Combating Emerging Firearms Threats and Improving School-Based Active-Shooter Drills
Establishes an interagency Emerging Firearms Threats Task Force to produce coordinated strategies against machinegun conversion devices and 3D-printed unserialized or undetectable firearms, and directs federal agencies to publish guidance helping schools design safer, less-traumatic active-shooter drills.
The order does not change any existing law or ban any device; its near-term deliverables are risk assessments, interagency plans, and publicly available drill resources, with any concrete policy changes depending on follow-on agency actions or future legislation.
What this order does
What it orders
The order creates an interagency Emerging Firearms Threats Task Force chaired by the Director of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, drawing in the Secretaries of State, Commerce, and Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and other senior officials. Within 90 days the Task Force must deliver two presidential reports: one assessing and proposing strategies to stop the proliferation of machinegun conversion devices (including 3D-printed ones), and a second addressing 3D-printed unserialized or undetectable firearms. Each report must cover origins and distribution channels, assessments of existing legal authorities, interagency enforcement and seizure plans, technology-blocking feasibility, and recommendations for any additional congressional action needed. Within 110 days, the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Homeland Security — coordinating with the Attorney General, HHS, and the Surgeon General — must publish guidance and research resources to help schools design active-shooter drills that are age-appropriate, effective, and minimize psychological trauma.
The order does not itself reclassify any device, change any regulation, or impose new legal requirements on the public. All operative changes depend on agencies acting on Task Force recommendations or engaging in future rulemaking. A standard severability clause provides that nothing in the order impairs existing agency authority or OMB's budgetary functions.
Who it affects
Federal agencies on the Task Force, particularly the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, State, Commerce, and Education. K-12 public schools and institutions of higher education that conduct active-shooter drills will receive new guidance resources. Technology and 3D-printing companies may be engaged through voluntary or regulatory mechanisms recommended in the reports.
Why it matters
Schools and their communities could receive federally curated guidance on how to run drills that prepare students without causing undue trauma. Law enforcement agencies and border officers may gain clearer interagency protocols for detecting and seizing machinegun conversion devices and 3D-printed firearms, though concrete changes await the Task Force's follow-on work.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
The Task Force submits its two firearms-threat reports to the President through the Office of Gun Violence Prevention within 90 days; the Task Force then owns ongoing coordination to implement accepted recommendations. The school-drill guidance is developed jointly by Education and Homeland Security with input from DOJ, HHS, and the Surgeon General, and published within 110 days. Neither track carries independent enforcement authority — impact depends on agencies voluntarily adopting recommendations or initiating rulemaking. No sunset or severability clause beyond the standard general-provisions boilerplate.
Actions and deadlines
- Task Force submits risk assessment and strategy report on machinegun conversion devices to the President
- Task Force submits risk assessment and strategy report on 3D-printed unserialized and undetectable firearms to the President
- Secretaries of Education and Homeland Security develop and publish guidance on designing effective, trauma-minimizing school active-shooter drills
- Secretaries of Education and Homeland Security publish recommended future research areas and potential funding sources for active-shooter drill studies