A 59-year-old man with dual citizenship in Australia and Great Britain was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment for illegal possession of a firearm.

Senior U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway sentenced Melvyn Gear today in federal court in Honolulu.

A jury convicted him of being an alien illegally in possession of a firearm after a four-day trial ended May 10.

Federal law prohibits a foreign national living in the United States on a nonimmigrant visa to possess any firearms.

Gear was found to be living in the U.S. on a nonimmigrant visa on July 17 when he possessed a rifle, which he had owned in Australia and had been shipped to the U.S.

He lied about it when federal law enforcement officers questioned him.

The judge rejected the defense’s request for a probationary sentence.

She noted the conviction will likely result in deportation following his imprisonment.