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The Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion (GOSAFE) Act

The GOSAFE Act is a commonsense proposal designed to protect communities from gun violence, while safeguarding Americans’ constitutional right to own a firearm for legitimate self-defense, hunting, and sporting purposes.

Regulates Sale, Transfer, & Manufacture of Semi-Automatic Firearms

  • The GOSAFE Act regulates firearms based on the inherently dangerous and unusual lethality of their internal mechanisms, as opposed to focusing on cosmetic features that manufacturers can easily modify.
  • If enacted, the bill would regulate the sale, transfer, and manufacture of gas-operated semi-automatic weapons by:
    • Preventing unlawful modifications of permissible firearms;
    • Mandating that future gas-operated designs are approved before manufacture; and
    • Preventing unlawful firearm self-assembly and manufacturing.

what firearms are regulated?

GOSAFE Regulation flow chart (9)

Protects Americans’ Second Amendment Right

  • The GOSAFE Act protects Americans’ constitutional right to own a gun based on a firearm’s established use for self-defense, hunting or sporting purposes.
  • The GOSAFE Act accomplishes this by including exemptions based on maximum ammunition capacity according to a firearm’s individual class: a rifle, shotgun, or handgun.
  • This capacity must be “permanently fixed” meaning the firearm cannot accept a detachable, high-capacity magazine that would increase the number of rounds that can be fired before reloading and make reloading easier.

Exemptions include:

  • .22 caliber rimfire or less firearms
  • Bolt action rifles
  • Semi-automatic shotguns
  • Recoil-operated handguns
  • Any rifle with a permanently fixed magazine of 10 rounds or less
  • Any shotgun with a permanently fixed magazine of 10 rounds or less
  • Any handgun with a permanently fixed magazine of 15 rounds or less

Limits High-Capacity Ammunition Devices

  • The GOSAFE Act limits a firearm’s ability to inflict maximum harm in a short amount of time by directly regulating large capacity ammunition feeding devices.
  • The bill would limit the number of rounds that large capacity ammunition feeding devices are permitted to carry to 10 rounds of ammunition or fewer.
  • Additionally, the GOSAFE Act makes conversion devices, including bump stocks and Glock switches, unlawful.

Improves Public Safety Response & Protects Law Enforcement

  • The GOSAFE Act will force would-be mass shooters to reload their guns more frequently — giving people time to flee and law enforcement time to arrive on the scene – while also maintaining law enforcement access to regulated firearms, so law enforcement continues to have the tools they need to respond to a mass shooting event.

Creates Optional Buy-Back Program

  • The GOSAFE Act will prevent stockpiling of these lethal firearms and large capacity magazines, and also ensure no one loses the value of any firearms they currently have, by establishing a voluntary buy-back program, which would allow firearm owners to voluntarily turn over and receive compensation for non-transferrable firearms and magazines as defined by this legislation.
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