Because I've seen so many synopses of this bill in press reports, and they vary, I'm posting the entire text of the bill. Commentary is below.
Shown Here:
Reported in House (07/26/2022)
Union Calendar No. 346
117th CONGRESS 2d Session |
[Report No. 117–442]
To regulate assault weapons, to ensure that the right to keep and bear arms is not unlimited, and for other purposes.
Mr. Cicilline (for himself, Ms. Adams, Mr. Aguilar, Mr. Allred, Mr. Auchincloss, Mrs. Axne, Ms. Barragán, Ms. Bass, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Bera, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Bowman, Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Brown of Maryland, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Cárdenas, Mr. Carson, Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Case, Mr. Casten, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. Castro of Texas, Ms. Chu, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Correa, Mr. Costa, Mr. Courtney, Ms. Craig, Mr. Crist, Mr. Crow, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Ms. Dean, Ms. DeGette, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Delgado, Mrs. Demings, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. Deutch, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Doggett, Mr. Michael F. Doyle of Pennsylvania, Ms. Escobar, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Evans, Mrs. Fletcher, Mr. Foster, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. García of Illinois, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Green of Texas, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Hastings, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Higgins of New York, Mr. Himes, Mr. Horsford, Ms. Houlahan, Mr. Hoyer, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Jackson Lee, Ms. Jacobs of California, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Jeffries, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Jones, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Keating, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Kim of New Jersey, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Kuster, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Ms. Lee of California, Mrs. Lee of Nevada, Ms. Leger Fernandez, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Mr. Levin of California, Mr. Lieu, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Malinowski, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, Ms. Manning, Ms. Matsui, Mrs. McBath, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McEachin, Mr. McGovern, Mr. McNerney, Mr. Meeks, Ms. Meng, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Morelle, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Mrvan, Mrs. Murphy of Florida, Mr. Nadler, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Neal, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Newman, Mr. Norcross, Ms. Norton, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Omar, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Pappas, Mr. Pascrell, Mr. Payne, Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. Peters, Mr. Phillips, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Porter, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Raskin, Miss Rice of New York, Ms. Ross, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr. Ruiz, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mr. Rush, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Sablan, Ms. Sánchez, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Schneider, Ms. Schrier, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Ms. Sewell, Mr. Sherman, Ms. Sherrill, Mr. Sires, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Soto, Ms. Speier, Mr. Stanton, Ms. Stevens, Ms. Strickland, Mr. Suozzi, Mr. Swalwell, Mr. Takano, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. Titus, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Tonko, Mrs. Torres of California, Mr. Torres of New York, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Trone, Ms. Underwood, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Veasey, Ms. Velázquez, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Ms. Waters, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Welch, Ms. Wexton, Ms. Wild, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. Wilson of Florida, and Mr. Yarmuth) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
Additional sponsors: Mr. Kahele, Mr. Mfume, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Mr. Clyburn, Ms. Davids of Kansas, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Gottheimer, Ms. Bourdeaux, Ms. Stansbury, Ms. Brown of Ohio, Ms. Spanberger, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Ms. Plaskett, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Mr. Lamb, Mrs. Bustos, Mr. Harder of California, and Mrs. Luria
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 11, 2021]
To regulate assault weapons, to ensure that the right to keep and bear arms is not unlimited, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
(a) In General.—Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(38) The term ‘semiautomatic pistol’ means any repeating pistol that—
“(39) The term ‘semiautomatic shotgun’ means any repeating shotgun that—
“(40) The term ‘semiautomatic assault weapon’ means any of the following, regardless of country of manufacture or caliber of ammunition accepted:
“(A) A semiautomatic rifle that—
“(B) A semiautomatic rifle that has a fixed ammunition feeding device with the capacity to accept more than 15 rounds, except for an attached tubular device designed to accept, and capable of operating only with, .22 caliber rimfire ammunition.
“(C) Any part, combination of parts, component, device, attachment, or accessory that is designed or functions to accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic firearm but not convert the semiautomatic firearm into a machinegun.
“(D) A semiautomatic pistol that—
“(E) A semiautomatic pistol with a fixed ammunition feeding device that has the capacity to accept more than 15 rounds.
“(F) A semiautomatic shotgun that—
“(H) All of the following rifles, copies, duplicates, variants, or altered facsimiles with the capability of any such weapon thereof:
“(i) All AK types, including the following:
“(ix) Fabrique Nationale/FN Herstal FAL, LAR, 22 FNC, 308 Match, L1A1 Sporter, PS90, SCAR, and FS2000.
