Sponsors (96)
The bill makes it easier and cheaper for governments and businesses to produce, buy, and use certain less-than-lethal projectile devices by exempting them from firearm rules and excise taxes and creating determination processes, while raising public-safety, civil-liberties, administrative, and revenue concerns.
Law enforcement agencies can obtain and use more non-lethal projectile devices without being treated as firearms, expanding available crowd-control and arrest options for police.
Manufacturers, importers, and consumers face lower costs because qualified less-than-lethal devices are exempt from the federal excise tax.
Businesses and local governments gain clearer, faster regulatory processes through Attorney General and IRS determinations and public qualification lists, improving market predictability.
Urban communities and the public may face higher safety risks because broader statutory carve-outs and reclassification could increase deployment of forceful crowd-control tools that still cause serious injury.
Law enforcement and the public could lose firearms-related safeguards (like background-style controls) for these devices once they are excluded from the 'firearm' definition, raising misuse and public-safety risks.
Looser regulation and easier market access may increase misuse by private actors and agencies with weaker oversight, heightening civil liberties and disproportionate enforcement concerns for marginalized communities.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Defines "less-than-lethal projectile device," excludes qualifying devices from certain firearm rules, and exempts them from the federal excise tax, with agency review and public lists.
Creates a new federal legal category called a "less-than-lethal projectile device," defines it by three limits (not designed to fire common handgun/rifle/shotgun ammunition or projectiles >500 ft/s; intended to be used in ways not likely to cause death or serious bodily injury; and not able to accept certain feeding devices), and exempts devices meeting that definition from certain statutory firearm restrictions and from a federal excise tax. The Attorney General and the IRS Secretary must make classification determinations on request within 90 days; the IRS must publish and annually update lists of qualifying devices and a separate list of devices that would qualify except for exceeding the 500 ft/s threshold. The tax and regulatory changes apply to articles sold after enactment, with a 180-day transitional rule for early requests.
Introduced March 18, 2025 by Scott Fitzgerald · Last progress February 24, 2026