Barrett v. United States · ¶59

There is a textual answer to this concern, too, and here (again) § 924(c)(5) plays the foil. That provision, which pertains to the use of armor-piercing ammunition, states that, “in addition to the punishment provided for” the predicate “or conviction under this section,” a defendant shall face a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years “and,” if death results, shall be sentenced in accordance with a scheme that mirrors subsection ( j)'s. (Emphasis added.) This illustrates that, when Congress wished to preserve a mandatory minimum it feared might otherwise disappear, it so specified. But subsection (j), we explained in Lora, is “cast from a different mold.” 599 U. S., at 461.

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