What is the effect of section 654 of the Criminal Code of California on a sentence for possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition?

Here, defendant was charged with possession of the firearm found in the garbage can as well as possession of the ammunition found immediately underneath the firearm in the garbage can. While these facts differ slightly from those cases in which courts have found an indivisible course of conduct where the defendant is charged with possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition in that same firearm (People v. Lopez (2004) 119 Cal.App.4th 132, 138 ["Where, as here, all of the ammunition is loaded into the firearm, an 'indivisible course of conduct' is present and section 654 precludes multiple punishment"]), the trial court here opined that "[t]he gun and ammunition were either combined, or so close in proximity as to constitute a loaded firearm" and found count 1 (possession of a firearm) and count 2 (possession of ammunition) were subject to section 654. Nonetheless, the court erroneously imposed a concurrent term on count 2. (People v. Duff, supra, 50 Cal.4th at p. 796.) Accordingly, we will stay execution of the sentence on count 2.

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