The Armed Career Criminal Act adds a 15-year mandatory minimum prison sentence for someone caught illegally possessing a firearm if they already have three prior serious felony convictions. Recent Supreme Court rulings narrowed which past offenses count, prompting this bill. It would broaden the definition of "serious felony" to cover any past offense that carried a possible prison term of 10 years or more, and also count groups of prior convictions where the total sentence imposed was 10 years or longer. Sentences would still range from 15 to 30 years, with no probation or suspended sentences allowed. The bill explicitly does not let people already serving such sentences challenge them.
- Expands which past offenses trigger a 15-year mandatory minimum
- Counts non-violent felonies toward the three-strike threshold
- Strips judges of discretion to suspend or grant probation
- Bars anyone already sentenced from challenging the broadened rule
Congressional Summary
Restoring the Armed Career Criminal Act This bill expands the criminal offenses that qualify as prior convictions for the purpose of enhanced sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA). Currently, the ACCA imposes a 15-year mandatory minimum prison term on a defendant who possesses, receives, or transports a firearm as a prohibited person (e.g., felon) and has three or more prior convictions for a serious drug offense or violent felony (or both) committed on separate occasions.The term serious drug offense means a federal or state offense with a statutory maximum prison term of 10 years or more. A state offense must involve the manufacture, distribution, or possession of a controlled substance as defined in the Controlled Substances Act.The term violent felony means any crime punishable by a prison term of more than one year that (1) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force; or (2) is burglary, arson, or extortion, or involves explosives.This bill replaces serious drug offense and violent felony with a new category of qualifying prior offense: serious felony convictions. The term serious felony conviction means (1) any conviction that, at the time of sentencing, was a felony offense punishable by a statutory maximum prison term of 10 years or more; or (2) any group of convictions imposed in the same proceeding or in consolidated proceedings with a total prison term of 10 years of more, regardless of how many years the defendant served.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-07-10
- Date Added
- 2026-04-25
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