18 U.S.C. § 924 — Penalties

(a) General penalties. (1) Unless another part of this section or section 929 sets a different penalty: a fine and up to 5 years in prison apply to anyone who knowingly makes a false statement in required firearms records or license applications (A); knowingly violates certain background-check, record-keeping, or export-related rules in section 922 (B); knowingly imports firearms or ammunition in violation of section 922(l) (C); or willfully violates any other part of this chapter (D). (2) Knowingly violating certain other parts of section 922 — covering things like sales to prohibited buyers or straw purchases — carries a fine and up to 10 years. (3) A licensed dealer, importer, manufacturer, or collector who knowingly makes a false statement in required records (A), or violates the multiple-sale reporting rule in section 922(m) (B), faces a fine and up to 1 year. (4) Violating section 922(q) (guns in school zones) carries a fine and up to 5 years, which must be served on top of — not at the same time as — any other sentence; for other legal purposes, this offense is treated as a misdemeanor. (5) Knowingly violating certain other background-check-related provisions of section 922 carries a fine and up to 1 year. (6)(A) A juvenile who violates the juvenile handgun-possession ban in section 922(x) faces a fine and up to 1 year, except that a first-time juvenile offender charged only with simple possession must get probation, not jail, unless they violate probation. (B) An adult who knowingly violates section 922(x) faces a fine and up to 1 year — or a fine and up to 10 years if they sold or transferred a handgun or ammunition to a juvenile knowing or having reason to know the juvenile would use it to commit a violent crime. (7) Knowingly violating section 931 (body armor possession by violent felons) carries a fine and up to 3 years. (8) Knowingly violating the rules against transferring firearms to, or possession by, prohibited persons carries a fine and up to 15 years. (b) Shipping, transporting, or receiving a firearm or ammunition across state or national lines, intending to commit — or knowing or having reason to believe it will be used to commit — a crime punishable by more than a year in prison, carries a fine and up to 10 years. (c) Using a firearm during a violent or drug-trafficking crime. (1)(A) Anyone who uses, carries, or possesses a firearm during and in relation to (or in furtherance of) a federal crime of violence or drug trafficking crime gets, on top of the sentence for that underlying crime, a mandatory minimum of 5 years — 7 years if the firearm was brandished, or 10 years if it was fired (i)-(iii). (B) If the firearm is a short-barreled rifle or shotgun or a semiautomatic assault weapon, the minimum rises to 10 years; if it's a machine gun, destructive device, or has a silencer, the minimum rises to 30 years. (C) A second conviction under this subsection carries a 25-year minimum, or life if the gun is a machine gun, destructive device, or has a silencer. (D) Courts can never give probation for this offense, and the sentence must run consecutively — never at the same time — as any other sentence, including for the underlying crime. (2) "Drug trafficking crime" means a felony under specified federal drug-trafficking or maritime drug laws. (3) "Crime of violence" means a felony that either has the use or threat of physical force as an element, or by its nature carries a substantial risk that force will be used while committing it. (4) "Brandish" means displaying or otherwise making a firearm's presence known to intimidate someone, whether or not the gun is actually visible to them. (5) The same structure applies to armor-piercing ammunition: a 15-year minimum on top of the underlying crime's sentence, or — if the ammunition causes a death — the death penalty or any term up to life for murder, or the penalty under section 1112 for manslaughter. (d) Forfeiture. (1) Firearms or ammunition involved in various listed violations (including intent to use them in certain offenses, shown by clear and convincing evidence) can be seized and forfeited under the same procedures used for tobacco and firearms forfeitures in the tax code. If the owner is acquitted, has charges dismissed (other than at the government's own request before trial), or the restraining order against them ends, the seized items must be returned right away unless that would itself be illegal. Forfeiture proceedings must start within 120 days of seizure. (2) In a case to get seized firearms back, the winning party (other than the government) gets reasonable attorney's fees paid by the government (A); the same applies in any other case the court finds was baseless, vexatious, or brought in bad faith (B). Only firearms or ammunition specifically identified as tied to a violation are subject to forfeiture (C). The government only pays attorney's fees to the extent Congress has appropriated funds for it (D). (3) The listed offenses that trigger forfeiture include: crimes of violence (A); federal drug-trafficking or maritime drug offenses (B); certain unlicensed-dealing offenses shown to be part of a pattern (C); knowingly transferring a firearm to someone who intends to use it unlawfully (D); several other listed sections 922 offenses (E); firearms export offenses (F); and trafficking offenses under sections 932 or 933 (G). (e) Armed career criminals. (1) Someone convicted of illegally possessing a firearm (section 922(g)) who has three prior convictions, from separate occasions, for a violent felony or serious drug offense, must be sentenced to a fine and at least 15 years — with no suspended sentence or probation allowed. (2) "Serious drug offense" means a federal drug offense carrying a maximum of 10+ years, or a similar state drug-manufacturing or distribution offense with the same maximum (A). "Violent felony" means a crime punishable by more than a year (or an equivalent act of juvenile delinquency involving a firearm, knife, or destructive device) that either involves force against a person, or is burglary, arson, extortion, use of explosives, or otherwise carries a serious risk of physical injury to someone (B). "Conviction" here also includes a juvenile-delinquency finding for a violent felony (C). (f) Knowingly violating the ban on undetectable firearms (section 922(p)) carries a fine and up to 5 years. (g) Traveling from one state or country into another, intending to acquire or transfer a firearm there, in furtherance of a racketeering offense, a federal or state drug offense, or a crime of violence, carries a fine and up to 10 years. (h) Knowingly receiving or transferring — or attempting or conspiring to receive or transfer — a firearm or ammunition, knowing or having reason to believe it will be used for a felony, a federal terrorism crime, a drug trafficking crime, or certain export-control or sanctions crimes, carries a fine and up to 15 years. (i) (1) Knowingly violating section 922(u) (theft of firearms from a licensed dealer's inventory in interstate commerce) carries a fine and up to 10 years. (2) This subsection isn't meant to override state laws on the same subject unless a state law actually conflicts with it. (j) Causing someone's death with a firearm while committing an offense under subsection (c) is punished as murder (death penalty or any prison term up to life) if it meets the definition of murder, or as manslaughter under section 1112 if it meets that definition. (k) Smuggling firearms or ammunition into the United States (1), or out of the United States (2), intending to promote drug-trafficking, maritime-drug, felony, or terrorism-related conduct, carries a fine and up to 15 years in either direction. (l) Stealing a firearm that has moved in, or is part of, interstate or foreign commerce carries a fine and up to 10 years. (m) Stealing a firearm from a licensed importer, manufacturer, dealer, or collector carries a fine and up to 10 years. (n) Traveling from one state or country into another, intending to illegally deal in firearms without a license and then acquiring a gun there, carries up to 10 years. (o) Conspiring to commit an offense under subsection (c) carries a fine and up to 20 years — or any term up to life if the firearm involved is a machine gun, destructive device, or has a silencer. (p) Penalties for violating the secure gun storage device rule (section 922(z)(1)). (1)(A) After notice and a hearing, the ATF (the Secretary) may suspend a violating licensed manufacturer's, importer's, or dealer's license for up to 6 months, or revoke it (i), or impose a civil penalty of up to $2,500 (ii). (B) Any such action can only be reviewed the way license actions are reviewed under section 923(f). (2) These penalties don't rule out any other administrative remedy the Secretary already has available.