Congress strips states of power to require gun liability insurance
H.R. 943 — No User Fees for Gun Owners Act · Filed by Ronny Jackson (R-TX) · 51 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 4, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill prohibits states and local governments from requiring liability insurance, special taxes, or user fees as a condition of owning, buying, or selling firearms and ammunition. General sales taxes that apply equally to all goods remain permitted. The bill amends federal law to preempt state and local firearm-specific financial requirements.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is to remove state and local financial barriers (insurance, taxes, user fees) to firearm ownership and commerce. It is a preemption statute that strips subnational regulatory authority over firearm-specific charges, functionally deregulating firearm commerce at the state/local level.
What the text implies
- States that have enacted firearm liability insurance requirements (e.g., as a condition of purchase or ownership) would be preempted and unable to enforce them, eliminating a mechanism some states use to incentivize safe storage or transfer practices.
- The bill permits 'generally applicable sales taxes' but prohibits firearm-specific taxes or fees, creating a federal floor that prevents states from using differential taxation as a public-health or revenue tool.
- Ammunition commerce is explicitly covered, preventing states from imposing ammunition-specific user fees or insurance requirements that some jurisdictions have considered as a demand-reduction measure.
- The preemption is absolute except for general sales tax, meaning states cannot condition firearm ownership on proof of liability insurance even if framed as a public-safety measure.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Gun owners and sellers benefit from lower barriers to firearm acquisition and commerce; however, states lose a policy tool to manage firearm-related risks (liability insurance requirements) and revenue sources. The bill preempts democratically enacted state/local regulations, shifting power to the federal level and potentially reducing public safety measures some communities have chosen.
Who stands to gain
- firearm manufacturers and retailers
- ammunition manufacturers and retailers
- gun owners (reduced transaction costs)
Named in the bill
18 USC § 927, IRC § 5848, Internal Revenue Code, states and local governments, firearm manufacturers, ammunition manufacturers
Where it stands
51 cosponsors: 51 Republicans.
- Feb 4, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 4, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary and House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period…”
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.
Ronny Jackson, the sponsor, reported $482,600 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 (1,837 characters) on Aug 24, 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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