Felon in Possession of a Firearm: Federal Penalties and Restoring Rights

A person convicted of a felony cannot lawfully ship, transport, receive, or possess a firearm or ammunition under federal law, and being caught as a felon in possession of a firearm carries a sentence of up to 15 years in federal prison under 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(8).¹ The ban reaches anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year, whether or not that sentence was actually imposed.² For people with three qualifying priors, the exposure jumps to a mandatory minimum of 15 years with no probation available.

Which Convictions Trigger the Ban

The Gun Control Act, at 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), prohibits firearm possession by anyone convicted in any court of a crime “punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.”² The key word is punishable. The ban keys to the statutory maximum the law allowed for your offense, not the sentence the judge handed down. Probation for a felony that carried a five-year ceiling still makes you a prohibited person.

The ban is not limited to violent crimes. Tax evasion, large-scale fraud, embezzlement, and mail fraud (20-year maximum) all qualify when they meet the one-year threshold, even if the defendant never spent a day in custody.

Offenses That Don’t Count

Two categories of qualifying-length offenses are carved out of the definition. The first covers federal and state antitrust violations, unfair trade practices, and other business regulation crimes, regardless of their sentence length. The second covers any state offense that the state itself classifies as a misdemeanor and punishes by two years or less.³ That second exclusion matters in states where some misdemeanors carry penalties above a year; without it, state misdemeanants would be swept into federal felony-firearms territory.

What Counts as a Firearm or Ammunition

The federal definition is broader than most people assume. A “firearm” includes any weapon designed to expel a projectile by an explosive, plus the frame or receiver of such a weapon, and any silencer or muffler.³ A stripped receiver with no barrel and no trigger is still a firearm. So is a silencer sitting alone on a shelf.

Ammunition is treated with equal weight. The term covers cartridge cases, primers, bullets, and propellant powder.⁴ A single live round in a dresser drawer can support a federal charge.

Antique firearms are statutorily exempt, but the exemption is narrower than the folk version of the rule. Three categories qualify: firearms made in or before 1898, replicas of pre-1899 firearms that do not use modern rimfire or centerfire fixed ammunition, and muzzleloaders designed for black powder that cannot accept fixed ammunition.³ A muzzleloader built on a modern firearm frame, or one that can be readily converted to fire fixed ammunition by swapping the barrel or bolt, loses the exemption. Air rifles and pellet guns generally fall outside the federal definition because they use compressed air, though state law may still restrict them.

Actual Possession Versus Constructive Possession

Prosecutors do not have to catch you holding a gun. Federal law recognizes two theories, and the second drives a large share of these cases.

Actual possession is physical control: a pistol in a waistband, a rifle in your hand, a firearm in your jacket.⁵ These cases are generally easy for the government to prove.

Constructive possession is where the law reaches further. You have constructive possession when you have both the power and the intention to exercise control over a firearm, even without touching it.⁵ A gun in a nightstand you sleep next to, a safe you know the code to, or a shared closet in your home can all support a charge. Courts look at whether you knew the weapon was there and had the practical ability to get to it.

Vehicles produce some of the hardest-fought cases. A passenger can be charged when a gun is found under the seat or in a center console within arm’s reach. Where the weapon sits matters: plain view suggests shared knowledge, while a gun locked in a trunk cuts against the government’s theory for a passenger. Fingerprints, statements made during the stop, and proximity to a particular seat all feed into the analysis. Simply being present in the car is not enough.⁶

Federal Penalties

The baseline exposure is up to 15 years in federal prison under § 924(a)(8), a ceiling raised from 10 years by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022.¹ The guideline sentence depends on the weapon, the number of firearms involved, whether serial numbers were altered, and criminal history.

The math escalates sharply with prior violent or drug convictions. The base offense level is 14 for a standard case, 20 if the defendant has one prior felony conviction for a violent crime or drug offense, and 24 with more than one such prior. Semiautomatic firearms capable of accepting large-capacity magazines, and weapons regulated under the National Firearms Act, push the base level higher still.⁷

The Armed Career Criminal Act

The harshest consequence is reserved for people the government labels armed career criminals. Under 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), a § 922(g) violator with three or more prior convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years. The court cannot suspend the sentence or grant probation.¹ A simple possession case can become a functional life sentence for a defendant in their 40s or 50s, which is why defense attorneys fight hard over whether each prior conviction actually qualifies as a “violent felony” under the statute.

