II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1353

To combat criminal misuse of explosives.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 13 (legislative day, JULY 12), 1999

Mr. TORRICELLI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To combat criminal misuse of explosives.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Dangerous Explosives

5 Background Checks Requirement Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. PERMITS AND BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR PUR7 CHASES OF EXPLOSIVES.

8 (a) PERMITS FOR PURCHASE OF EXPLOSIVES IN

9 GENERAL.—

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 842 of title 18,

11 United States Code, is amended—
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1 (A) in subsection (a)(3), by striking sub2 paragraphs (A) and (B) and inserting the fol3 lowing:

4 ‘‘(A) to transport, ship, cause to be trans5 ported, or receive any explosive materials; or

6 ‘‘(B) to distribute explosive materials to

7 any person other than a licensee or permittee.’’;

8 and

9 (B) in subsection (b)—

10 (i) by adding ‘‘or’’ at the end of para11 graph (1);

12 (ii) by striking ‘‘; or’’ at the end of

13 paragraph (2) and inserting a period; and

14 (iii) by striking paragraph (3).

15 (2) REGULATIONS.—

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180

17 days after the date of enactment of this Act,

18 the Secretary of the Treasury shall promulgate

19 final regulations with respect to the amend20 ments made by paragraph (1).

21 (B) NOTICE TO STATES.—On the promul22 gation of final regulations under subparagraph

23 (A), the Secretary of the Treasury shall notify

24 the States of the regulations in order that the
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1 States may consider legislation to amend rel2 evant State laws relating to explosives.

3 (b) BACKGROUND CHECKS.—Section 842 of title 18,

4 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the

5 following:

6 ‘‘(p) BACKGROUND CHECKS.—

7 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection:

8 ‘‘(A) CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFI9 CER.—The term ‘chief law enforcement officer’

10 means the chief of police, the sheriff, or an

11 equivalent officer or the designee of such an in12 dividual.

13 ‘‘(B) SYSTEM.—The term ‘system’ means

14 the national instant criminal background check

15 system established under section 103 of the

16 Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (18

17 U.S.C. 922 note).

18 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION.—A licensed importer, li19 censed manufacturer, or licensed dealer shall not

20 transfer explosive materials to a permitee unless—

21 ‘‘(A) before the completion of the transfer,

22 the licensee contacts the system;

23 ‘‘(B)(i) the system provides the licensee

24 with a unique identification number; or
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1 ‘‘(ii) 5 days on which State offices are

2 open have elapsed since the licensee contacted

3 the system, and the system has not notified the

4 licensee that the receipt of explosive materials

5 by the transferee would violate subsection (i);

6 ‘‘(C) the transferor has verified the iden7 tity of the transferee by examining a valid iden8 tification document (as defined in section 1028)

9 of the transferee containing a photograph of the

10 transferee; and

11 ‘‘(D) the transferor has examined the per12 mit issued to the transferee under section 843

13 and recorded the permit number on the record

14 of the transfer.

15 ‘‘(3) IDENTIFICATION NUMBER.—If receipt of

16 explosive materials would not violate section 842(i)

17 or State law, the system shall—

18 ‘‘(A) assign a unique identification number

19 to the transfer; and

20 ‘‘(B) provide the licensee with the number.

21 ‘‘(4) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (2) shall not

22 apply to a transfer of explosive materials between a

23 licensee and another person if, on application of the

24 transferor, the Secretary has certified that compli-
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1 ance with paragraph (2)(A) is impracticable

2 because—

3 ‘‘(A) the ratio of the number of law en4 forcement officers of the State in which the

5 transfer is to occur to the number of square

6 miles of land area of the State does not exceed

7 0.0025;

8 ‘‘(B) the business premises of the licensee

9 at which the transfer is to occur are extremely

10 remote in relation to the chief law enforcement

11 officer; and

12 ‘‘(C) there is an absence of telecommuni13 cations facilities in the geographical area in

14 which the business premises are located.

15 ‘‘(5) INCLUSION OF IDENTIFICATION NUM16 BER.—If the system notifies the licensee that the in17 formation available to the system does not dem18 onstrate that the receipt of explosive materials by

19 the transferee would violate subsection (i) or State

20 law, and the licensee transfers explosive materials to

21 the transferee, the licensee shall include in the

22 record of the transfer the unique identification num23 ber provided by the system with respect to the trans24 fer.
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1 ‘‘(6) PENALTIES.—If the licensee knowingly

2 transfers explosive materials to another person and

3 knowingly fails to comply with paragraph (2) with

4 respect to the transfer, the Secretary may, after no5 tice and opportunity for a hearing—

6 ‘‘(A) suspend for not more than 6 months

7 or revoke any license issued to the licensee

8 under section 843; and

9 ‘‘(B) impose on the licensee a civil penalty

10 of not more than $5,000.

