ALB18866 S.L.C. 115TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. ll To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to ensure that all firearms are traceable, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES llllllllll Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Mr. NELSON, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. REED, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. CARDIN, and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on llllllllll A BILL To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to ensure that all firearms are traceable, and for other purposes. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 4 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Untraceable Firearms 5 Act of 2018’’. ALB18866 S.L.C. 2 1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT THAT ALL FIREARMS BE TRACE- 2 3 ABLE. (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 921(a) of title 18, United 4 States Code, is amended— 5 (1) in paragraph (3)— 6 7 (A) by inserting ‘‘, including an unfinished frame or receiver’’ after ‘‘such weapon’’; and 8 (B) by striking ‘‘or (D) any destructive de- 9 vice’’ and inserting ‘‘; (D) any destructive de- 10 vice; or (E) any combination of parts designed 11 or intended for use in converting any device 12 into a firearm and from which a firearm may 13 be readily assembled’’; 14 (2) in paragraph (10), by adding at the end the 15 following: ‘‘The term ‘manufacturing firearms’ shall 16 include assembling a functional firearm from a 17 frame or receiver or molding, machining, or 3D 18 printing a frame or receiver, and shall not include 19 making or fitting special barrels, stocks, or trigger 20 mechanisms to firearms.’’; 21 (3) by inserting after paragraph (29) the fol- 22 lowing: 23 ‘‘(30) The term ‘frame or receiver’— 24 ‘‘(A) means the part of a firearm that can pro- 25 vide the action or housing for the hammer, bolt, or 26 breechblock and firing mechanism; ALB18866 S.L.C. 3 1 ‘‘(B) includes a frame or lower receiver blank, 2 casting, or machined body that requires further ma- 3 chining or molding to be used as part of a functional 4 firearm, and which is designed and intended to be 5 used in the assembly of a functional firearm; and 6 7 ‘‘(C) does not include a piece of material that has had— 8 ‘‘(i) its size or external shape altered solely 9 to facilitate transportation or storage; or 10 ‘‘(ii) solely its chemical composition al- 11 tered.’’; and 12 (4) by adding at the end the following: 13 ‘‘(36) The term ‘ghost gun’— 14 ‘‘(A) means a firearm, including a frame or re- 15 ceiver, that lacks a unique serial number engraved 16 or cast in metal or metal alloy on the frame or re- 17 ceiver by a licensed manufacturer or importer in ac- 18 cordance with this chapter; and 19 ‘‘(B) does not include a firearm that has been 20 rendered permanently inoperable.’’. 21 (b) PROHIBITION; REQUIREMENTS.—Section 922 of 22 title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 23 end the following: 24 ‘‘(aa)(1) The Congress finds and declares the fol- 25 lowing: ALB18866 S.L.C. 4 1 ‘‘(A) Firearms tracing is the systematic track- 2 ing of the movement of a firearm recovered by law 3 enforcement officials from the first sale of a firearm 4 by the manufacturer or importer through the dis- 5 tribution chain (including the wholesaler and re- 6 tailer) to the first retail purchaser. 7 ‘‘(B) Law enforcement agencies across the 8 country work with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, 9 Firearms, and Explosives to trace firearms and 10 thereby obtain investigative leads in the fight 11 against violent crime and terrorism. 12 ‘‘(C) The ability of law enforcement agencies to 13 trace a firearm is dependent on the serial number or 14 other marks on the firearm that identify the manu- 15 facturer or importer who manufactured or imported 16 the firearm and that are unique to the firearm. 17 ‘‘(D) Interstate gun trafficking interferes with 18 lawful commerce in firearms and significantly con- 19 tributes to gun crime. Of the 211,384 firearms 20 traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, 21 and Explosives in 2016, 60,936 of those firearms 22 were originally sold by a licensed firearms dealer in 23 a State other than the State where the firearms 24 were recovered. These guns made up 28.8 percent of 25 all firearm recoveries in 2016. ALB18866 S.L.C. 5 1 ‘‘(E) Even before the sale of a firearm, the gun, 2 its component parts, and the raw materials from 3 which they are made have considerably moved in 4 interstate commerce. 