# Plain Language Summary: Keep Americans Safe Act

This bill would ban the manufacture, sale, import, and possession of high-capacity ammunition magazines and similar devices that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. The main idea is to limit how much firepower someone can deploy without stopping to reload. The bill defines these devices broadly to include magazines, drums, belts, and other feeding mechanisms that can hold more than 10 rounds, with one exception: small .22 caliber rifle magazines are excluded from the ban.

The law would apply to most people going forward, but it includes a grandfather clause—if you already own a high-capacity magazine before this law passes, you can keep it. However, you couldn't sell it, transfer it, or manufacture new ones. Law enforcement officers, military personnel, and government agencies would be exempt and could continue using these devices. Retired police officers could also keep magazines they owned during their service. The bill would require manufacturers to mark any new magazines with a serial number and manufacturing date so they can be tracked.

Anyone who violates this ban could face federal criminal penalties. The bill also allows states and local governments to use federal crime-fighting grants to run "buy-back" programs where they compensate people for voluntarily turning in high-capacity magazines. This is intended to help people comply with the law and reduce the number of these devices in circulation. The practical effect would be that gun owners would need to use standard 10-round magazines or smaller, which means more frequent reloading during shooting.

Keep Americans Safe Act

Deutch, Theodore E.

Keep Americans Safe Act This bill establishes a new criminal offense for the import, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device (LCAFD). The bill does not prohibit certain conduct with respect to an LCAFD, including the following: <ul> <li> importation, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession related to certain law enforcement efforts, or authorized tests or experiments;</li> <li>importation, sale, transfer, or possession related to securing nuclear materials; and</li> <li> possession by a retired law enforcement officer.</li> </ul> The bill permits continued possession of, but prohibits sale or transfer of, a grandfathered LCAFD. Newly manufactured LCAFDs must display serial number identification and the date of manufacture. Additionally, the bill allows a state or local government to use Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program funds to compensate individuals who surrender an LCAFD under a buy-back program.