Official Summaries

Stop Arming Cartels Act of 2025

This bill expands the regulation of .50 caliber rifles under federal firearms laws and authorizes new civil remedies for certain violations.

Firearms that are trafficked from the United States to Mexico are often routed to transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), including cartels. In recent years, TCOs increasingly use .50 caliber rifles in attacks on Mexican security forces.

In 2025, in Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) bars a civil lawsuit by Mexico against U.S. firearms manufacturers and one U.S. firearms distributor for costs associated with gun violence in Mexico. (The PLCAA limits the civil liability of firearms manufacturers and sellers for damages resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearms.)

This bill generally criminalizes the import, sale, manufacture, transfer, and possession of .50 caliber rifles under the Gun Control Act and subjects .50 caliber rifles to regulation (i.e., registration and licensing requirements) under the National Firearms Act.

Additionally, the bill criminalizes the sale or transfer of firearms and ammunition to foreign individuals or entities designated as significant foreign narcotics traffickers or as part of their networks and sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act).

Finally, the bill creates an exception under the PLCAA to allow civil lawsuits against firearms manufacturers or sellers that knowingly sell or transfer a firearm or ammunition to a foreign individual or entity designated and sanctioned under the Kingpin Act.

Current Full Text

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 923 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                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

                            February 4, 2025

Mr. Castro of Texas (for himself, Ms. Escobar, Mr. Frost, Mrs. Ramirez, 
 Ms. Norton, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Casar, Ms. 
  Brownley, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Magaziner, Mr. 
Auchincloss, Ms. Scanlon, Mr. Carbajal, and Mr. Vargas) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee 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 jurisdiction 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Arming Cartels Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON RIFLES CAPABLE OF FIRING .50 CALIBER AMMUNITION.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in section 922, by adding at the end the following:
    ``(aa) Rifles Capable of Firing .50 Caliber Ammunition.--
            ``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), it 
        shall be unlawful for any person to import, sell, manufacture, 
        transfer, or possess, in or affecting interstate or foreign 
        commerce, a rifle capable of firing .50 caliber ammunition.
            ``(2) Exceptions.--
                    ``(A) Government use.--Paragraph (1) shall not 
                apply to the importation for, manufacture for, sale to, 
                transfer to, or possession by the United States, a 
                department or agency of the United States, a State, or 
                a department, agency, or political subdivision of a 
                State, of a rifle capable of firing .50 caliber 
                ammunition.
                    ``(B) Grandfathered rifles.--Paragraph (1) shall 
                not apply to the sale, transfer, or possession of any 
                rifle otherwise lawfully possessed on or before the 
                date of enactment of the Stop Arming Cartels Act of 
                2025.''; and
            (2) in section 924(a)(1)(B), by striking ``or (q)'' and 
        inserting ``(q), or (aa)''.
    (b) Inclusion of Certain Rifles as Firearms Under National Firearms 
Act.--
            (1) In general.--Section 5845(a) of the Internal Revenue 
        Code of 1986 is amended by striking ``and (8) a destructive 
        device'' and inserting ``(8) a destructive device; and (9) a 
        rifle which is capable of firing .50 caliber ammunition and is 
        lawfully possessed on or before the date of enactment of the 
        Stop Arming Cartels Act of 2025''.
            (2) Effective date.--
                    (A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), the 
                amendments made by this subsection shall take effect on 
                the date which is 12 months after the date of enactment 
                of this Act.
                    (B) Registration.--
                            (i) In general.--Notwithstanding 
                        subparagraph (A) or any other provision of law, 
                        any person possessing a rifle which is capable 
                        of firing .50 caliber ammunition which is not 
                        registered to such person in the National 
                        Firearms Registration and Transfer Record shall 
                        register each such rifle so possessed with the 
                        Secretary in such form and manner as the 
                        Secretary may require within the 12-month 
                        period immediately following the date of 
                        enactment of this Act. No fee or tax shall be 
                        imposed with respect to any registration 
                        required under this subparagraph.
                            (ii) Inclusion in registry.--Any 
                        registration described in clause (i) shall 
                        become a part of the National Firearms 
                        Registration and Transfer Record. No 
                        information or evidence required to be 
                        submitted or retained by a natural person to 
                        register a firearm under this subparagraph 
                        shall be used, directly or indirectly, as 
                        evidence against such person in any criminal 
                        proceeding with respect to a prior or 
                        concurrent violation of law.
                    (C) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
                            (i) National firearms registration and 
                        transfer record.--The term ``National Firearms 
                        Registration and Transfer Record'' means the 
                        registry established pursuant to section 5841 
                        of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
                            (ii) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' has 
                        the same meaning given such term under section 
                        7701(a)(11)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
                        1986.