5 ‘‘(F) If unserialized and untraceable firearms 6 may be constructed and transported freely from 7 State to State, ordinary citizens and foreign visitors 8 may fear to travel to or through certain parts of the 9 country due to concern about violent crime and gun 10 violence, and law enforcement agencies may be un- 11 able to address it. 12 ‘‘(2)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), it 13 shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture, sell, offer 14 to sell, transfer, purchase, or receive a ghost gun in or 15 affecting interstate or foreign commerce. 16 ‘‘(B) Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to— 17 ‘‘(i) the manufacture of a firearm by a licensed 18 manufacturer if the licensed manufacturer complies 19 with section 923(i) before selling or transferring the 20 firearm to another person; 21 ‘‘(ii) the offer to sell, sale, or transfer of a fire- 22 arm to, or purchase or receipt of a firearm by, a li- 23 censed manufacturer or importer before January 1, 24 2020; or ALB18866 S.L.C. 6 1 ‘‘(iii) transactions between licensed manufactur- 2 ers and importers on any date. 3 ‘‘(bb) It shall be unlawful for a person other than 4 a licensed manufacturer or importer to engrave or cast 5 a serial number on a firearm in or affecting interstate or 6 foreign commerce. 7 ‘‘(cc) Beginning on January 1, 2020, it shall be un- 8 lawful for any person other than a licensed manufacturer 9 or importer to possess a ghost gun in or affecting inter10 state or foreign commerce with the intent to sell or trans11 fer the ghost gun with or without further manufacturing 12 or to manufacture a firearm with the ghost gun.’’. 13 (c) REQUIREMENTS.—Section 923(i) of title 18, 14 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 15 following: ‘‘The serial number shall be engraved or cast 16 in metal or metal alloy and sufficient to identify the fire17 arm and the manufacturer or importer that put the serial 18 number on the firearm.’’. 19 (d) PENALTIES.—Section 924 of title 18, United 20 States Code, is amended— 21 22 23 24 (1) in subsection (a)(1)(B), by striking ‘‘or (q)’’ and inserting ‘‘(q), (aa), (bb), or (cc)’’; and (2) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘or (k)’’ and inserting ‘‘(k), (aa), (bb), or (cc)’’. ALB18866 S.L.C. 7 1 SEC. 3. MODERNIZATION OF THE PROHIBITION ON UNDE- 2 3 TECTABLE FIREARMS. Section 922(p) of title 18, United States Code, is 4 amended— 5 6 7 8 9 10 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘any firearm’’; (2) in paragraph (1)— (A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read as follows: ‘‘(A) an undetectable firearm; or’’. 11 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘ any 12 major component of which, when subjected to 13 inspection by the types of x-ray machines com- 14 monly used at airports, does not generate’’ and 15 inserting the following: ‘‘a major component of 16 a firearm which, if subjected to inspection by 17 the types of detection devices commonly used at 18 airports for security screening, would not gen- 19 erate’’; 20 (3) in paragraph (2)— 21 (A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read 22 as follows: 23 ‘‘(A) the term ‘undetectable firearm’ means a 24 firearm, as defined in section 921(a)(3)(A), of which 25 no major component is wholly made of detectable 26 material;’’; ALB18866 S.L.C. 8 1 (B) by striking subparagraph (B) and in- 2 serting the following: 3 ‘‘(B) the term ‘major component’, with respect 4 to a firearm— 5 6 ‘‘(i) means the slide or cylinder or the frame or receiver of the firearm; and 7 8 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a rifle or shotgun, includes the barrel of the firearm; and’’; and 9 (C) by striking subparagraph (C) and all 10 that follows through the end of the undesig- 11 nated matter following subparagraph (C) and 12 inserting the following: 13 ‘‘(C) the term ‘detectable material’ means any 14 material that creates a magnetic field equivalent to 15 or more than 3.7 ounces of 17–4 pH stainless 16 steel.’’; 17 (4) in paragraph (3)— 18 (A) in the first sentence, by inserting 19 ‘‘, including a prototype,’’ after ‘‘of a fire- 20 arm’’; and 21 22 (B) by striking the second sentence; and 23 (5) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘shall not 24 apply to any firearm which’’ and all that follows and 25 inserting the following: ‘‘shall not apply to— ALB18866 S.L.C. 9 1 2 ‘‘(A) any firearm received by, in the possession of, or under the control of the United States; or 3 ‘‘(B) the manufacture, importation, possession, 4 transfer, receipt, shipment, or delivery of a firearm 5 by a licensed manufacturer or licensed importer pur- 6 suant to a contract with the United States.’’.