Sponsors (2)
The bill strengthens public-safety and sentencing clarity by restoring a firearm-conviction predicate and imposing mandatory, long enhanced sentences for repeat felons, but does so by expanding mandatory penalties, reducing judicial discretion, raising prison costs, and risking disproportionate harm to racial minorities and currently incarcerated people.
People newly convicted of federal firearm offenses who have three prior serious-felony convictions will face consistent, mandatory enhanced sentences (minimum ~15 years), increasing incapacitation of repeat violent/offending risks and aiming to improve public safety.
Reinserting §922(g) as an ACCA predicate and creating clearer statutory definitions of 'serious felony conviction' gives prosecutors and courts a more consistent, less ambiguous framework for applying career‑offender enhancements and making sentencing determinations.
Applying the updated rules prospectively avoids relitigation of settled cases and reduces additional court workload and legal uncertainty for past convictions.
People with prior convictions — disproportionately racial and ethnic minorities — face long mandatory prison terms (often 15–30 years) and a loss of judicial discretion, increasing risks of inflexible and disproportionate punishment.
Defining predicate felonies by statutory maximums (rather than actual conduct or guideline range) may sweep in older, nonviolent, or low‑level convictions, expanding who qualifies for ACCA enhancements.
Individuals currently serving sentences under §924(e) cannot seek relief under the Act even if later definition changes would benefit them, locking in older, potentially harsher sentences.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Imposes a 15–30 year mandatory minimum for knowing firearm possession by persons with three or more defined "serious felony" prior convictions and bans suspended sentences/probation for that offense.
Official title: Amend title 18, United States Code, relating to sentencing of armed career criminals.
Introduced July 10, 2025 by Marsha Blackburn · Last progress July 10, 2025
Strengthens federal penalties for people who knowingly possess firearms while having three or more prior "serious felony" convictions. The bill amends the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) to define "serious felony" by offense statutory maximum or by aggregated prior terms, requires a mandatory minimum prison term of 15 years (up to 30) for qualifying offenders, and applies the changes to offenses committed after the law takes effect. It also prohibits suspended sentences or probation for the underlying firearms conviction and limits opportunities to challenge sentences under the amended provision.