Barrett v. United States · ¶20

When Congress passed 18 U. S. C. § 924(c) in 1968, the new subsection “made it a discrete offense” to use or carry a frearm in connection with a federal crime of violence or drug trafficking crime, known as predicates. Abbott v. United States, 562 U. S. 8, 12 (2010).The original statute left open two questions relevant to today's case. It did not specify whether a subsection (c) conviction could coexist with, or instead must displace, a conviction for the underlying predicate. And assuming two convictions could coexist, it did not specify whether the two resulting sentences should run concurrently or consecutively.

preliminary print (page proof)
Source edition
Passage preview. Read in context for the complete text, notes and references.