Sponsors (2)
Introduced April 16, 2026 by Timothy Michael Kaine · Last progress April 16, 2026
The bill increases public safety by tightening transfers, expanding background checks, funding ERPO/relinquishment implementation, and strengthening child/campus protections—but does so by broadening criminal exposure, adding compliance costs and federal oversight, and creating due‑process and privacy concerns for some individuals.
Middle-class families, law enforcement, and the general public: Makes illicit private transfers and firearms trafficking harder by requiring licensed intermediaries and background checks for many private sales, limiting handgun purchases (one per 30 days), prohibiting undetectable weapons, and requiring serialized frames/receivers — improving traceability and reducing unvetted transfers.
State, tribal, and local governments and law enforcement: Receive federal grants, training, and technical assistance to implement ERPOs, relinquishment procedures, and related protocols, improving identification of high-risk people and safe firearm removal/storage.
Children, youth, students, and parents: Increases child and campus safety by banning minors from assault weapons, criminalizing leaving loaded unsecured firearms accessible to under-18s, and prohibiting firearms on college campuses and around many mental-health facilities.
Gun owners, sellers, and caregivers: Broadens criminal exposure by expanding 'assault weapon' definitions, adding enhanced penalties, and creating felony-level caregiver prohibitions, which can criminalize previously lawful possession or conduct and raise the risk of severe penalties.
Private individuals, dealers, and small businesses: Imposes new compliance costs and administrative burdens (licensed intermediaries for private transfers, full chapter 44 procedures, reporting and storage requirements), which may raise fees, reduce transfer options, and strain small dealers.
People subject to ERPOs and temporary orders: Faces immediate loss of firearms and due-process concerns because ex parte orders and broadened reporting can cause temporary deprivation and federal prohibitions before a full hearing.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Creates new federal transfer, reporting, storage, and location-based firearm offenses; funds ERPO and domestic-relief grant programs and disqualifies misdemeanor hate-crime convicts from owning guns.
Makes multiple changes to federal firearms law: it creates new crimes and duties for private transfers and for failing to report lost or stolen guns, adds a reckless-storage offense for loaded guns that endanger minors, and bars possession of regulated firearms on many campus and mental-health facility grounds. It also creates two grant programs to support state, tribal, and local adoption and implementation of extreme-risk protection orders (ERPOs) and domestic-violence-related firearm relinquishment laws, sets conditions for grant eligibility, and authorizes funding for training, personnel, storage, data collection, and public awareness. The bill further expands who is disqualified from owning firearms to include people convicted of certain misdemeanor hate crimes and updates definitions for key terms.