Democratic Rep. Kevin Mullin of California is advancing legislation that would expand federal firearm regulations to cover certain BB and pellet guns, requiring background checks and other controls on airguns that meet the bill’s power thresholds.

Mullin introduced the measure Friday and is calling it Garrett’s Law after a constituent who legally purchased a high-powered airgun while prohibited from owning a traditional firearm and later died. He argues current federal law leaves a “dangerous gap” because some airguns can cause serious injury or death yet fall outside the existing firearm regulatory framework.

Under the proposal, qualifying high-powered airguns would be classified as firearms under the Gun Control Act and placed under the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. That would impose background-check and serialization requirements now applied to conventional firearms. Paintball and airsoft guns considered unlikely to cause serious injury would be excluded, according to Mullin’s office.

The airgun industry has raised alarms. Daisy BB Guns warned that the definition based on projectile size and velocity could eventually sweep in a much broader portion of the market. Although Mullin frames the bill as a response to one suicide case, the changes would rewrite the legal classification and purchase rules for all qualifying airguns nationwide.

Gun-control groups quickly endorsed the effort. GIFFORDS Executive Director Emma Brown praised the legislation and urged Congress to pass it; March For Our Lives also backed the measure.

Mullin says the bill aims to stop prohibited persons from obtaining high-powered airguns capable of fatal injuries. It would give federal regulators authority over the covered products and require the ATF to issue compliance guidance for manufacturers and sellers. The proposal fits a pattern of Democratic efforts to extend federal regulation to additional categories of firearms and firearm-like weapons.