Two felons, 26-year-old Andre M. Conerly, and 29-year-old Daunte R. Williams were sentence to lengthy prison terms in Seattle on Friday for conspiracy to deal in firearms as well as being felons in possession of firearms.

Both of the men, who have significant criminal histories, conspired to sell 23 firearms, many of them stolen, to law enforcement officials.

According to court documents, in January of 2012, an undercover operation was begun by the Gang Unit with the Seattle Police Department, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Theo objective of the operation was to apprehend the group of men selling firearms in the Renton, Washington area.

Conerly was quickly identified as the lead man in the dealing of firearms. Conerly coordinated the transactions, set prices for the firearms, and received the money for the sales.

It was in January and February of 2012 that Conerly and his associates sold firearms to a person working with law enforcement. They were told that the weapons would be going to drug dealers in Mexico. A variety of firearms were sold to the undercover person, including an assault rifle,sawed-off shotgun, a semi-automatic pistol, and a high-powered rifle equipped with a silencer. Some of the weapons were stolen, as well as one that was used in a shooting just prior to it being sold to the undercover buyer.

In Court, Conerly was sentenced to 96 months in prison while Williams was sentenced to 78 months.

When requesting a significant sentence for the two, prosecutors pointed out the increase in gun violence in the Seattle area. “The drastic rise in murders and shootings in our city is directly attributable to the proliferation of the illegal possession of firearms. Those who possess and sell such firearms illegally bear some of the responsibility for the increase in violence. Moreover, the illegal sale of firearms only serves to flood the area with weapons that are difficult, if not impossible, to accurately track. Given the dangerousness that these weapons present, and the very real possibility that weapons sold illegally could subsequently be used in other crimes, trafficking in firearms presents unique risks,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.