I seem to recall that sawed-off shotgun thing to. But I think it was in England as well.
My point is that I think I know what case he is talking about, and he’s remembering it wrongly and also doesn’t seem to be aware of all the facts. The man was not given a three year sentence, but a one year suspended sentence and if it hadn’t already been a convicted criminal who held onto the gun for a few days before handing it into police in a way that seemed deliberately designed to cause problems (telling a senior police officer he had a grudge against, “I have something for you” and pulling the weapon out suddenly - in America, where police are armed, I think he’d have had a good chance of getting shot with a stunt like that) he probably wouldn’t have been charged with anything at all.