Sponsors (2)
The bill leverages federal Byrne-JAG and COPS grant eligibility to push state and local adoption of a specific gun-free-zone policy—preserving funding and policy uniformity for compliant jurisdictions but risking major funding losses, legal disputes, uneven resource shifts, and public-safety trade-offs for noncompliant areas.
State and local governments that adopt the required policy remain eligible for Byrne-JAG and COPS grants, preserving funding for law enforcement and community policing programs.
Tying grant eligibility to a uniform gun-free-zone policy may incentivize jurisdictions to adopt consistent restrictions, which proponents argue could make specified public spaces safer.
People already authorized to carry in their state could be allowed to carry in some former gun-free zones after being harmed, potentially enabling immediate self-defense in similar future incidents.
States and localities that decline to adopt the specified policy risk losing up to ~99% of Byrne-JAG and COPS grant funding, sharply reducing resources for policing and public-safety programs.
Large potential funding cuts would likely force jurisdictions to shift local budgets or cut public-safety services (e.g., staffing, community programs), increasing fiscal pressure on taxpayers and reducing services.
Expanding where firearms may be carried (into some former gun-free zones) could increase the risk of accidental shootings or violent escalation, endangering bystanders and communities.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Conditions Byrne JAG and COPS grant eligibility on removing or altering gun‑free zones to allow in‑state authorized carriers when carrying could have averted or mitigated harm.
Official title: To provide for a cause of action enabling recovery of any person harmed by the limitation on ability to carry a firearm in a different jurisdiction.
Introduced March 16, 2026 by John J. McGuire · Last progress March 16, 2026
Requires States and local governments that receive Byrne JAG or COPS grant funding to remove or alter gun‑free zone rules so that people legally authorized to carry in their home state may carry in any existing gun‑free zone if doing so could have averted or mitigated harm; compliance is required beginning the first full fiscal year after enactment and failure to comply can reduce grant allocations by up to 99 percent for that fiscal year, with withheld funds reallocated to compliant jurisdictions. The Act adopts existing statutory definitions from the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act for terms used in the measure.