Daisy Just Warned Which Backyard Rifle a California Democrat Wants Behind a Background Check

Ralphie Parker nearly shot his eye out with a Red Ryder, and America has laughed about it for four decades.

A California congressman wants Washington to treat a whole class of air rifles exactly like real firearms.

And the company behind Ralphie's rifle says a pump gun sitting on shelves at Bass Pro is already caught in the net.

Garrett's Law Would Rewrite the Gun Control Act for Air Rifles

Rep. Kevin Mullin, a Democrat representing California's 15th District, introduced "Garrett's Law" on September 25.

The bill would designate high-powered airguns as firearms under the federal Gun Control Act.

That means background checks, serial numbers, and new federal compliance rules for the companies that build them.

Mullin put it this way: "If a weapon is powerful enough to kill, it should be subject to the same common-sense safety standards as any other gun."

The bill is named for Garrett Edwards, a constituent whose mental health unraveled during the pandemic and who later died by suicide.

His mother, Ann Edwards, described him as "an elite athlete, scholar, and meant the world to me."

Nobody with a heart mocks a grieving mother.

But a family's heartbreak is not a blueprint for regulating a product Americans buy by the millions every single year.

Daisy Says the Popular 880 Pump Rifle Falls Inside the Line

The bill targets .177 caliber airguns that shoot 800 feet per second or faster, along with larger-caliber pellet guns.

Daisy, the Arkansas company that has made the Red Ryder for generations, warned the bill "would include guns like the Daisy 880."

The Powerline 880 is the multi-pump rifle generations of kids learned on, plinking cans off a fence post.

Daisy also warned where this is headed: "Their goal is to eventually include all airguns."

Americans buy between 3.2 million and 3.4 million air rifles and BB guns every year, according to CDC figures cited by Townhall.

Anyone who bought one before the law passed would suddenly be sitting on an unserialized firearm in the garage.

GIFFORDS and March for Our Lives – two of the loudest gun control groups in America – both endorsed the bill the day it dropped.

That tells you everything about whether this is about one tragedy or about a much longer wish list.

New Jersey Already Treats a Pellet Rifle Like a Deer Rifle

New Jersey has run this experiment for years.

The Garden State classifies BB and pellet guns as firearms.

A New Jersey resident who wants a simple air rifle needs a Firearms Purchaser Identification Card first.

He has to transport it unloaded, locked in a case, with the ammo stored separately – same as a 30-06.

Airsoft and paintball guns are exempt there, and Mullin's bill copies that exact carve-out.

A dad in Trenton who wants to buy his son a pellet rifle for his birthday has to get cleared by the state first.

The law turned a boy's first rifle into a government permission slip.

Now Mullin wants to export that model to all 50 states.

Sen. Mike Lee of Utah didn't mince words: "The gun control lobby targeting BB and pellet guns is fundamentally unserious."

The National Association for Gun Rights fired back with a warning about "the attempted Australia-ification of the US."

The System Already Flagged Garrett and Still Failed Him

Supporters will say a background check might have stopped Garrett.

That's the strongest card Mullin holds, and it deserves a straight answer.

Garrett Edwards was legally barred from owning a firearm.

That means the system knew this young man was in danger.

Knowing wasn't the problem.

The problem is that all that knowledge never turned into the help he needed before he ever clicked "buy."

Garrett's Law doesn't add a single counselor, a single hospital bed, or a single phone call to a family in crisis.

It adds a federal checkpoint for millions of law-abiding families buying a backyard rifle.

Every gun control push follows the same script.

Find a heartbreaking story, draw a line that sounds reasonable, and then keep moving the line.

This bill draws the line at 800 feet per second.

The next one draws it at any air rifle that can "kill," and Mullin already told you that's his standard.

By that logic, the Red Ryder under grandpa's Christmas tree is next.

With Republicans running the House, Garrett's Law should die in committee where it belongs.

But gun owners should remember the name Kevin Mullin.

Because Democrats don't stop at the first line they draw.

Sources:

• Kevin Mullin, "Prompted by Constituent's Death, Rep. Mullin Introduces Bill to Designate Lethal Airguns as Firearms," Office of Congressman Kevin Mullin, September 25, 2026.
• AWR Hawkins, "Democrat Rep. Kevin Mullin Pushes Bill to Redefine BB Guns as Firearms," Breitbart News, September 28, 2026.
• Joseph MacKinnon, "Democrats Don't Just Want to Take Your Firearms. They Want Your Kids' BB Guns Too," Blaze Media, September 28, 2026.
• Jeff Charles, "Now Democrats Are Coming for Your BB Guns – What's Next?," Townhall, September 29, 2026.
• Mike LaChance, "California Democrat Pushes Bill to Redefine BB Guns as Dangerous Firearms," The Gateway Pundit, September 28, 2026.
• Eric Scott, "You Could Be Breaking NJ Laws That Restrict These Forbidden and Deadly Toys," New Jersey 101.5, September 5, 2024.