FIRE Act

The FIRE Act (Freedom from Improper Regulation and Enforcement Act) would prohibit capacity-based restrictions on firearm magazines at both the federal and state/local levels, define what a firearm magazine and its capacity are, and set an effective date for these changes. Introduced in the House by Rep. Wied and several co-sponsors, the bill would prevent federal agencies from prescribing or enforcing regulations that limit magazines based on their capacity and would wipe out state or local laws that do the same. It would apply to conduct occurring 30 or more days after enactment. In effect, the bill makes magazine capacity restrictions unlawful across the federal system and preempts state and local laws that limit magazines by capacity. It also provides clear definitions for “firearm magazine” and “capacity” to avoid ambiguity. This would likely expand access to high-capacity magazines by removing existing capacity-based controls, while leaving other types of firearm regulation (unrelated to capacity) unchanged.