SEC. 3. EXCEPTION TO COVERAGE UNDER PROTECTION OF LAWFUL COMMERCE IN 
              ARMS ACT.

    Section 4(5)(A) of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act 
(15 U.S.C. 7903(5)(A)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (v), by striking ``or'' at the end;
            (2) in clause (vi), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``; or''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(vii) an action brought against a 
                        manufacturer or seller that knowingly sells or 
                        transfers a qualified product, or attempts or 
                        conspires to do so, knowing or having 
                        reasonable cause to believe that the 
                        transaction is prohibited under section 805(c) 
                        of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation 
                        Act (21 U.S.C. 1904(c)).''.

SEC. 4. FEDERAL FIREARM PROHIBITOR FOR SIGNIFICANT FOREIGN NARCOTICS 
              TRAFFICKERS AND CERTAIN OTHER FOREIGN PERSONS.

    (a) In General.--Section 922(d) of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (10), by striking ``or'' at the end;
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (11) as paragraph (12);
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (10) the following:
            ``(11) is--
                    ``(A) a significant foreign narcotics trafficker 
                publicly identified by the President in a report under 
                subsection (b) or (h)(1) of section 804 of the Foreign 
                Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (21 U.S.C. 1903); or
                    ``(B) a foreign person designated by the Secretary 
                of the Treasury under section 805(b) of the Foreign 
                Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (21 U.S.C. 1904(b)); 
                or''; and
            (4) in paragraph (12), as so redesignated, by striking 
        ``(10)'' and inserting ``(11)''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments Relating to NICS.--Section 103 of the 
Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (34 U.S.C. 40901) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b)(2)(D), by inserting ``or that 
        transfer of a firearm or ammunition to the individual would 
        violate subsection (d)(11) of such section 922'' after 
        ``section 922 of title 18, United States Code,'';
            (2) in subsection (e)(1)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ``or to whom 
                transfer of a firearm would violate subsection (d)(11) 
                of such section 922,'' after ``section 922 of title 18, 
                United States Code or State law,'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (C), by inserting ``or that 
                transfer of a firearm or ammunition to the person would 
                violate subsection (d)(11) of such section 922,'' after 
                ``section 922 of title 18, United States Code,'';
                    (C) in subparagraph (F)(iii)(I), by striking ``(g) 
                or (n)'' and inserting ``(d)(11), (g), or (n)''; and
                    (D) in subparagraph (G)(i), by striking ``(g) or 
                (n)'' and inserting ``(d)(11), (g), or (n)'';
            (3) in subsection (g), by inserting ``or that transfer of a 
        firearm to a prospective transferee would violate subsection 
        (d)(11) of such section 922,'' after ``section 922 of title 18, 
        United States Code or State law,''; and
            (4) in subsection (i)(2)--
                    (A) by striking ``persons,'' and inserting 
                ``persons who are''; and
                    (B) by inserting before the period at the end the 
                following: ``, or to whom transfer of a firearm would 
                violate subsection (d)(11) of such section 922''.

SEC. 5. ADDING RIFLES TO MULTIPLE FIREARM SALES REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    Section 923(g)(3)(A) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
striking ``pistols, or revolvers, or any combination of pistols and 
revolvers'' and inserting ``pistols, revolvers, or rifles, or any 
combination of pistols, revolvers, and rifles''.
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