Jacksonville Man Pleads Guilty To Making False Statements In An Attempt To Buy A Firearm

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Peter Alexander Lawrence (41, Jacksonville) has pleaded guilty to making false statements and representations to a federally licensed firearms dealer. Lawrence faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.

According to the plea agreement, in March 2023, Lawrence completed an ATF Form 4473 during the attempted purchase of a firearm from a federally licensed firearms dealer. On the form, Lawrence indicated that he had not been convicted of a crime where a judge could have imprisoned him for more than one year, and also that he had never been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.  Both those statements were false in that, in 2008, Lawrence was convicted of a crime where the prison sentence could have been more than a year, and in 2018, he was convicted of misdemeanor domestic battery.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Brenna Falzetta.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.