NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED FEDERAL LAWYERS
What is 18 USC 924(c)
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If you’re reading this, someone you care about is probably facing a 924(c) charge. That’s 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) – one of the most punishing federal gun laws on the books. This statute adds mandatory prison time on top of whatever sentence you’re already facing. We’re talking years, sometimes decades, of additional prison time that a judge cannot reduce.
924(c) is what federal prosecutors use to turn a manageable case into a life-altering catastrophe. Understanding how this law works can make the difference between fighting your case intelligently and accepting a plea deal that destroys your future.
What 924(c) Actually Prohibits
The statute makes it a separate federal crime to use, carry, or possess a firearm during and in relation to – or in furtherance of – any federal crime of violence or drug trafficking crime. You don’t have to fire the gun. You don’t have to point it at anyone. Mere possession during certain federal crimes triggers this statute.
According to the Cornell Law text of 18 USC 924(c), if you’re charged with drug trafficking and there’s a gun anywhere nearby – in your car, in your house, on your person – federal prosecutors will add a 924(c) count. The gun doesn’t even need to be loaded. What matters is whether prosecutors can prove the firearm was possessed “in furtherance of” the underlying crime.
Federal courts typically find that possessing a gun during a drug deal furthers the crime because it provides protection or helps guard the drugs. Even if you never intended to use it.
The Mandatory Minimum Sentences
This is where 924(c) becomes devastating. The mandatory minimums are based on how the firearm was involved, and these sentences must run consecutively to whatever you get for the underlying offense. The United States Sentencing Commission reports that in fiscal year 2024, the average sentence for 924(c) violations was 150 months – that’s twelve and a half years.
If you simply possessed or carried a firearm during the offense – 5 years mandatory minimum. If the government proves you brandished the firearm – 7 years mandatory minimum. If you discharged the firearm, even accidentally – 10 years mandatory minimum.
If the firearm is a short-barreled rifle or shotgun – 10 years mandatory minimum. If it’s a machine gun, destructive device, or has a silencer attached – 30 years mandatory minimum. Thirty years that must be served on top of your sentence for the underlying crime.
A second or subsequent 924(c) conviction carries a mandatory minimum of 25 years to life. Before the First Step Act in 2018, federal prosecutors were “stacking” these charges in a single case – charging you with multiple 924(c) violations from the same criminal episode and treating the second one as a “second or subsequent” conviction even though you’d never been convicted before. That practice led to people receiving 30, 40, 50 years or more from a single case.
The judge has zero discretion to go below these mandatory minimums. It doesn’t matter if you have no criminal history, if you were a minimal participant, if you’re the sole caretaker for your children. The law strips the judge of sentencing discretion. Their hands are tied.
United States v. Davis Changed Everything
In 2019, the Supreme Court decided United States v. Davis, and that decision changed how 924(c) works for cases involving alleged “crimes of violence.” The statute applies to two categories of underlying offenses: drug trafficking crimes and crimes of violence.
“Crime of violence” was defined two ways – the “elements clause” and the “residual clause.” The residual clause said a crime of violence includes any felony that “by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force may be used.” Different judges reached different conclusions about what qualified.
The Supreme Court in Davis ruled that the residual clause was unconstitutionally vague. After Davis, the only way a crime qualifies as a “crime of violence” under 924(c) is if it meets the elements clause: the offense must have as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force.
This narrowed what crimes can support a 924(c) charge. Robbery still qualifies. Hobbs Act robbery, carjacking, certain assault offenses work. But offenses that don’t require force as an element cannot support a 924(c) conviction under the crime of violence prong.
If you were convicted of 924(c) based on a predicate crime that only qualified under the now-invalid residual clause, you may have grounds for post-conviction relief. We’ve seen defendants serving decades get their 924(c) convictions vacated because their underlying “crime of violence” no longer qualifies after Davis.
The First Step Act Ended Stacking
Congress passed the First Step Act in December 2018, making critical changes to 924(c)’s “second or subsequent” provision. Before this law, prosecutors would charge you with multiple 924(c) counts in a single indictment. Say you had three separate drug deals, each involving a gun. The first carried a 5-year mandatory minimum, but the second carried 25 years, and the third carried another 25 years. That’s 55 years from gun charges alone.
The First Step Act changed the statute to require that a prior 924(c) conviction must be final before the 25-year mandatory minimum applies. Now, if you’re charged with multiple 924(c) violations in the same case, only the first one carries the enhanced minimum.
This was a huge reform. But the First Step Act did not make this change retroactive. If you were sentenced before December 2018 with stacked 924(c) charges, you cannot use the First Step Act to get resentencing.
DOJ Enforcement in 2025
Federal prosecutors still aggressively charge 924(c) violations. In fiscal year 2024, there were 2,522 convictions under 924(c) out of more than 61,000 total federal cases. These are some of the most serious cases in the federal system.
The Department of Justice issued new charging policies in February 2025 directing prosecutors to pursue “the most serious, readily provable offenses” with the most severe penalties. That means if there’s any evidence you possessed a gun during a federal drug crime or crime of violence, expect prosecutors to charge 924(c).
Federal prosecutors use 924(c) as leverage in plea negotiations. They’ll offer to dismiss the 924(c) count if you plead guilty to the underlying offense and accept a Guidelines sentence that’s still substantial but avoids the mandatory minimum. Sometimes that’s the right decision. Sometimes it’s not.
At Spodek Law Group – we’ve been handling federal firearm cases for many, many years. We know how to challenge the “in furtherance of” element. We know how to analyze whether your predicate offense qualifies as a crime of violence after Davis. Our managing partner, Todd Spodek, is a second-generation criminal defense attorney who grew up in his father’s law firm learning how federal cases are won and lost.
A 924(c) charge changes everything about your case – your exposure, your leverage, your decision-making. You need someone who understands the stakes. That’s what we do.