James William Palmer, Unlicensed Firearms Trafficking, California 2022

Mill Valley Man Sentenced to 37 Months for Unlicensed Firearms Trafficking

San Francisco, CA – James William Palmer, 38, of Mill Valley, California, was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for dealing firearms without a license, announced United States Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Acting Special Agent in Charge Joshua E. Jackson.

The sentence was handed down by United States District Judge James Donato on February 6, 2023. Palmer pleaded guilty on August 15, 2022, to dealing firearms without a license, a felony offense.

According to the plea agreement, Palmer admitted to engaging in the business of manufacturing and selling firearms from May 2020 to January 2021. He acknowledged that he ran the business for profit and without a license, knowing it was unlawful to do so. Palmer described that he manufactured firearms at his Mill Valley home, where he maintained an area in his garage for firearms manufacturing and had on hand numerous tools and parts necessary to do so.

Palmer also sold marijuana during this time period. To run his firearm business, Palmer communicated with buyers and sellers of firearms via text messages in which firearm prices, meeting places for transactions, and amounts owed were discussed. He utilized a white board to write down customer names and numbers along with amounts owed or paid by customers.

As an example of his firearms sales, Palmer described in his plea agreement his October 2020 sale of a Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol to a customer for $780. Palmer also described that on January 27, 2021, the day of his arrest, he was driving his car and had a loaded Glock Model 26 .45 ACP caliber semi-automatic pistol in the car, with two loaded .45 caliber magazines in the center console and ammunition in his pants pocket.

He bought the Glock pistol for $900 at a gun show, paying a higher price to avoid paperwork and to get the handgun immediately. Palmer further admitted that on the day of his arrest, he had multiple firearm receivers in various stages of handgun construction in his garage. In a memo filed for the sentencing hearing, the government described that Palmer had 71 items connected to firearms manufacturing and dealing at his Mill Valley residence.

The government also described some of the texts in which Palmer communicated with firearms buyers and sellers about prices, locations for exchanges, and amounts owed. In one text, Palmer said, “What about getting that 17 so I can resume business? I got 6 people waiting.” In another, Palmer wrote that he had been dealing in firearms in Marin County “for 20 years off and on.”

In addition to the 37 months imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Donato imposed three years of supervision for Palmer following his release from prison. Palmer was ordered to surrender on February 6, 2023, to begin serving his sentence.

The prosecution is the result of an investigation by ATF and the Marin County Sheriff’s Office. This case follows the U.S. government’s launch in five key regions of Cross-Jurisdictional Firearms Trafficking Strike Forces that are focused on disrupting illegal firearms trafficking.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/mill-valley-man-sentenced-more-three-years-unlicensed-firearms-trafficking