Congress orders destruction of federal gun dealer records, limiting crime investigations.
H.R. 563 — No Retaining Every Gun In a System That Restricts Your Rights Act · Filed by Michael Cloud (R-TX) · 74 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 20, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires the federal government to destroy all firearm transaction records it has collected from gun dealers that have gone out of business, and amends federal law to prohibit the collection of such records in the future. The bill's stated purpose is to prevent what its sponsors characterize as a de facto firearm registry.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to mandate destruction of existing firearm transaction records held by ATF and to amend federal law to prevent future collection of such records from discontinued dealers. This is a data-destruction and regulatory-prohibition measure, not a rights-creation or public-safety measure.
What the text implies
- Destruction of records may impair ongoing or future criminal investigations into firearms trafficking, straw purchases, or crimes committed with firearms traced to defunct dealers.
- The bill does not address records held by state or local law enforcement, only federal ATF records, creating potential asymmetry in investigative capacity.
- No grandfather clause or exception for records relevant to active criminal investigations; destruction is mandatory within 90 days regardless of investigative status.
- The amendment to § 923(g)(4) is permanent; reversal would require new legislation, not administrative action.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill removes a law-enforcement investigative tool (transaction records from defunct dealers) that could assist in tracing firearms used in crimes, potentially reducing investigative capacity for violent crime. Conversely, it addresses privacy concerns about government retention of firearm purchase data and reflects a constitutional interpretation that such retention may conflict with Second Amendment protections or privacy rights. Both effects are concrete and material.
Named in the bill
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Attorney General, 18 U.S.C. § 923(g)(4), House Committee on the Judiciary
Where it stands
74 cosponsors: 74 Republicans.
- Jan 20, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 20, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $429,548 in lobbying spend. A filing names 106 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Michael Cloud, the sponsor, reported $219,270 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Association for Gun Rights — $429,548 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 22, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (913 characters) on Sep 27, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 22, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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