OPINION OF THE COURT
COWEN, Circuit Judge.
I.
On April 9, 1999, Richard Allen Wolfe robbed the Penn Security Bank and Trust Company. He walked into the bank, approached the teller with his hand in his jacket, handed her a bag and instructed her to fill it with money. He then told her he had a gun and would shoot. When the teller did not produce enough hundred dollar bills to satisfy him, he repeated the threat. He repeated the threat a third time to induce her to produce yet more money. Based on his words and actions the teller believed he had a gun and that he would shoot. She complied with his demands and he fled the bank with $4518.00. The bank teller did not see a weapon, nor is there any additional evidence, aside from his threats and actions, that he possessed a weapon at the time of the robbery.
Wolfe was charged with one count of armed bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d), to which he entered a plea of not guilty. To sustain a conviction for armed robbery one of the elements the prosecutor must prove is that the defendant “assaulted any person, or put in jeopardy the life of any person by the use of a dangerous weapon or device.” 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d) (emphasis added). The evidence presented at trial focused almost exclusively on whether the witnesses had correctly identified Wolfe as the bank robber.1 Oth[260]*260er than the teller’s testimony regarding his repeated threats, no evidence or arguments were presented on the issue of whether Wolfe possessed a dangerous weapon at the time he committed the robbery. With respect to this element of the offense, the District Court charged the jury, without objection, as follows:
The fourth essential element that the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that in committing the crime, the defendant deliberately and intentionally assaulted [the teller] or put her life in jeopardy by the use of a dangerous weapon....
* * *
The government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, during the commission of a bank robbery, committed acts or said words that would have caused an ordinary person to reasonably expect to die or face serious injury by the defendant’s use of a dangerous weapon.
This charge permitted the jury to convict if they concluded that Wolfe’s words or actions could have reasonably led the teller to believe that he might use a dangerous weapon, regardless of whether the jury believed he actually had a weapon. The jury reached a guilty verdict that same day. The District Court imposed a sentence of 21 years and 10 months.
II.
The defendant now stipulates that there was sufficient evidence at trial to prove that he committed the lesser offense of bank robbery by intimidation, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a). However, he appeals his conviction for the greater offense of armed bank robbery on the ground that there was insufficient evidence to prove the “use of a dangerous weapon” as required for a conviction under § 2113(d). Wolfe argues there was insufficient evidence for a jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that he actually possessed a dangerous weapon during the commission of the robbery. This appeal cannot, however, be analyzed as a simple sufficiency of the evidence claim because the jury charge allowed a conviction if the jury concluded that the teller reasonably believed Wolfe had a weapon and that he might use it. That is, the charge allowed the jury to convict regardless of whether they concluded he actually possessed a weapon when he robbed the bank. Therefore, we must review both the sufficiency of the evidence to convict Wolfe under § 2113(d) and the propriety of the jury instructions that allowed conviction based solely on the teller’s reasonable belief that Wolfe had a weapon.
Because Wolfe did not raise an objection at trial to either the sufficiency of the evidence or the jury charge we will [261]*261reverse only if we find “plain error.” Fed. R.Crim.P. Rule 52(b); United States v. Turcks, 41 F.3d 893, 897 (3d Cir.1994); United States v. Gaydos, 108 F.3d 505, 509 (3d Cir.1997) (where the defendant does not preserve insufficiency issue by filing a timely motion for a judgment of acquittal, sufficiency of the evidence is reviewed under a plain error standard). This standard is met when there is an “error” that is “plain” and that “affects substantial rights.” United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 732, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 1777, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993); Turcks, 41 F.3d at 897. A court’s deviation from a legal rule constitutes “error”. Olano, 507 U.S. at 732, 113 S.Ct. at 1777, 123 L.Ed.2d 508; Turcks, 41 F.3d at 897. A “plain” error is one that is “clear” or “obvious.” Id. An error is deemed to have “affected substantial rights” if it was prejudicial in that it affected the outcome of the District Court proceedings. Olano, 507 U.S. at 733, 113 S.Ct. at 1778, 123 L.Ed.2d 508; Turcks, 41 F.3d at 897. Under plain error review, the defendant bears the burden of establishing that the error prejudiced the jury’s verdict. Turcks, 41 F.3d at 898. Even if the defendant establishes the existence of plain error, Rule 52(b) leaves to the sound discretion of the Court of Appeals the decision whether to correct the error. While the Court of Appeals has the authority to order correction when these elements are met, it is not required to do so. Id. Instead, “we [ ] exercise our discretion ‘where the defendant is actually innocent, or where, regardless of the defendant’s innocence or guilt, the error ‘seriously affect[s] the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings.’ ” Turcks, 41 F.3d at 897. See also Olano, 507 U.S. at 732, 113 S.Ct. at 1777, 123 L.Ed.2d 508.