“(I) All of the following pistols, copies, duplicates, variants, or altered facsimiles with the capability of any such weapon thereof:
“(J) All of the following shotguns, copies, duplicates, variants, or altered facsimiles with the capability of any such weapon thereof:
“(41) The term ‘large capacity ammunition feeding device’—
(b) Related Definitions.—Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, as amended by this Act, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(42) The term ‘barrel shroud’—
“(43) The term ‘detachable ammunition feeding device’ means an ammunition feeding device that can be removed from a firearm without disassembly of the firearm action.
“(44) The term ‘fixed ammunition feeding device’ means an ammunition feeding device that is contained in and not removable from or is permanently fixed to the firearm, but does not include an attached tubular device designed to accept, and capable of operating only with, .22 caliber rimfire ammunition.
“(45) The term ‘folding, telescoping, or detachable stock’ means a stock that folds, telescopes, detaches or otherwise operates to reduce the length, size, or any other dimension, or otherwise enhances the concealability, of a firearm.
“(46) The term ‘forward grip’ means a grip located forward of the trigger that functions as a pistol grip.
“(47) The term ‘grenade launcher’ means an attachment for use on a firearm that is designed to propel a grenade or other similar destructive device.
“(48) The term ‘permanently inoperable’ means a firearm which is incapable of discharging a shot by means of an explosive and incapable of being readily restored to a firing condition.
“(49) The term ‘pistol grip’ means a grip, a thumbhole stock or Thordsen-type grip or stock, or any other characteristic that can function as a grip.
“(50) The term ‘threaded barrel’ means a feature or characteristic that is designed in such a manner to allow for the attachment of a device such as a firearm silencer or a flash suppressor.
“(52) The term ‘grandfathered semiautomatic assault weapon’ means any semiautomatic assault weapon the importation, possession, sale, or transfer of which would be unlawful under section 922(v) but for the exception under paragraph (2) of such section.
SEC. 3. RESTRICTIONS ON ASSAULT WEAPONS AND LARGE CAPACITY AMMUNITION FEEDING DEVICES.
(a) In General.—Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by inserting after subsection (u) the following:
“(v) (1) It shall be unlawful for a person to import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, a semiautomatic assault weapon.
“(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the possession, sale, or transfer of any semiautomatic assault weapon otherwise lawfully possessed under Federal law on the date of enactment of the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022.
“(3) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any firearm that—
“(4) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to—
“(A) the importation for, manufacture for, sale to, transfer to, or possession by the United States or a department or agency of the United States or a State or a department, agency, or political subdivision of a State, or a sale or transfer to or possession by a qualified law enforcement officer employed by the United States or a department or agency of the United States or a State or a department, agency, or political subdivision of a State, for purposes of law enforcement (whether on or off duty), or a sale or transfer to or possession by a campus law enforcement officer for purposes of law enforcement (whether on or off duty);
“(B) the importation for, or sale or transfer to a licensee under title I of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 for purposes of establishing and maintaining an on-site physical protection system and security organization required by Federal law, or possession by an employee or contractor of such licensee on-site for such purposes or off-site for purposes of licensee-authorized training or transportation of nuclear materials;
“(C) the possession, by an individual who is retired in good standing from service with a law enforcement agency and is not otherwise prohibited from receiving a firearm, of a semiautomatic assault weapon—
“(5) For purposes of paragraph (4)(A), the term ‘campus law enforcement officer’ means an individual who is—
“(A) employed by a private institution of higher education that is eligible for funding under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.);
“(B) responsible for the prevention or investigation of crime involving injury to persons or property, including apprehension or detention of persons for such crimes;
“(6) The Attorney General shall establish and maintain, in a timely manner, a record of the make, model, and, if available, date of manufacture of any semiautomatic assault weapon which the Attorney General is made aware has been used in relation to a crime under Federal or State law, and the nature and circumstances of the crime involved, including the outcome of relevant criminal investigations and proceedings. The Attorney General shall annually submit a copy of the record established under this paragraph to the Congress and make the record available to the general public.
“(w) (1) It shall be unlawful for a person to import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, a large capacity ammunition feeding device.
“(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the possession of any large capacity ammunition feeding device otherwise lawfully possessed on or before the date of enactment of the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022.
