HR 2189  by Tom Reynolds

The House voted 233-185 to pass H.R. 2189, Law-Enforcement Innovate to De-Escalate Act.  According to the bill’s summary:

This bill removes less-than-lethal projectile devices (e.g., certain TASERs) from regulation under the Gun Control Act.

The term less-than-lethal projectile device means a device that:

1) is not designed or intended to expel (and may not be readily converted to discharge) commonly used ammunition or projectiles exceeding a velocity of 500 feet per second;

(2) is designed and intended to be used in a manner not likely to cause death or serious bodily injury; and

(3) does not accept (and cannot be readily modified to accept) an ammunition feeding device.

The Attorney General and ATF to must determine whether specific devices qualify as less than lethal, upon request, with a 90-day response timeline.

22 Democrats voted for the bill (1 Republican against) which indicates that a few Democrats are willing to put aside their hatred of anything that resembles guns and recognize that de-escalation tools should not be subject to the same taxes, registration requirements, and regulatory red tape as rifles and handguns.

The bill heads to the Senate next.

The bill creates a distinct legal classification for devices like Tasers and similar conducted energy or impact projectile weapons.  They  would be exempt from Gun Control Act firearm definitions and related regulations, National Firearms Act firearm definitions including taxes and registration requirements, and firearm and ammunition excise taxes under the Pittman Robertson framework.

It will be interesting to see if New York Senators Schumer and Gillibrand can put aside their knee jerk negative reaction to anything resembling guns and vote for this common sense bill.