New York ( CNN ) -- Rapper Ja Rule will face two years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon on Monday , according to a Manhattan District Attorney statement . The 34-year-old hip-hop star , whose real name is Jeff Atkins , faced a single second-degree weapons charge after police found a loaded semi-automatic firearm -- with the serial number scratched off -- hidden in the backseat of his luxury Maybach sedan , the statement said . The incident occurred on New York 's Upper West Side in July 2007 , it said . Atkins , who was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2001 , will be registered as a gun offender , according to the statement . `` Despite having some of the strongest anti-gun laws in the nation , gun violence continues to plague this city , '' District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said . `` Gun crimes are serious offenses , and today 's guilty plea should send a serious message to anyone thinking of illegally bringing a gun into New York City . '' Atkins ' attorney , Stacey Richman , called the deliberations `` unreasonable '' after the rapper `` stepped up and took responsibility '' for the violation . Monday 's ruling comes less than a week after a months-long police sting led to the arrest of a 20-year-old accused of dealing cocaine and guns ; he was charged with selling 25 illegal firearms to an undercover detective , prosecutors said . Shootings , and homicides by way of shootings , increased slightly in Manhattan this year , while nearly a quarter of the 240 defendants indicted on gun possession charges in 2010 were identified as 18 years old or younger , according to the district attorney 's office . `` These are kids that should be headed to school , not a prison cell or an early grave , '' Vance said . `` So we have a full-court press on those who possess loaded firearms in Manhattan , or who those sell loaded firearms . ''
Ja Rule will face two years in prison after pleading guilty to gun charges . The rapper was arrested last month and charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon -- the same charge he faced earlier this year when he pleaded no contest to aggravated assault for allegedly shooting his girlfriend Former Grammy nominee will be registered as a gun offender .