“We need to get serious about prosecuting violent criminals. Violent crime in cities like Baltimore, Chicago and many others is out of control. Drug dealers and gang members are given a slap on the wrist and turned loose on the street. This needs to stop. ... if a violent felon uses a gun to commit a crime, you will be prosecuted in federal court and go to prison for five years – no parole or early release.”
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Federal law (18 U.S.C. 924(c)) already imposed a five-year mandatory minimum for using a gun during a violent or drug-trafficking crime, and the federal system abolished parole decades ago, so the promise's operative element was aggressive federal prosecution of armed offenders. The Justice Department reinvigorated Project Safe Neighborhoods in 2017 to concentrate federal prosecution on armed violent offenders, and announced on October 16, 2020 that it had charged more than 14,200 defendants with firearms-related crimes in FY2020. However, federal charging of armed violent felons remained selective rather than the promised universal guarantee, so the promise was substantially but not fully kept during the 2017-2021 term.
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