Responsible Firearms Marketing Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill creates an FTC study-and-rulemaking process for firearm advertising and marketing. The FTC must use its section 6(b) study authority to examine firearm advertising, including marketing that may appeal to people under 18, imply or encourage illegal use, or involve semiautomatic assault weapons. The FTC must report to Congress within 2 years with recommendations, and within 18 months after that report must issue Administrative Procedure Act rules prohibiting unfair or deceptive firearm advertising or marketing by manufacturers, dealers, or importers. Violations are treated like FTC unfair-or-deceptive-practice rule violations, with Federal Trade Commission Act enforcement powers and penalties.
Who Benefits and How
Minors, consumers, parents, and communities concerned about misleading or youth-directed firearm marketing benefit because the FTC must identify problematic practices and regulate unfair or deceptive claims. Congress also receives study findings and recommendations before rulemaking.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Federal Trade Commission must conduct the study, report to Congress, write rules, and enforce them. Firearm manufacturers, firearm dealers, and firearm importers must comply with new advertising restrictions and face FTC penalties if marketing is unfair or deceptive, appeals to minors, implies illegal use, or relates to semiautomatic assault weapons in prohibited ways.
Key Provisions
- Requires an FTC section 6(b) study of firearm advertising and marketing practices.
- Directs the FTC to consider marketing designed to appeal to people under 18, marketing implying illegal use, and semiautomatic assault weapon advertising.
- Requires a congressional report within 2 years with legislative or administrative recommendations.
- Requires FTC rules within 18 months after the report prohibiting unfair or deceptive firearm marketing by manufacturers, dealers, and importers.
- Treats rule violations as FTC unfair-or-deceptive-practice violations with Federal Trade Commission Act penalties and enforcement powers.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Directs the Federal Trade Commission to study firearm advertising and then issue rules prohibiting unfair or deceptive firearm marketing by manufacturers, dealers, and importers.
Key Policy Areas
Public Safety, Consumers, Manufacturing, Retail
Primary Purpose
Directs the Federal Trade Commission to study firearm advertising and then issue rules prohibiting unfair or deceptive firearm marketing by manufacturers, dealers, and importers.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Minors exposed to firearm advertising
- Consumers evaluating firearm marketing
- Federal Trade Commission
- Congressional consumer protection committees
Identified Costs
- Firearm manufacturers
- Firearm dealers
- Firearm importers
- Federal Trade Commission
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Ms. Kelly of Illinois (for herself, Mrs. Beatty, Ms. Brown, …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "dealer"
- → Firearm dealer under title 18
- "importer"
- → Firearm importer under title 18
- "commission"
- → Federal Trade Commission
- "manufacturer"
- → Firearm manufacturer under title 18
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology