Sponsors (25)
The bill narrows and clarifies what counts as a large-capacity feeding device and funds voluntary buy-backs to reduce high-capacity magazines in circulation—balancing clearer enforcement and potential public-safety gains against new criminal liabilities, expanded forfeiture authority, business and taxpayer costs, and uneven program impacts.
Gun owners and the public gain clearer federal legal standards for what counts as a large-capacity ammunition feeding device, reducing ambiguity in prosecutions and enforcement.
Owners of .22-caliber rimfire tubular-magazine firearms are explicitly excluded from the large-capacity definition, avoiding unintended criminal classification for common rimfire rifles.
Existing lawful private owners who already possess covered devices are grandfathered, avoiding immediate criminalization and sudden forfeiture of items acquired before the law takes effect.
Private owners who possess magazines or devices that accept more than 10 rounds may face new criminal liability or be treated as possessing prohibited weapons, increasing risk of prosecution for many gun owners.
Collectors, sport shooters, and firearms businesses could incur compliance costs, face seizure risk, and suffer reduced resale liquidity and market options as some items become restricted or harder to sell.
The bill expands federal seizure and forfeiture authority to include these devices, increasing the risk of property forfeiture tied to investigations.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits import/sale/manufacture/transfer/possession of large-capacity ammunition feeding devices with limited exceptions and authorizes Byrne grants to fund buy-back compensation.
Official title: Regulate large capacity ammunition feeding devices.
Introduced February 27, 2025 by Mazie Hirono · Last progress February 27, 2025
Makes it a federal crime to import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess “large capacity ammunition feeding devices” (magazines, belts, drums, etc. that can hold or be converted to accept more than 10 rounds), while grandfathering devices lawfully possessed when the law takes effect and creating specific exceptions (federal/state agencies, qualified law enforcement, certain retired officers, licensed manufacturers for testing, and certain Atomic Energy Act personnel). It also expands federal seizure/forfeiture authorities to cover these devices, adjusts criminal penalty cross-references, and explicitly allows Byrne grant funds to be used for buy-back compensation when individuals surrender covered devices. The bill adds new statutory definitions, amends multiple criminal code sections to create the prohibition and enforcement tools, defines “campus law enforcement officer” for a limited exception tied to eligibility for Title IV funds, and contains a severability clause so remaining provisions survive if a court invalidates part of the law.