A judge called Stan Ford likable, articulate, educated, hardworking, civic-minded and law-abiding - mostly. Then he sentenced him to a year and a day in prison.

Ford, a former Denver firefighter, was found guilty last June of selling an Olympic Arms Mini-16 machine gun to an FBI informant. The jury acquitted him on three other gun charges stemming from a government investigation that was shaky from the start.

"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," said U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn at Thursday's sentencing.

The sentence was less than half of the minimum under federal guidelines and reflected the fact that Ford had no prior criminal record, save a 13-year-old drunk-driving conviction. But Ford asked the judge to give him probation, saying that he was the only victim of his crime.

"I so regret that I made this mistake. It's been devastating. I've lost everything I had built in my life," he said. "Allow me to return to the man I was before I made this horrible mistake."

Blackburn said Ford had failed to accept responsibility for what he did. In addition to the prison time, the judge sentenced Ford to three years' probation and said he could not possess or use guns.

"The defendant has pointed the finger of blame everywhere but inward. (He) has blamed his childhood, his psychological makeup, the government and its investigators," Blackburn said.

Ford's longtime girlfriend, Desiree Crump, disagreed.

"He knows he messed up. I remember when this happened, I just cried and said, 'How could you do this to everybody?' And he just said, 'I made a really bad mistake, and I can't change it.' He's more than sorry."

Assistant U.S. District Attorney Joseph Mackey said he was satisfied with the outcome, and Ford's attorney, William Hood, said he was disappointed but not surprised.

"If nothing else, the public should understand that Stan Ford's not some Tim McVeigh at the firehouse," Hood said. "Far from it."