“(3) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to—
“(A) the importation for, manufacture for, sale to, transfer to, or possession by the United States or a department or agency of the United States or a State or a department, agency, or political subdivision of a State, or a sale or transfer to or possession by a qualified law enforcement officer employed by the United States or a department or agency of the United States or a State or a department, agency, or political subdivision of a State for purposes of law enforcement (whether on or off duty), or a sale or transfer to or possession by a campus law enforcement officer for purposes of law enforcement (whether on or off duty);
“(B) the importation for, or sale or transfer to a licensee under title I of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 for purposes of establishing and maintaining an on-site physical protection system and security organization required by Federal law, or possession by an employee or contractor of such licensee on-site for such purposes or off-site for purposes of licensee-authorized training or transportation of nuclear materials;
“(4) For purposes of paragraph (3)(A), the term ‘campus law enforcement officer’ means an individual who is—
“(A) employed by a private institution of higher education that is eligible for funding under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.);
“(B) responsible for the prevention or investigation of crime involving injury to persons or property, including apprehension or detention of persons for such crimes;
(2) by adding at the end the following:
“(aa) Secure Storage Or Safety Device Requirement For Grandfathered Semiautomatic Assault Weapons.—It shall be unlawful for any person, other than a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer, to store or keep under the dominion or control of that person any grandfathered semiautomatic assault weapon that the person knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, will be accessible to an individual prohibited from receiving or possessing a firearm under subsection (g), (n), or (x), or any provision of State law, unless the grandfathered semiautomatic assault weapon is—
(b) Identification Markings For Semiautomatic Assault Weapons.—Section 923(i) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: “The serial number of any semiautomatic assault weapon manufactured after the date of enactment of the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022 shall clearly show the date on which the weapon was manufactured or made, legibly and conspicuously engraved or cast on the weapon, and such other identification as the Attorney General shall by regulations prescribe.”.
(c) Identification Markings For Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Devices.—Section 923(i) of title 18, United States Code, as amended by this Act, is amended by adding at the end the following: “A large capacity ammunition feeding device manufactured after the date of enactment of the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022 shall be identified by a serial number and the date on which the device was manufactured or made, legibly and conspicuously engraved or cast on the device, and such other identification as the Attorney General shall by regulations prescribe.”.
(d) Seizure And Forfeiture Of Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Devices.—Subsection (d) of section 924 of title 18, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1)—
(A) by inserting “or large capacity ammunition feeding device” after “firearm or ammunition” each time it appears;
(e) Appendix A.—Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
APPENDIX A—FIREARMS EXEMPTED BY THE ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN OF 2022
Centerfire Rifles—Autoloaders
Centerfire Rifles—Lever & Slide
Centerfire Rifles—Bolt Action
Centerfire Rifles—Single Shot
Drillings, Combination Guns, Double Rifles
Rimfire Rifles—Autoloaders
Rimfire Rifles—Lever & Slide Action
Rimfire Rifles—Bolt Actions & Single Shots
Competition Rifles—Centerfire & Rimfire
Shotguns—Autoloaders
Shotguns—Slide Actions
Shotguns—Over/Unders
Shotguns—Side By Sides
Shotguns—Bolt Actions & Single Shots
Section 924(a)(1)(B) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking “or (q) of section 922” and inserting “(q), (r), (v), (w), or (aa) of section 922”.
SEC. 5. BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR TRANSFERS OF GRANDFATHERED SEMIAUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPONS.
(a) In General.—Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, as amended by this Act, is amended—
(4) by inserting after subsection (s), as redesignated, the following:
“(t) (1) Beginning on the date that is 90 days after the date of enactment of the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022, it shall be unlawful for any person who is not licensed under this chapter to transfer a grandfathered semiautomatic assault weapon to any other person who is not licensed under this chapter, unless a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer has first taken custody of the grandfathered semiautomatic assault weapon for the purpose of complying with subsection (s). Upon taking custody of the grandfathered semiautomatic assault weapon, the licensee shall comply with all requirements of this chapter as if the licensee were transferring the grandfathered semiautomatic assault weapon from the licensee’s inventory to the unlicensed transferee.
“(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a temporary transfer of possession for the purpose of participating in target shooting in a licensed target facility or established range if—
“(4) (A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the Attorney General may implement this subsection with regulations.
(b) Technical And Conforming Amendments.—
(1) SECTION 922.—Section 922(y)(2) of title 18, United States Code, is amended, in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking “, (g)(5)(B), and (s)(3)(B)(v)(II)” and inserting “and (g)(5)(B)”.
SEC. 6. USE OF BYRNE GRANTS FOR BUY-BACK PROGRAMS FOR SEMIAUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPONS AND LARGE CAPACITY AMMUNITION FEEDING DEVICES.
Section 501(a)(1) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10152(a)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by this Act, or the application of such provision or amendment to any person or circumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, the amendments made by this Act, and the application of such provision or amendment to any person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby.
This bill is going nowhere whatsoever, and in fact is likely to hurt Democrats in the fall. Yes, it passed the House, but it's doomed in the Senate.
