Hartford Felon Sentenced to Prison for Possessing Loaded Handgun

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that CHRISTOPHER GASKIN, 47, of Hartford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 27 months of imprisonment for illegally possessing a loaded handgun.

According to the evidence presented during his trial earlier this year, in the afternoon of January 1, 2022, Hartford Police officers stopped a car Gaskin was operating on Irving Street in Hartford.  Gaskin was arrested after a search of his person revealed a loaded .380 caliber handgun, a bag containing approximately five grams of crack cocaine, and 35 vials of crack.

Gaskin’s criminal history includes several felony convictions, including convictions for assault, robbery, and witness tampering offenses.  It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.

On February 28, 2024, a jury found Gaskin guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, and not guilty of possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (“crack”).

This matter was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the Hartford Police Department.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Angel M. Krull and Patricia Stolfi Collins through Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce gun violence and other violent crime, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  In May 2021, the Justice 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.  For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit www.justice.gov/PSN.