What the Government Must Prove

A conviction requires more than finding a gun near a convicted felon. After the Supreme Court’s 2019 decision in Rehaif v. United States, prosecutors must also prove the defendant knew they belonged to a prohibited category — in practical terms, that they knew they had been convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year. For someone who served prison time on a plainly labeled felony, that element is straightforward. For older convictions, probationary sentences, or plea deals where the collateral consequences were never spelled out, the knowledge requirement can open real defense ground.

The government also has to prove the firearm or ammunition traveled in or affected interstate commerce at some point, and that the defendant knowingly possessed it. The commerce element is almost always met, because nearly every manufactured firearm crosses a state line somewhere in its history. The possession element is where contested trials usually live, particularly in constructive possession cases turning on knowledge and control.

Getting Firearm Rights Back

Rights restoration is one of the harder things to accomplish in the federal legal system. The route depends on where the conviction occurred and whether you’re clearing state disabilities, federal disabilities, or both.

State Restoration, Expungement, and Pardon

Federal law defers to the jurisdiction of conviction. Under 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(20), a conviction that has been expunged, set aside, or pardoned does not count as a disqualifying conviction, and a person whose civil rights have been restored is similarly cleared.³ One major catch: if the pardon, expungement, or restoration order says the person still cannot possess firearms, the federal ban stays in place. The restoration also has to reach the core civil rights, typically voting, holding office, and jury service. If any of those remain restricted, federal authorities may still treat you as prohibited.

Procedures vary widely by state. Some restore rights automatically on completion of sentence; others require a petition to a court or a clemency board. A full presidential pardon restores federal firearm rights unless the pardon itself restricts them, and a governor’s pardon can lift the federal ban on a state conviction under the same § 921(a)(20) framework. Pardons are rare, though. Most governors grant only a handful each year, and presidential pardons for ordinary felony convictions are exceptionally uncommon.

Federal Relief Under § 925(c)

Congress wrote a federal safety valve into the statute. Under 18 U.S.C. § 925(c), a prohibited person can apply to the Attorney General for relief, and relief can be granted if the applicant’s record and circumstances show they are unlikely to be dangerous and that restoring their rights would not be contrary to the public interest. A denial is reviewable in federal district court.⁸

For decades, this process existed on paper only, because Congress repeatedly blocked funding for the ATF to process individual applications. As of early 2025, the Department of Justice announced it was developing a web-based application system and working on a final rule to establish the process, though applications were not yet being accepted at that time.⁹ Anyone considering an application should check the DOJ’s current status before investing time or money.

A Related Restriction on Body Armor

The firearm prohibition is not the only federal restriction tied to a felony record, but the body armor rule is narrower. Under 18 U.S.C. § 931, a person convicted of a felony that qualifies as a crime of violence cannot purchase, own, or possess body armor.¹⁰ Nonviolent felonies, including white-collar offenses, do not trigger it. The statute allows an exception for people whose employers provide written certification that body armor is necessary for the job.

Where the Law Is Moving After Bruen

The Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen requires courts to evaluate firearm regulations against historical tradition. That framework has produced new challenges to the felon-in-possession ban, with mixed results.

In United States v. Rahimi (2024), the Supreme Court upheld the prohibition on firearm possession by people subject to domestic violence restraining orders and reaffirmed Heller‘s description of felon disarmament laws as “presumptively lawful.”¹¹ That language signals the Court is unlikely to strike down § 922(g)(1) on a facial challenge.

Lower courts have been more open to as-applied challenges. In Range v. Attorney General (2023), the Third Circuit ruled § 922(g)(1) unconstitutional as applied to a man whose only disqualifying conviction was a minor state offense involving a false statement on a food-stamp application. The court found the government failed to show a historical tradition of disarming people like him.¹² The ruling was narrow and fact-specific, but it indicates that people with minor, nonviolent convictions may have ground to stand on. Outcomes depend heavily on the underlying conviction and which circuit hears the case.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 924 – Penalties
2
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Identify Prohibited Persons
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 921 – Definitions
4
Legal Information Institute. 18 USC 921 – Definitions
5
United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 18 USC 922(g)(1) – Possession of a Firearm or Ammunition in or Affecting Commerce by a Convicted Felon
6
Legal Information Institute. Constructive Possession
7
United States Sentencing Commission. Primer on Firearms Offenses
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 925 – Relief From Disabilities
9
U.S. Department of Justice. Federal Firearm Rights Restoration
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 931 – Purchase, Ownership, or Possession of Body Armor by Violent Felons
11
Supreme Court of the United States. United States v. Rahimi, No. 22-915
12
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Range v. Attorney General of the United States, No. 21-2835