When state or local governments impose requirements that a handgun model incorporate features not present on the model, it can artificially inflate prices, according to the bill.
Such measures “present safety concerns by altering the intended design and function of the affected models; violate the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and pose an unacceptable restraint on interstate commerce,” the bill states.
According to the July 24 statement, the bill will prohibit states from “enacting unconstitutional ‘handgun rosters’ that prevent law-abiding citizens from accessing modern, safer handgun models and require firearm manufacturers to adopt costly and unnecessary features, making it nearly impossible to sell new handguns.”
A handgun roster refers to a list of handguns that have been approved for sale within a specific jurisdiction based on meeting safety and restrictive requirements.
At present, New York, Maryland, California, and the District of Columbia have enacted “restrictive handgun rosters,” with other states considering similar measures, according to the statement.
Due to these stringent standards, firearms sold to people include “costly and unnecessary features” such as magazine disconnect mechanisms, loaded chamber indicators, and microstamping technology, and these requirements are making it nearly impossible for gun manufacturers to introduce new handgun models to the market, according to the statement.
The Modern Firearm Safety Act would prohibit states from mandating loaded chamber indicators, magazine disconnect mechanisms, and microstamping for handguns, a move that will restore the Second Amendment in states with such restrictive gun regulations, according to the lawmakers.
“For decades, the clear Constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners have been targeted for elimination, and handgun rosters are only one of the cynical schemes used to undermine the Second Amendment through the pretense of firearm safety,” Issa, who first introduced the bill last year, said.
Protecting Gun Rights
The Modern Firearm Safety Act also coincides with a ruling from a federal district court, which judged California’s handgun roster requirements to be unconstitutional, according to the July 24 statement.Enacted in 1990, the legislation required new handguns to have three specific features: loaded chamber indicators to show whether the gun is loaded, magazine disconnect mechanisms to prevent the gun from being fired if the magazine is not fully inserted, and microstamping capability.
The reintroduction of the Modern Firearm Safety Act comes amid the Trump administration’s efforts to protect Second Amendment rights in the country.
“For too long, countless Americans with criminal histories have been permanently disenfranchised from exercising the right to keep and bear arms—a right every bit as constitutionally enshrined as the right to vote, the right to free speech, and the right to free exercise of religion—irrespective of whether they actually pose a threat,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a July 18 statement.