Sponsors (96)
The bill expands market access and regulatory clarity for less-than-lethal projectile devices—lowering costs and easing law-enforcement use—but reduces federal revenue and creates safety, oversight, and civil-liberties risks by loosening firearms-related safeguards.
Manufacturers, importers, and local governments gain clearer, faster federal determinations (AG 90-day rule and IRS public lists), improving market predictability and permitting decisions for qualifying less-than-lethal devices.
Manufacturers, importers, and consumers of qualifying less-than-lethal devices pay no federal excise tax on those items, lowering production costs and consumer prices.
Small manufacturers and purchasers of qualifying devices are removed from the statutory 'firearm' definition, reducing firearms-specific regulatory burdens and compliance costs for those products.
Urban communities, racial minorities, and the general public face higher risk of injury and misuse because devices become easier to deploy, may bypass firearms safeguards (e.g., background checks), and could be used by actors with weaker oversight.
Taxpayers and federal budgets lose excise tax revenue from these items, reducing federal receipts and potentially increasing deficits or shifting tax burdens.
Manufacturers, the Attorney General, and the IRS may face administrative burdens, request backlogs, and timing complications (90-day determinations and 180-day transitional rules), creating compliance costs and regulatory unpredictability.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a federal definition for less‑than‑lethal projectile devices, excludes them from the statutory "firearm" definition, and exempts qualifying devices and cartridges from the federal excise tax; agencies must issue classification decisions and publish lists.
Creates a new federal definition for “less‑than‑lethal projectile device,” excludes those devices from the federal statutory definition of “firearm,” and exempts qualifying devices and their shells/cartridges from the federal excise tax. It requires the Attorney General and the IRS to make classification determinations on request within 90 days, and directs the IRS to publish and annually update lists of qualifying devices and near‑qualifying devices that exceed a 500 ft/s velocity threshold. The bill sets technical criteria for qualification (cannot accept common firearm ammunition or feeding devices, intended use not likely to cause death/serious injury, and maximum velocity of 500 ft/s), applies to articles sold after enactment, and includes transitional rules for early requests for classification determinations.
Official title: To modernize Federal firearms laws to account for advancements in technology and less-than-lethal weapons, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 18, 2025 by Scott Fitzgerald · Last progress February 24, 2026