H.R. 8059 — Unserialized Firearm Harm Oversight and Serialization Act of 2026

This section expands the definition of "firearm" to include any combination of parts clearly intended to function, or that may readily be converted, to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive. (Thus, certain firearm assembly kits meeting this criterion are regulated as firearms, including requirements for licensing, serialization, and background checks.)

This section requires a federal firearms licensee producing or completing a firearm frame or receiver—or a collection of parts that, with other readily available parts, could be used to produce a firearm—through additive manufacturing or any other non-traditional manufacturing method for sale or transfer in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce to cast or engrave a serial number on the receiver, frame, or each part in the collection. It defines "additive manufacturing" as a process of joining materials layer upon layer from 3D model data (e.g., powder bed fusion, material extrusion, directed energy deposition, vat photopolymerization, binder jetting) and "non-traditional manufacturing method" as any process producing a firearm, frame, or receiver outside conventional manufacturing (e.g., additive manufacturing, digital fabrication, other emerging technologies). It establishes penalties for violations of the serialization requirement, including a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for a first knowing offense and, for a subsequent willful offense, a fine of up to $100,000, imprisonment for not less than one year, or both.

This section requires a licensed firearms dealer who receives a firearm without a serial number engraved or cast on its receiver or frame to (1) engrave or cast such a serial number in a manner prescribed by Attorney General regulations, (2) transmit to the Attorney General a record of the receipt that includes the serial number, and (3) maintain a copy of the record. It limits the Attorney General's use of information from such records to ongoing bona fide criminal investigations and exempts the information from the second sentence of 18 U.S.C. §926(a) (i.e., the prohibition on regulations requiring recordkeeping that burdens licensed firearms businesses).

This section establishes a new general business tax credit (IRC §45BB) for taxpayers licensed under 18 U.S.C. §923 to import, manufacture, or deal in firearms (i.e., federal firearms licensees, or FFLs), equal to eligible firearm serialization expenditures paid or incurred to comply with serialization requirements under 18 U.S.C. §923(i)(3), including the purchase or lease of engraving or casting equipment (or related software). Eligible expenditures are capped at $1,000 for such equipment used on firearm receivers or frames and, for other costs, the lesser of $50 per firearm required to be serialized or $1,500 per taxable year; the credit terminates for amounts paid or incurred more than 5 years after enactment (extendable to 7 years if the Secretary of the Treasury certifies to Congress that it has improved serialization and compliance, after consulting the ATF Director), denies a double tax benefit by disallowing deductions and reducing basis, and applies controlled group rules. The amendments apply to amounts paid or incurred after enactment.