I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 923
To prohibit the importation, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of
.50 caliber rifles, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY4, 2025
Mr. C
ASTROof Texas (for himself, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. FROST, Mrs. RAMIREZ,
Ms. N
ORTON, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr.
C
ASAR, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. GARCI´Aof Illinois, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. MAG-
AZINER, Mr. AUCHINCLOSS, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. CARBAJAL, and Mr.
V
ARGAS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and
Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To prohibit the importation, sale, manufacture, transfer, or
possession of .50 caliber rifles, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Arming Cartels 4
Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON RIFLES CAPABLE OF FIRING .50 1
CALIBER AMMUNITION. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 44 of title 18, United 3
States Code, is amended— 4
(1) in section 922, by adding at the end the fol-5
lowing: 6
‘‘(aa) R
IFLESCAPABLE OFFIRING.50 CALIBERAM-7
MUNITION.— 8
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-9
graph (2), it shall be unlawful for any person to im-10
port, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess, in or af-11
fecting interstate or foreign commerce, a rifle capa-12
ble of firing .50 caliber ammunition. 13
‘‘(2) E
XCEPTIONS.— 14
‘‘(A) G
OVERNMENT USE .—Paragraph (1) 15
shall not apply to the importation for, manufac-16
ture for, sale to, transfer to, or possession by 17
the United States, a department or agency of 18
the United States, a State, or a department, 19
agency, or political subdivision of a State, of a 20
rifle capable of firing .50 caliber ammunition. 21
‘‘(B) G
RANDFATHERED RIFLES .—Para-22
graph (1) shall not apply to the sale, transfer, 23
or possession of any rifle otherwise lawfully pos-24
sessed on or before the date of enactment of the 25
Stop Arming Cartels Act of 2025.’’; and 26
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(2) in section 924(a)(1)(B), by striking ‘‘or 1
(q)’’ and inserting ‘‘(q), or (aa)’’. 2
(b) I
NCLUSION OFCERTAINRIFLES ASFIREARMS 3
U
NDERNATIONALFIREARMSACT.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 5845(a) of the In-5
ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 6
‘‘and (8) a destructive device’’ and inserting ‘‘(8) a 7
destructive device; and (9) a rifle which is capable 8
of firing .50 caliber ammunition and is lawfully pos-9
sessed on or before the date of enactment of the 10
Stop Arming Cartels Act of 2025’’. 11
(2) E
FFECTIVE DATE.— 12
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-13
graph (B), the amendments made by this sub-14
section shall take effect on the date which is 12 15
months after the date of enactment of this Act. 16
(B) R
EGISTRATION.— 17
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding 18
subparagraph (A) or any other provision of 19
law, any person possessing a rifle which is 20
capable of firing .50 caliber ammunition 21
which is not registered to such person in 22
the National Firearms Registration and 23
Transfer Record shall register each such 24
rifle so possessed with the Secretary in 25
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•HR 923 IH
such form and manner as the Secretary 1
may require within the 12-month period 2
immediately following the date of enact-3
ment of this Act. No fee or tax shall be im-4
posed with respect to any registration re-5
quired under this subparagraph. 6
(ii) I
NCLUSION IN REGISTRY .—Any 7
registration described in clause (i) shall be-8
come a part of the National Firearms Reg-9
istration and Transfer Record. No infor-10
mation or evidence required to be sub-11
mitted or retained by a natural person to 12
register a firearm under this subparagraph 13
shall be used, directly or indirectly, as evi-14
dence against such person in any criminal 15
proceeding with respect to a prior or con-16
current violation of law. 17
(C) D
EFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 18
(i) N
ATIONAL FIREARMS REGISTRA -19
TION AND TRANSFER RECORD .—The term 20
‘‘National Firearms Registration and 21
