The Armed Career Criminal Act, enacted in 1984, authorized mandatory minimum sentences of 15 years imprisonment for armed offenders with three previous State or Federal convictions for violent felonies, serious drug offenses or both. This law has given the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) a tremendous weapon to use against career criminals. In March 1992, ATF established a violent offender program. A number of criteria have been established to identify career criminals. Those individuals who meet the criteria are entered into NCIC's ATF Violent Felon File. Whenever a law enforcement agency encounters one of these offenders, it will be alerted to the fact that this is a career criminal and that ATF is to be contacted if the offender is in possession of a firearm. This document provides various material relevant to the program such as statutory language, case studies of the types of offenders the program is aimed at, forms for use by law enforcement agencies in reporting a violent offender to ATF and some practical information on the implementation of the program.