Sponsors (2)
The bill uses federal grant conditioning to push states and localities toward a uniform gun‑zone policy—preserving funding and policing resources for compliant jurisdictions but risking large grant losses, uneven funding shifts, federalism disputes, and potential public‑safety trade‑offs for noncompliant communities.
State and local governments that adopt the bill's required policy will retain eligibility for federal Byrne-JAG and COPS grant funding, preserving major law‑enforcement and justice program funding for those jurisdictions.
Communities that remain eligible for COPS grants can continue to fund community policing and public‑safety programs, supporting police staffing and local crime‑prevention initiatives.
Tying grant eligibility to a uniform gun‑free‑zone policy may incentivize local adoption of consistent restrictions in specified public spaces, which proponents argue could make those spaces safer for residents and visitors.
States and localities that decline to adopt the bill's policy risk losing up to 99% of Byrne‑JAG and/or COPS grant funding for the year, threatening major cuts to public‑safety and justice programs.
Redirecting withheld federal grant dollars to compliant jurisdictions could create large, uneven funding shifts that disadvantage jurisdictions (including rural communities) that keep restrictions for safety or policy reasons.
Conditioning major federal law‑enforcement grants on state and local gun‑policy choices raises federalism and civil‑liberties concerns and is likely to prompt legal and political disputes over federal imposition on local policing decisions.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Conditions Byrne‑JAG and COPS federal grants on state/local removal or alteration of gun‑free zones so permit‑holders may carry where doing so could have averted or mitigated harm, with up to 99% funding reductions for noncompliance.
Introduced March 16, 2026 by John J. McGuire · Last progress March 16, 2026
Conditions federal public-safety grant money on state and local changes to "gun-free zone" policies so that individuals authorized to carry a firearm in their state of residence may carry in such zones when their ability to avert or mitigate harm was implicated; jurisdictions that do not conform risk having up to 99% of certain Byrne-JAG and COPS grant funds reduced and reallocated to compliant jurisdictions. The requirement for Byrne-JAG grants begins the first full fiscal year after enactment; COPS grant eligibility is similarly conditioned in subsequent fiscal years. The act adopts existing statutory definitions from the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act for any defined terms.