Legal > Enhanced Penalties
Federal law provides enhanced penalties for the use or carrying of a firearm during a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime, for certain repeat offenders, and for offenses committed with the use of a particular type of weapon. Section 924(c), Title 18, U.S.C., which provides a minimum mandatory penalty of 5 years imprisonment for the use or carrying of a firearm during a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime, specifies a penalty of 10 years if the weapon used was a short-barrel rifle, short-barrel shotgun, or semiautomatic assault weapon and 30 years if the firearm was a machinegun, destructive device, or was equipped with a silencer. Upon conviction for a second or subsequent offense, this section requires a penalty of 20 years imprisonment, and if the firearm was a machinegun, destructive device, or was equipped with a silencer, life imprisonment.
Section 924(e), Title 18, U.S.C., the Armed Career Criminal Act, provides a minimum mandatory term of imprisonment of 15 years for persons convicted of violating section 922(g) (e.g., felon in possession of firearm) who have three previous convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses.