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Lil Wayne has been charged with being in possession of a firearm by a court in Florida.
Documents filed in Miami federal court today (November 17) allege that the rapper whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., had a gun and ammunition on December 23, in 2019 despite knowing he had a previous felony on his record, reports The Independent.
Authorities said the rapper acknowledged owning the gold-plated handgun after his luggage was searched upon arriving in Miami on a private plane.
The charge carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Carter previously had a weapons conviction in New York more than a decade ago, which saw him sentenced to eight months in prison.
Convicted felons are barred under federal law from owning firearms.
But Carter’s lawyer, Howard Srebnick, said in an email that there are legal questions about whether mere possession of a weapon by a felon not judged to be dangerous fits the definition of a crime.
“Carter 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,” Srebnick said. “There is no allegation that he is a dangerous person.”
He continued: “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, 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’.”
Investigators also claim they found suspected illegal drugs in the luggage, but Carter has not been charged with a drug offence.
An initial court date has been set for December 11 in Miami federal court.
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