicted felon] from possessing a gun violates the Second Amendment.'"

Wayne pled guilty to a felony gun charge, attempted possession of a weapon in the second degree, in October of 2009.