A Mattapan man was sentenced to jail time yesterday after a Suffolk County Gun Court jury convicted him of firearm offenses after rejecting the defendant’s claim that the gun was not a working firearm.

CHRISTOPHER RICHARDSON (D.O.B. 8/11/87) was convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and unlawfully carrying a loaded firearm without a license in the Suffolk County Firearm Priority Disposition Session, more commonly known as Gun Court.

Assistant District Attorney Lauren Moore of Conley’s Gun Prosecution Task Force recommended that Richardson serve two years in a house of correction followed by two and a half years of probation, with the conditions that he abide by a 9:00 p.m. curfew, seek and maintain employment, and participate in a fatherhood program operated by the Department of Probation.

Boston Municipal Court Judge Annette Forde sentenced Richardson to serve 18 months behind bars with two additional years suspended until 2013. He was additionally ordered to adhere to several conditions following his release, including the curfew, employment, and participation in a court-approved probation program.

“Every gun arrest takes a firearm off the street,” Conley said. “Every gun conviction puts a potential shooter behind bars and could even save a life. Easy access to illegal firearms and the willingness to use them is a deadly combination, and we’re working with local, state, and federal partners to disrupt that combination at every turn.”

Boston Police officers observed Richardson engaged in an argument with two other men on Magnolia Street in the early morning hours of May 9, 2010. Upon seeing the officers, Richardson appeared nervous and tried to enter a nearby home. When the officers ordered Richardson to come down the front steps, the evidence showed, he ignored them and reached suddenly into his left pocket with his left hand.

The officers pat-frisked him and recovered a Bryco Arms Model 38 semiautomatic handgun in his pants pocket. It was loaded with one round in the chamber and four rounds in the magazine.

“It’s rough out here and I need protection,” Richardson said, explaining that he had been at Packy Connors earlier in the evening “and you know it’s a bad place, I couldn’t go there without it.”

The firearm was missing a right grip and was held together with duct tape and cardboard. The firing pin was also broken. Although the gun would not fire in that condition, a Boston Police ballistician was able to fire two rounds with it after minimal repair, making it an operable firearm under Massachusetts law.

The Gun Prosecution Task Force fast tracks cases of unlawful firearm possession from across the city and moves them into specialized sessions in the Boston Municipal Court. In the five years since its inception, the task force has eliminated a huge backlog of pending cases and reduced the average time between arraignment and disposition by more than half.

Richardson was represented by attorney Kari Tannenbaum.