PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jun 24, 2025
Keeping Gun Dealers Honest Act of 2025
This bill broadens the authority of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to administer federal laws governing the licensing, inspection, and enforcement of federally licensed dealers, importers, and manufacturers of firearms (federal firearms licensees, or FFLs). The bill also increases criminal penalties for FFLs and licensed collectors who commit certain recordkeeping violations.
With respect to licensing, the bill allows the ATF to deny an application for a federal firearms license if it would endanger public safety or if the applicant is unlikely to comply with the law.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Additionally, the bill enhances the ATF's inspection authority, including by increasing the maximum number of annual compliance inspections to three (currently, one) and by authorizing an additional 80 personnel to conduct inspections.
The bill also expands the ATF's enforcement authority, including by allowing it to suspend the license of or impose a civil penalty on an FFL who violates federal firearms laws or regulations and by allowing it to require an FFL to conduct physical inventories if the FFL unlawfully transfers a firearm or if 10 or more firearms used in a crime are traced back to the FFL.
Finally, the bill increases the maximum prison term to five years (currently, one year) for an FFL or licensed collector who knowingly makes a false statement or representation in required firearms records.
People & committees
Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA] · D–MA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Sep 19, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.2155 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.2155 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.2155 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.2155 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.