This act restricts the Department of Defense's sale and purchase of military-grade weapons and ammunition, imposing strict licensing, conduct, and record-keeping requirements on commercial dealers who wish to sell to or buy from the DoD.
Robert Garcia
Representative
CA-42
The Stop Militarizing Our Streets Act of 2026 restricts the Department of Defense from selling or purchasing certain military-grade weapons and ammunition from commercial entities. It establishes strict requirements for dealers wishing to sell firearms or ammunition to the DoD, including enhanced background checks, electronic recordkeeping, and limits on ammunition sales. The bill aims to prevent military weaponry from entering the commercial marketplace and ensure accountability among defense contractors.
Stop Militarizing Our Streets Act: New Limits on DoD Gun Sales and 500-Round Ammunition Caps Proposed for 2026
The 'Stop Militarizing Our Streets Act of 2026' aims to sever the pipeline between military-grade hardware and local gun shops. At its core, the bill stops the Department of Defense (DoD) from selling 'military-grade assault weapons'—defined as semi-automatics with fixed magazines over 10 rounds or those that can take high-capacity clips—to commercial dealers. It also creates a 'buy-only' rule for the Pentagon: the military would be prohibited from purchasing any equipment from manufacturers or dealers that sell those same high-capacity weapons to the general public. This effectively forces major arms manufacturers to choose between lucrative government contracts and the civilian 'assault weapon' market.
New Rules for the Local Gun Shop For the firearms the DoD is still allowed to trade, the bill sets a high bar for the dealers involved. To stay in the loop, a shop must maintain a clean record—specifically, having no more than 24 'crime guns' traced back to them by the ATF within a three-year window. This 'time-to-crime' metric (Section 2) is designed to flag shops that might be turning a blind eye to straw purchases. Additionally, all employees would have to pass a new Attorney General-approved training course within 90 days of the law starting, covering everything from spotting fraud to recognizing signs of a customer in a mental health crisis.
The 500-Round Speed Limit If you’re a hobbyist who buys bulk ammo for a weekend at the range, this bill changes the math. It introduces a strict 30-day cap on ammunition purchases: no more than 500 rounds of 'covered ammunition' (.22 caliber or larger, including common .223 and 7.62 NATO rounds) and 1,000 rounds of other types (Section 2). To enforce this, ammunition dealers would now need a federal license similar to gun dealers and would gain access to the NICS background check system. For a local sports shop, this means moving from paper logs to a remotely searchable electronic inventory that tracks every shipment and sale.
Security and Digital Paper Trails Beyond the sales counter, the bill mandates a 'Code of Conduct' that looks like a high-tech security overhaul. Dealers would be required to install 24/7 camera systems, alarms, and physical locks to prevent smash-and-grabs. They’d also be barred from selling at gun shows or online unless every single seller in that marketplace also runs a background check. While these measures aim to tighten the net around illegal sales, the cost of the tech and the new licensing fees could be a heavy lift for a small-town mom-and-pop shop, potentially leading to higher prices for the average consumer or fewer local options for legal owners.