Denver firefighter Stan Taran Ford has been sentenced to a year in prison for selling a machine gun to an FBI informant.

The sentence handed down today by U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn is about one-third what Ford could have received under federal guidelines. Blackburn called the circumstances surrounding Ford’s arrest problematic.

"The investigation of the defendant commenced in response to a red herring — that the defendant was a domestic terrorist, which was and is absolutely false and unfounded," Blackburn said.

Before sentencing, Ford asked the court to sentence him to probation.

"I so regret that I made this mistake. It’s been devastating. I’ve lost everything I had built in my life," he said.

Ford, an avid gun collector, will not be allowed to possess or use any firearms during the three-year probation following his release.