Disarm Hate Act

The Disarm Hate Act (S 3256) adds new restrictions to federal firearm law, prohibiting individuals convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime or who received an enhanced sentence for such a crime from buying, possessing, or transporting firearms. It directly affects people convicted under state, federal, or tribal law for misdemeanor offenses motivated by bias against race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability, where the crime involved physical force, a weapon threat, or credible threat to safety. The bill amends existing federal laws (18 U.S.C. §§ 922(d) and 922(g)) to explicitly include these individuals in prohibited categories, while excluding cases where convictions were expunged, pardoned, or where civil rights were restored without firearm restrictions. This is a concrete policy change to expand firearm prohibitions based on specific hate-motivated misdemeanor convictions.