NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED FEDERAL LAWYERS
How much time for gun during drug trafficking
|Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group – a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek, who has many, many years of experience in federal criminal defense. Our team has over 40 years of combined experience, and we’ve handled cases that made national headlines – from representing Anna Delvey in the Netflix series to the Ghislaine Maxwell juror misconduct case. When federal prosecutors charge you with a gun during drug trafficking, you’re looking at mandatory time that stacks on top of everything else.
A gun during drug trafficking means automatic federal prison time under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) – and that time runs consecutively to your drug sentence. The minimums start at 5 years and go up to 25 years or more, depending on what you did with the firearm. Federal prosecutors love this charge because it’s a guaranteed sentence enhancer that takes discretion away from the judge.
The Mandatory Minimums Under 924(c)
Possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime gets you 5 years minimum. That’s just having the gun – doesn’t matter if you touched it, if it was loaded, if it was even yours. Federal law says “in furtherance of” the drug crime, and prosecutors stretch that language as far as it goes. Gun in the same room as drugs? That’s 5 years. Gun in your car during a drug deal? 5 years. Gun in your house where you keep your stash? Prosecutors will argue 5 years.
Brandishing jumps to 7 years mandatory. Brandishing means someone saw the gun – you showed it, waved it around, made it visible during the drug offense. Discharge is 10 years minimum. Fire the gun during the drug crime, even accidentally, even into the ground – that’s a decade that must be added to whatever else you’re facing.
Second or subsequent 924(c) conviction? 25 years mandatory. And prosecutors figured out they can stack these in a single case. Multiple drug deals, multiple gun possessions charged separately in the same indictment – the second count triggers the 25-year minimum even though it’s the same trial, same verdict. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, this stacking practice has created sentences that shock even seasoned defense attorneys.
Consecutive Means Added On Top
The statute is clear – 924(c) sentences run consecutively. Not concurrent. Not at the same time. Added on top of your drug trafficking sentence, your conspiracy sentence, everything else. You get 10 years for drug trafficking, then the 5-year 924(c) minimum stacks on top for 15 years total minimum.
Federal judges have no discretion here. They must impose the 924(c) sentence consecutively. Even if they think it’s excessive, even if they want to show leniency, even if your drug sentence is already harsh – the gun time gets added. This is one of the few areas where federal sentencing guidelines become mandatory again, taking us back to the pre-Booker era where judges had their hands tied.
Prosecutors Use This Charge Aggressively in Drug Cases
In fiscal year 2024, 53.5% of all 924(c) cases involved drug trafficking – more than any other underlying offense. Out of 2,522 federal defendants convicted under 924(c), over half were drug defendants who had a gun. Federal prosecutors in drug cases actively look for any firearm connection to add this charge.
The average sentence for 924(c) defendants in 2024 was 150 months – 12 and a half years. That average includes cases with just the gun charge and cases where it’s combined with drug trafficking and other offenses. When you’re also convicted of drug trafficking (which 88% of 924(c) defendants were), that 150-month average represents the combined, stacked sentence.
The “In Furtherance” Standard Gets Stretched Thin
The government must prove the firearm was possessed “in furtherance of” the drug trafficking crime. Courts have interpreted this so broadly that almost any connection works. Gun for protection during drug deals? In furtherance. Gun to protect drug proceeds or stash? In furtherance. Gun that made you feel safer while trafficking drugs, even if no one ever saw it? Courts have said that’s in furtherance too.
Defense attorneys fight these charges by showing the gun had nothing to do with drugs – it was for hunting, for home protection unrelated to trafficking, it belonged to someone else in the house. But federal prosecutors in 2025 are winning most of these arguments. The conviction rate on 924(c) charges is high because the standard is so flexible.
Very Few Ways Out Once Charged
Substantial assistance departures – cooperating with the government – can sometimes reduce 924(c) time, but only if prosecutors agree. In 2024, only 6.8% of 924(c) defendants got substantial assistance departures. The government has to file the motion, and they won’t file it unless your cooperation is significant – other arrests, other prosecutions, serious information.
Safety valve doesn’t apply to 924(c). That’s a drug-specific reduction mechanism, and it can’t touch the firearm mandatory minimum. You might qualify for safety valve on your drug count, but the 5 years for the gun still stacks on top.
Plea negotiations often focus on the 924(c) count. Prosecutors know it’s powerful leverage – they’ll sometimes agree to drop the gun charge in exchange for a guilty plea on drug trafficking. But they won’t drop it unless you’re giving them something valuable, usually your trial rights and an agreement to a substantial drug sentence.
At Spodek Law Group, we’ve handled federal cases where the 924(c) charge was the entire fight. The drug case was solid, no real defense there, but the gun connection was weak – and we’ve gotten 924(c) counts dismissed pretrial by showing the firearm had nothing to do with drug trafficking. Those dismissals saved clients 5, 7, sometimes 10 years of mandatory consecutive time.
What This Means for Your Case
If you’re under investigation for drug trafficking and there are firearms anywhere in the picture, federal prosecutors will try to charge 924(c). They’ll search your home, your car, your storage units looking for guns. They’ll ask cooperators whether you had weapons. They’ll comb through your social media for gun photos.
Once charged, your exposure increases dramatically. A drug case with a 5-year guideline range becomes a 10-year minimum with the 924(c) stacked on top. A 10-year drug mandatory minimum becomes 15 years minimum with the gun. This is why 924(c) charges change every calculation, every plea discussion, every strategic decision.
Don’t talk to federal agents about guns. Don’t consent to searches where firearms might be found. Don’t answer questions about whether you own weapons, where they are, what you use them for. Every statement you make can be used to establish the “in furtherance” connection that triggers 5 to 25 years of additional mandatory time.
We represent federal defendants facing 924(c) charges throughout the country – and this is one area where early intervention matters. Before indictment, we can sometimes convince prosecutors the gun evidence is too weak to charge. After indictment, we fight these charges at trial when the connection to drug trafficking is thin. Our goal is to eliminate or reduce the mandatory time that would otherwise stack on top of your drug sentence, because that stacking is what destroys lives and families for decades.