A defendant must move for a judgment of acquittal at the conclusion of the evidence to properly preserve for appeal issues regarding the sufficiency of the evidence. United States v. Wright-Barker, 784 F.2d 161, 170-71 (3d Cir.1986). Wolfe failed to so move. Nonetheless, we will review the sufficiency of the evidence under the plain error standard because, as we have previously held, the prosecution’s failure to prove an essential element of the offense constitutes plain error under Rule 52(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Gaydos, 108 F.3d at 509. We review the record in the light most favorable to the prosecution to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt based on the available evidence. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).
A conviction for armed bank robbery under 18 U.S.C.
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OPINION OF THE COURT
COWEN, Circuit Judge.
I.
On April 9, 1999, Richard Allen Wolfe robbed the Penn Security Bank and Trust Company. He walked into the bank, approached the teller with his hand in his jacket, handed her a bag and instructed her to fill it with money. He then told her he had a gun and would shoot. When the teller did not produce enough hundred dollar bills to satisfy him, he repeated the threat. He repeated the threat a third time to induce her to produce yet more money. Based on his words and actions the teller believed he had a gun and that he would shoot. She complied with his demands and he fled the bank with $4518.00. The bank teller did not see a weapon, nor is there any additional evidence, aside from his threats and actions, that he possessed a weapon at the time of the robbery.
Wolfe was charged with one count of armed bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d), to which he entered a plea of not guilty. To sustain a conviction for armed robbery one of the elements the prosecutor must prove is that the defendant “assaulted any person, or put in jeopardy the life of any person by the use of a dangerous weapon or device.” 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d) (emphasis added). The evidence presented at trial focused almost exclusively on whether the witnesses had correctly identified Wolfe as the bank robber.1 Oth[260]*260er than the teller’s testimony regarding his repeated threats, no evidence or arguments were presented on the issue of whether Wolfe possessed a dangerous weapon at the time he committed the robbery. With respect to this element of the offense, the District Court charged the jury, without objection, as follows:
The fourth essential element that the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that in committing the crime, the defendant deliberately and intentionally assaulted [the teller] or put her life in jeopardy by the use of a dangerous weapon....
* * *
The government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, during the commission of a bank robbery, committed acts or said words that would have caused an ordinary person to reasonably expect to die or face serious injury by the defendant’s use of a dangerous weapon.
This charge permitted the jury to convict if they concluded that Wolfe’s words or actions could have reasonably led the teller to believe that he might use a dangerous weapon, regardless of whether the jury believed he actually had a weapon. The jury reached a guilty verdict that same day. The District Court imposed a sentence of 21 years and 10 months.
II.
The defendant now stipulates that there was sufficient evidence at trial to prove that he committed the lesser offense of bank robbery by intimidation, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a). However, he appeals his conviction for the greater offense of armed bank robbery on the ground that there was insufficient evidence to prove the “use of a dangerous weapon” as required for a conviction under § 2113(d). Wolfe argues there was insufficient evidence for a jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that he actually possessed a dangerous weapon during the commission of the robbery. This appeal cannot, however, be analyzed as a simple sufficiency of the evidence claim because the jury charge allowed a conviction if the jury concluded that the teller reasonably believed Wolfe had a weapon and that he might use it. That is, the charge allowed the jury to convict regardless of whether they concluded he actually possessed a weapon when he robbed the bank. Therefore, we must review both the sufficiency of the evidence to convict Wolfe under § 2113(d) and the propriety of the jury instructions that allowed conviction based solely on the teller’s reasonable belief that Wolfe had a weapon.
