CINCINNATI, OHIO — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has upheld the conviction of Omar Shorter Jr., a Michigan man found guilty of engaging in the business of dealing firearms without a license and making false statements during firearm purchases.
According to court records, between July 2020 and December 2022, Shorter purchased 39 firearms, often in duplicate, but registered only two and reported one stolen. ATF agents began investigating after multiple firearms linked to Shorter were later recovered by police at crime scenes or in others’ possession.
Evidence presented at trial included surveillance video, Cash App transactions, and Shorter’s own admissions to ATF agents. Shorter acknowledged selling approximately 28 or 29 of the firearms and stated he had “messed up” when filling out required ATF forms, falsely indicating he was buying guns for himself when he was instead purchasing them for others. He also expressed frustration via text messages over not making a profit in recent sales.
The jury convicted Shorter on three counts, including violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(1)(A) for engaging in the business of selling firearms without a license. He was sentenced to 14 months in prison. Shorter appealed, arguing that the government failed to prove he had the intent to profit from the sales.
The Sixth Circuit rejected that argument, finding the record contained sufficient circumstantial evidence of a profit motive and regular, repeated transactions. The court emphasized that although Shorter failed to request acquittal during trial — limiting the appeal review to whether a “manifest miscarriage of justice” occurred — the government’s case was not devoid of evidence pointing to guilt.
The conviction was affirmed.