Transfer Record’’ means the registry es-22
tablished pursuant to section 5841 of the 23
Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 24
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(ii) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Sec-1
retary’’ has the same meaning given such 2
term under section 7701(a)(11)(B) of the 3
Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 4
SEC. 3. EXCEPTION TO COVERAGE UNDER PROTECTION OF 5
LAWFUL COMMERCE IN ARMS ACT. 6
Section 4(5)(A) of the Protection of Lawful Com-7
merce in Arms Act (15 U.S.C. 7903(5)(A)) is amended— 8
(1) in clause (v), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end; 9
(2) in clause (vi), by striking the period at the 10
end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 11
(3) by adding at the end the following: 12
‘‘(vii) an action brought against a 13
manufacturer or seller that knowingly sells 14
or transfers a qualified product, or at-15
tempts or conspires to do so, knowing or 16
having reasonable cause to believe that the 17
transaction is prohibited under section 18
805(c) of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin 19
Designation Act (21 U.S.C. 1904(c)).’’. 20
SEC. 4. FEDERAL FIREARM PROHIBITOR FOR SIGNIFICANT 21
FOREIGN NARCOTICS TRAFFICKERS AND 22
CERTAIN OTHER FOREIGN PERSONS. 23
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 922(d) of title 18, United 24
States Code, is amended— 25
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(1) in paragraph (10), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 1
end; 2
(2) by redesignating paragraph (11) as para-3
graph (12); 4
(3) by inserting after paragraph (10) the fol-5
lowing: 6
‘‘(11) is— 7
‘‘(A) a significant foreign narcotics traf-8
ficker publicly identified by the President in a 9
report under subsection (b) or (h)(1) of section 10
804 of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designa-11
tion Act (21 U.S.C. 1903); or 12
‘‘(B) a foreign person designated by the 13
Secretary of the Treasury under section 805(b) 14
of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation 15
Act (21 U.S.C. 1904(b)); or’’; and 16
(4) in paragraph (12), as so redesignated, by 17
striking ‘‘(10)’’ and inserting ‘‘(11)’’. 18
(b) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS RELATING TO 19
NICS.—Section 103 of the Brady Handgun Violence Pre-20
vention Act (34 U.S.C. 40901) is amended— 21
(1) in subsection (b)(2)(D), by inserting ‘‘or 22
that transfer of a firearm or ammunition to the indi-23
vidual would violate subsection (d)(11) of such sec-24
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tion 922’’ after ‘‘section 922 of title 18, United 1
States Code,’’; 2
(2) in subsection (e)(1)— 3
(A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘or 4
to whom transfer of a firearm would violate 5
subsection (d)(11) of such section 922,’’ after 6
‘‘section 922 of title 18, United States Code or 7
State law,’’; 8
(B) in subparagraph (C), by inserting ‘‘or 9
that transfer of a firearm or ammunition to the 10
person would violate subsection (d)(11) of such 11
section 922,’’ after ‘‘section 922 of title 18, 12
United States Code,’’; 13
(C) in subparagraph (F)(iii)(I), by striking 14
‘‘(g) or (n)’’ and inserting ‘‘(d)(11), (g), or 15
(n)’’; and 16
(D) in subparagraph (G)(i), by striking 17
‘‘(g) or (n)’’ and inserting ‘‘(d)(11), (g), or 18
(n)’’; 19
(3) in subsection (g), by inserting ‘‘or that 20
transfer of a firearm to a prospective transferee 21
would violate subsection (d)(11) of such section 22
922,’’ after ‘‘section 922 of title 18, United States 23
Code or State law,’’; and 24
(4) in subsection (i)(2)— 25
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(A) by striking ‘‘persons,’’ and inserting 1
‘‘persons who are’’; and 2
(B) by inserting before the period at the 3
end the following: ‘‘, or to whom transfer of a 4
firearm would violate subsection (d)(11) of such 5
section 922’’. 6
SEC. 5. ADDING RIFLES TO MULTIPLE FIREARM SALES RE-7
PORTING REQUIREMENTS. 8
Section 923(g)(3)(A) of title 18, United States Code, 9
is amended by striking ‘‘pistols, or revolvers, or any com-10
bination of pistols and revolvers’’ and inserting ‘‘pistols, 11
revolvers, or rifles, or any combination of pistols, revolvers, 12
and rifles’’. 13
Æ
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