Because Wolfe did not raise an objection at trial to either the sufficiency of the evidence or the jury charge we will [261]*261reverse only if we find “plain error.” Fed. R.Crim.P. Rule 52(b); United States v. Turcks, 41 F.3d 893, 897 (3d Cir.1994); United States v. Gaydos, 108 F.3d 505, 509 (3d Cir.1997) (where the defendant does not preserve insufficiency issue by filing a timely motion for a judgment of acquittal, sufficiency of the evidence is reviewed under a plain error standard). This standard is met when there is an “error” that is “plain” and that “affects substantial rights.” United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 732, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 1777, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993); Turcks, 41 F.3d at 897. A court’s deviation from a legal rule constitutes “error”. Olano, 507 U.S. at 732, 113 S.Ct. at 1777, 123 L.Ed.2d 508; Turcks, 41 F.3d at 897. A “plain” error is one that is “clear” or “obvious.” Id. An error is deemed to have “affected substantial rights” if it was prejudicial in that it affected the outcome of the District Court proceedings. Olano, 507 U.S. at 733, 113 S.Ct. at 1778, 123 L.Ed.2d 508; Turcks, 41 F.3d at 897. Under plain error review, the defendant bears the burden of establishing that the error prejudiced the jury’s verdict. Turcks, 41 F.3d at 898. Even if the defendant establishes the existence of plain error, Rule 52(b) leaves to the sound discretion of the Court of Appeals the decision whether to correct the error. While the Court of Appeals has the authority to order correction when these elements are met, it is not required to do so. Id. Instead, “we [ ] exercise our discretion ‘where the defendant is actually innocent, or where, regardless of the defendant’s innocence or guilt, the error ‘seriously affect[s] the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings.’ ” Turcks, 41 F.3d at 897. See also Olano, 507 U.S. at 732, 113 S.Ct. at 1777, 123 L.Ed.2d 508.
A defendant must move for a judgment of acquittal at the conclusion of the evidence to properly preserve for appeal issues regarding the sufficiency of the evidence. United States v. Wright-Barker, 784 F.2d 161, 170-71 (3d Cir.1986). Wolfe failed to so move. Nonetheless, we will review the sufficiency of the evidence under the plain error standard because, as we have previously held, the prosecution’s failure to prove an essential element of the offense constitutes plain error under Rule 52(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Gaydos, 108 F.3d at 509. We review the record in the light most favorable to the prosecution to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt based on the available evidence. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).
A conviction for armed bank robbery under 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d) requires proof that, while robbing a federally insured bank, the defendant put in jeopardy the life of another “by the use of a dangerous weapon or device.” The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has not yet addressed the application of this statute in a case where the defendant stated he had a weapon, appeared to have his hand on a weapon, and threatened to use that weapon, but never actually displayed a weapon during a robbery. The government argues that words and gestures that lead a victim to believe a robber is armed constitute the “use of a dangerous weapon or device” within the meaning of the statute regardless of whether the defendant actually possesses a weapon. In other words, the dangerous device being employed in the robbery was Wolfe’s threat to shoot. Were we to adopt this interpretation of the statute the prosecution would be relieved of the burden to prove that the defendant actually had a weapon and would only have to prove that the defendant said he had a weapon. Wolfe not only argues that threatening words and gestures are not a [262]*262dangerous device, but also that, absent some corroborating evidence, threats and gestures alone are insufficient evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that a robber actually possessed a dangerous weapon. We decline to adopt either interpretation and instead conclude that, while threats themselves are not a “dangerous device” within the meaning of the statute, these same threats may be considered by the jury as evidence that a defendant actually had a dangerous device or weapon. It is a subtle, but important, distinction.
Threatening words and gestures do not, in and of themselves, constitute a dangerous device within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d). The crime of bank robbery occurs when a person obtains or attempts to obtain money or valuables from a federally insured bank “by force and violence, or by intimidation.” 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a). The commission of bank robbery under § 2113(a) carries a penalty of not more than twenty years imprisonment and/or a fíne of not more than $5,000. The much more serious offense of aggravated bank robbery occurs when a person, “in committing, or attempting to commit, any offense defined in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, assaults any person, or puts in jeopardy the life of any person by the use of a dangerous weapon or device.” 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d). This offense carries a steeper maximum penalty of twenty-five years imprisonment and/or a fine of not more than $10,000. Thus, on its face, the statute clearly differentiates between robberies committed employing force or intimidation and robberies committed with the aid of dangerous weapons or devices.
An interpretation of the statute that characterizes a threat as a “dangerous device,” regardless of whether the robber actually possesses a dangerous device such as a gun or knife, would render S 2113(a) largely superfluous thereby contravening established principles of statutory interpretation. Under such an interpretation a robber who walked into a bank, demanded money and threatened to shoot, but who was apprehended on the spot and found to be unarmed would be guilty of aggravated bank robbery under S 2113(d) because when he made the threat he used a dangerous device. The United States Solicitor General and our sister Circuits have rejected this interpretation as inconsistent with the plain language and legislative intent behind SS 2113(a) and (d). See, e.g., McLaughlin v. United States, 476 U.S. 16, 106 S.Ct. 1677, 90 L.Ed.2d 15 (1986); United States v. Ray, 21 F.3d 1134, 1137-38 (D.C.Cir.1994); United States v. Perry, 991 F.2d 304, 309 (6th Cir.1993). A robber who. uses threats of violence to accomplish a robbery, but who is unarmed, is guilty of the lesser offense of bank robbery under S 2113(a). For this Court to conclude that these threats of violence are, in and of themselves, a dangerous device would circumvent legislation designed to recognize and deter the increased danger presented by criminals who commit crimes while carrying weapons or devices that appear to be weapons. See Perry, 991 F.2d at 310. We cannot interpret the statute in a manner inconsistent with this explicit distinction by construing threatening words as a “dangerous device” under S 2113(d). We conclude that in order to sustain a conviction under S 2113(d) the prosecution bears the burden of proving that the robber had a dangerous weapon or device and that he used it.
While Wolfe’s threats to shoot are not, in and of themselves, a dangerous device, these same threats may be considered by a jury as relevant evidence on the issue of whether Wolfe actually possessed a weapon when he robbed the bank. We are in agreement with other Courts of Appeal that have wrestled with this issue [263]*263that, when a robber says he has a gun and that he will use it, a jury may reasonably infer that he did have a gun.2 Ray, 21 F.3d at 1140; United States v. Levi, 45 F.3d 453, 457 (D.C.Cir.1995); United States v. Ferguson, 211 F.3d 878, 884 (5th Cir.2000). During the robbery, Wolfe told the teller no less than three times that he had a gun and that he would use it. Levi, 45 F.3d at 457 (a defendant “may be convicted of aggravated bank robbery ... in which he either stated that he had a gun or threatened to blow off the teller’s head. Both statements are sufficient evidence for the jury reasonably to conclude that the robber indeed had a gun”). The act of gesturing with his arm in his jacket pocket is additional evidence the jury is entitled to evaluate in considering the truth of his claim that he was armed.3 In Wolfe’s case it would have been uniquely reasonable for a jury to take Wolfe at his word and so conclude because he never once disputed the prosecution’s contention on this point either by direct denials, on cross-examination of the eye witnesses, by the presentation of contrary evidence, or in his opening or closing statements. Instead, the defense chose to focus on the issue of the robber’s identity and did not so much as assert that Wolfe was unarmed when he robbed the bank. Indeed, it was never an issue in this case.' Accordingly, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, as we must, we hold that there was sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to conclude Wolfe actually possessed a gun during the robbery of the Penn Security Bank and Trust Company. Because there was sufficient evidence to sustain the jury’s conclusion that he actually possessed a gun, his threats to shoot unless the teller gave him money clearly constitute the “use” of a dangerous weapon within the meaning of the statute.
Because the jury instructions made it irrelevant whether Wolfe actually had a dangerous weapon we must also consider the implications of the jury charge. As the above discussion indicates, a conviction under S 2113(d) requires proof that a defendant actually had a weapon. By instructing the jury that they could convict based solely on the teller’s reason[264]*264able belief that Wolfe was armed, the District Court deviated from the correct legal rule when charging the jury and committed clear error. Levi, 45 F.3d at 456; Ray, 21 F.3d at 1140. We conclude, however, that this error did not affect substantial rights by altering the outcome of the proceedings; therefore, it was not plain error.
Under plain error review, Wolfe bears the burden of establishing that the error affected his rights by prejudicing the jury’s verdict. Turcks, 41 F.3d at 898. Wolfe cannot meet that burden. The Supreme Court itself has cautioned that “[i]t is a rare case in which an improper instruction will justify reversal of a criminal conviction when no objection has been made in the trial court.” Henderson v. Kibbe, 431 U.S. 145, 154, 97 S.Ct. 1730, 1736, 52 L.Ed.2d 203 (1977). Not only did Wolfe fail to object to the erroneous instructions, he did not even obliquely raise the issue of whether he had a weapon during the trial. The evidence presented at Wolfe’s trial permitted only one conclusion: he was armed. We cannot, therefore, conclude that the erroneous jury instruction prejudiced the jury’s verdict. In light of the evidence presented at trial, we are confident that the jury would have convicted Wolfe even if the appropriate instruction had been given.
III.
Because there was sufficient evidence to sustain Wolfe’s conviction for aggravated bank robbery and because the erroneous jury instructions do not warrant a reversal under the plain error standard, we will affirm Wolfe’s conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d). For the foregoing reason, the District Court’s judgment of June 19, 2000 will be affirmed.