Gun Owner Registration Information Protection Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Gun Owner Registration Information Protection Act bars a federal agency from funding or otherwise supporting the establishment or maintenance of a state firearm-ownership database. A covered database may be comprehensive or partial and may be operated by a state or one of its political subdivisions.
The prohibition applies when the database lists firearms lawfully owned or possessed by individuals, or lists individuals who lawfully own or possess firearms. "State" is defined broadly to include the 50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and any other U.S. territory or possession.
Federal support remains allowed for a database that lists firearms reported lost or stolen or the people who reported them. The exception does not expressly cover broader licensing, permit, sales, tracing, prohibited-person, ballistic, or crime-gun databases; whether one is a partial ownership database depends on its contents. The bill restricts federal support but does not directly prohibit a state from operating a registry entirely with its own resources.
Who Benefits and How
Lawful firearm owners gain protection against federal resources expanding state ownership lists. Gun-rights and privacy advocates gain a funding barrier against registration systems. States maintaining only lost-and-stolen records retain federal support, and theft victims or police using those records are not cut off by the core prohibition.
Who Bears the Burden and How
States and localities using federal grants, data systems, personnel, or technical support for firearm registries must replace that support or reduce the database. Federal agencies must audit grants and distinguish protected lost-and-stolen records from partial ownership lists. Law-enforcement investigators, researchers, and violence-prevention officials may lose access to federally supported ownership data, while jurisdictions face system-separation and compliance costs.
Key Provisions
- Prohibits federal funding for state firearm-ownership databases.
- Prohibits other federal support for establishing or maintaining registries.
- Covers databases listing lawfully owned firearms.
- Covers databases listing lawful firearm owners.
- Includes partial as well as comprehensive databases.
- Expands State to districts, territories, and possessions.
- Protects databases limited to lost or stolen firearms.
- Protects records identifying people reporting lost or stolen firearms.
- Preserves state-funded operation without federal support.
- Leaves treatment of adjacent permit and tracing systems fact-dependent.
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
Prohibits federal agencies from funding or otherwise supporting state or local databases that list lawfully owned firearms or lawful firearm owners, while preserving federal support for databases limited to lost or stolen firearms and the people reporting them.
Key Policy Areas
Firearm Ownership Records, Federal Grant Conditions, State Law Enforcement Databases, Gun Owner Privacy, Lost and Stolen Firearms
Primary Purpose
Prohibits federal agencies from funding or otherwise supporting state or local databases that list lawfully owned firearms or lawful firearm owners, while preserving federal support for databases limited to lost or stolen firearms and the people reporting them.
Policy Domains
Section 2 federal support prohibition and lost-stolen exception
Identified Gains
- Lawful firearm owners listed in state systems
- Gun-owner privacy advocates
- Firearm-rights organizations
- People reporting stolen firearms
- Police using lost-firearm databases
- States maintaining lost-and-stolen records
Identified Costs
- State agencies operating firearm registries
- Local police departments maintaining ownership lists
- Federal agencies auditing database support
- Law-enforcement investigators using ownership data
- Firearm-policy researchers using registry data
- Violence-prevention programs using ownership records
- Jurisdictions separating exempt data systems
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in House
Mr. Gosar (for himself, Mr. Babin, Mr. Bean of Florida, …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Investigators using firearm-ownership data, People reporting stolen firearms, Police using lost-firearm databases
Jurisdictions separating exempt databases, Local police maintaining ownership lists, State agencies operating firearm registries
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "owner"
- → Lawful firearm owner listed in a state database
- "investigator"
- → Law-enforcement official using firearm records
- "federal_funder"
- → Federal agency supporting a state data system
- "state_operator"
- → State agency maintaining an ownership database
- "theft_reporter"
- → Person reporting a firearm lost or stolen
Note: {'scope_ids': ['state_firearm_database_funding_bar'], 'description': 'The bill removes federal support rather than directly banning a state-funded registry; its explicit exception is limited to lost-or-stolen records, leaving adjacent permit, licensing, tracing, and investigative databases dependent on whether they list lawful ownership.'}
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The bar on a federal agency funding or otherwise supporting establishment or maintenance of a covered database.
A comprehensive or partial state or local database listing lawfully possessed firearms or individuals who lawfully possess them.
Protection for databases listing lost or stolen firearms or the individuals who reported those firearms lost or stolen.
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