New Federal Act Allows Retiring Officers to Buy Service Weapons at 'Salvage Value' Starting Next Year

The Federal Law Enforcement Officer Service Weapon Purchase Act of 2025 sets up a formal system for federal law enforcement officers to purchase their service firearms when they retire from government service. Think of it as a structured 'take your gear home' policy for a specific, meaningful piece of equipment.

The Takeaway for Retiring Federal Officers

Under this bill, the Administrator of General Services (GSA) has one year from the law’s passage to create a program allowing officers to purchase their retired service weapons. If you are a federal law enforcement officer—and that includes those already retired, based on the bill’s reference to Title 18—you become eligible to buy the firearm your agency has officially declared surplus, or a “retired firearm.” This isn't a free-for-all; you must be in “good standing” with your employing agency, and the purchase window is tight: you have only six months starting the day the firearm is officially retired by the agency.

What’s the Catch? Pricing and Paperwork

The price of the firearm is based on its salvage value. If you’ve ever traded in a car or sold old equipment, you know salvage value is essentially what the asset is worth when it’s no longer useful to the current owner, or what they expect to get for it when they dispose of it. In theory, this means the price should be fair and reflect the weapon's age and condition, rather than a full retail price. However, the bill is light on the specifics of how the GSA will determine this salvage value. If the GSA doesn't create a clear, consistent formula, disputes over pricing could easily arise. For the officer, this is a chance to keep a highly familiar piece of equipment at a potentially reduced cost; for the government, it’s a way to recoup some value on surplus property.

Real-World Impact: Property and Policy

For the officer, this is a clear benefit—a tangible recognition of service, allowing them to keep a piece of equipment they trained with for years. For the agencies, it creates a clean, legally defined process for disposing of specific surplus assets, which streamlines inventory management. The bill is careful to exclude fully automatic weapons (machine guns) that were not legally owned before the 1986 ban, ensuring compliance with existing federal firearm regulations (referencing 18 U.S.C. § 922(o)).

For the general public and other potential buyers of government surplus, the impact is small but notable: fewer of these specific service weapons will enter the general government surplus inventory pool. While the government still sells or disposes of other equipment, this bill carves out a defined path for these firearms to go directly to the officers who used them, rather than being sold off or destroyed.