A LaSalle mom has been sentenced to two years in jail, less one day, after being convicted of smuggling three loaded handguns into Canada.

Michelle Downey’s family was crying in the Windsor courtroom during her sentencing on Thursday morning.

Crown Attorney Brian Manarin asked for three to four years in jail. Defence lawyer Pat Ducharme asked for house arrest, with electronic monitoring.

Downey has begged the judge to sentence her to house arrest "please allow me to stay home to raise my girls."

In April 2013, border agents in Windsor found the loaded guns behind the glove box at secondary inspection.

At the trial, Downey told the court she thought she was smuggling money, but the judge says she was "willfully blind."