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HR 5874
Introduced Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.

Firearm Access During Shutdowns Act

To ensure that certain operations, functions, and services of the Federal Government relating to enforcement of firearms laws and firearm export licensing continue during a lapse in appropriations.

Introduced Oct 31, 2025

Latest action (Oct 31, 2025) Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 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.

Referred to
Foreign Affairs Committee Judiciary Committee
Policy area
Crime and Law Enforcement
Issues
Gun Policy

Summary

This bill designates certain firearm-related federal government operations as essential services that must continue during government shutdowns. The designated operations include the National Instant Criminal Background Check System used by the FBI, enforcement operations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and firearm export licensing operations at the Department of Commerce and Department of State. Employees carrying out these operations would be classified as excepted employees, allowing them to work during lapses in appropriations.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)
48 cosponsors

Actions (2)
  1. Oct 31, 2025 Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 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. · house
  2. Oct 31, 2025 Introduced in House

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

  • S 3085 — A bill to ensure that certain operations, functions, and services of the Federal Government relating to enforcement of firearms laws and firearm export licensing continue during a lapse in appropriations. · Introduced Oct 30, 2025 · Cong. 119 78%
  • HR 8608 — Federal Law Enforcement and Public Protection Act · Introduced Apr 30, 2026 · Cong. 119 69%
  • HR 4173 — Preventing Pretrial Gun Purchases Act · Introduced Jun 26, 2025 · Cong. 119 67%
  • S 3212 — AIM Act · Introduced Nov 19, 2025 · Cong. 119 65%
  • HR 4676 — Modern Firearm Safety Act · Introduced Jul 23, 2025 · Cong. 119 65%
  • S 2186 — Preventing Pretrial Gun Purchases Act · Introduced Jun 26, 2025 · Cong. 119 65%

Text versions (1)
  • Introduced in House · Oct 31, 2025

Only one text version is on file, so there’s no earlier version to compare against yet.

Full text

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

October 31, 2025

Mr. Cline (for himself, Mr. Carter of Georgia, Mr. Hunt, Mr. Moore of Alabama, Ms. Hageman, Mr. Harris of North Carolina, Mr. Collins, Mr. McCormick, Mr. Cloud, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. Burlison, Ms. Boebert, Mr. DesJarlais, Mr. Webster of Florida, Mr. Gooden, Ms. Mace, Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Feenstra, Mr. Jackson of Texas, Mr. Higgins of Louisiana, Mr. Downing, Mr. Fine, and Mr. Moore of West Virginia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 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

A BILL

To ensure that certain operations, functions, and services of the Federal Government relating to enforcement of firearms laws and firearm export licensing continue during a lapse in appropriations.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Firearm Access During Shutdowns Act”.

SEC. 2. CONTINUATION OF CERTAIN FIREARM-RELATED OPERATIONS DURING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS.

(a) In General.—The operations, functions, and services described in subsection (b) shall be deemed to relate to an emergency involving the safety of human life or the protection of property for purposes of section 1342 of title 31, United States Code, and the employees carrying out those operations, functions, and services shall be deemed to be excepted employees, as defined in section 1341(c) of that title.

(b) Operations, Functions, and Services.—The operations, functions, and services described in this subsection are the operations, functions, and services of—

(1) the National Instant Criminal Background Check System of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including the processing of background checks in support of the operations of the Directorate of Enforcement Programs and Services of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives;

(2) the Directorate of Enforcement Programs and Services of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives;

(3) the Bureau of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce relating to firearms and firearm-related products, including activities related to processing of applications for export licenses; and

(4) the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls of the Department of State relating to firearms and firearm-related products, including activities related to processing of applications for export licenses. <all>

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