Stop Arming Cartels Act of 2025
Latest action · Feb 4, 2025 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.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedFeb 4, 2025
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
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.
Cosponsors 27
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Feb 4, 2025 to Jul 23, 2026; 15 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-IL | Delia C. Ramirez | Original | Feb 4, 2025 |
| D-DC | Eleanor Holmes Norton | Original | Feb 4, 2025 |
| D-TX | Greg Casar | Original | Feb 4, 2025 |
| D-MA | Jake Auchincloss | Original | Feb 4, 2025 |
| D-IL | Janice D. Schakowsky | Original | Feb 4, 2025 |
| D-IL | Jesús G. "Chuy" García | Original | Feb 4, 2025 |
| D-CA | Juan Vargas | Original | Feb 4, 2025 |
| D-CA | Julia Brownley | Original | Feb 4, 2025 |
| D-PA | Mary Gay Scanlon | Original | Feb 4, 2025 |
| D-FL | Maxwell Frost | Original | Feb 4, 2025 |
| D-AZ | Raúl M. Grijalva | Original | Feb 4, 2025 |
| D-CA | Salud O. Carbajal | Original | Feb 4, 2025 |
| D-RI | Seth Magaziner | Original | Feb 4, 2025 |
| D-FL | Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick | Original | Feb 4, 2025 |
| D-TX | Veronica Escobar | Original | Feb 4, 2025 |
| D-NY | Daniel S. Goldman | Feb 6, 2025 | |
| D-GA | Nikema Williams | Feb 6, 2025 | |
| D-TX | Sylvia R. Garcia | Feb 6, 2025 | |
| D-CT | Rosa L. DeLauro | Feb 27, 2025 | |
| D-CT | Jahana Hayes | May 8, 2025 | |
| D-TX | Lloyd Doggett | Aug 8, 2025 | |
| D-PA | Summer L. Lee | Aug 8, 2025 | |
| D-CT | John B. Larson | Sep 8, 2025 | |
| D-CA | Lateefah Simon | Dec 11, 2025 | |
| D-FL | Debbie Wasserman Schultz | Jan 6, 2026 | |
| D-MI | Rashida Tlaib | Jan 8, 2026 | |
| D-AZ | Adelita S. Grijalva | Jul 23, 2026 |
Committees 2
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Judiciary Committee | Referred Feb 4, 2025 |
| House | Ways and Means Committee | Referred Feb 4, 2025 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Feb 4, 2025Introduced in House
- Feb 4, 2025Referred 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.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 171, no. 23, February 4, 2025, page H460.
Related bills 3
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 367 | Stop Arming Cartels Act of 2025 | Identical bill | Feb 3, 2025 |
| S 2926 | Stop Arming Cartels Act of 2023 | Cross-Congress related bill | Sep 26, 2023 |
| HR 8427 | Stop Arming Cartels Act of 2024 | Cross-Congress related bill | May 16, 2024 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To prohibit the importation, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of .50 caliber rifles, and for other purposes.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- Stop Arming Cartels Act of 2025
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Feb 4, 2025Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