11 ‘‘(7) NO LIABILITY.—Neither a local govern12 ment nor an employee of the Federal Government or

13 of any State or local government, responsible for

14 providing information to the system shall be liable in

15 an action at law for damages—

16 ‘‘(A) for failure to prevent the transfer of

17 explosive materials to a person whose receipt or

18 possession of the explosive material is unlawful

19 under this section; or

20 ‘‘(B) for preventing such a transfer to a

21 person who may lawfully receive or possess ex22 plosive materials.

23 ‘‘(8) DETERMINATION OF INELIGIBILITY.—

24 ‘‘(A) WRITTEN REASONS PROVIDED ON RE25 QUEST.—If the system determines that an indi-
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1 vidual is ineligible to receive explosive materials

2 and the individual requests the system to pro3 vide the reasons for the determination, the sys4 tem shall provide such reasons to the individual,

5 in writing, not later than 5 business days after

6 the date of the request.

7 ‘‘(B) CORRECTION OF ERRONEOUS SYSTEM

8 INFORMATION.—

9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If the system in10 forms an individual contacting the system

11 that receipt of explosive materials by a

12 prospective transferee would violate sub13 section (i) or applicable State law, the pro14 spective transferee may request the Attor15 ney General to provide the prospective

16 transferee with the reasons for the deter17 mination.

18 ‘‘(ii) TREATMENT OF REQUESTS.—On

19 receipt a request under subparagraph (A),

20 the Attorney General shall immediately

21 comply with the request.

22 ‘‘(iii) SUBMISSION OF ADDITIONAL IN23 FORMATION.—

24 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A prospective

25 transferee may submit to the Attorney
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1 General information to correct, clar2 ify, or supplement records of the sys3 tem with respect to the prospective

4 transferee.

5 ‘‘(II) ACTION BY THE ATTORNEY

6 GENERAL.—After receipt of informa7 tion under clause (i), the Attorney

8 General shall—

9 ‘‘(aa) immediately consider

10 the information;

11 ‘‘(bb) investigate the matter

12 further; and

13 ‘‘(cc) correct all erroneous

14 Federal records relating to the

15 prospective transferee and give

16 notice of the error to any Federal

17 department or agency or any

18 State that was the source of such

19 erroneous records.’’.

20 (c) REMEDY FOR ERRONEOUS DENIAL OF EXPLO21 SIVE MATERIALS.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 40 of title 18,

23 United States Code, is amended by inserting after

24 section 843 the following:
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1 ‘‘§ 843A. Remedy for erroneous denial of explosive

2 materials

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Any person denied explosive ma4 terials under section 842(p)—

5 ‘‘(1) due to the provision of erroneous informa6 tion relating to the person by any State or political

7 subdivision of a State or by the national instant

8 criminal background check system referred to in sec9 tion 922(t); or

10 ‘‘(2) who was not prohibited from receiving ex11 plosive materials under section 842(i);

12 may bring an action against an entity described in sub13 section (b) for an order directing that the erroneous infor14 mation be corrected or that the transfer be approved, as

15 the case may be.

16 ‘‘(b) ENTITIES DESCRIBED.—An entity referred to in

17 subsection (a) is the State or political subdivision respon18 sible for providing the erroneous information referred to

19 in subsection (a)(1) or denying the transfer of explosives

20 or the United States, as the case may be.

21 ‘‘(c) ATTORNEY’S FEES.—In any action brought

22 under this section, the court, in its discretion, may allow

23 the prevailing party a reasonable attorney’s fee as part

24 of the costs.’’.

25 (2) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for

26 chapter 40 of title 18, United States Code, is
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1 amended by inserting after the item relating to sec2 tion 843 the following:

‘‘843A. Remedy for erroneous denial of explosive materials.’’.

3 (d) LICENSES AND USER PERMITS.—Section 843(a)

4 of title 18, United States Code, is amended—

5 (1) by inserting ‘‘, including fingerprints and a

6 photograph of the applicant’’ before the period at

7 the end of the first sentence; and

8 (2) by striking the second sentence and insert9 ing the following: ‘‘Each applicant for a license shall

10 pay for each license a fee established by the Sec11 retary in an amount not to exceed $300. Each appli12 cant for a permit shall pay for each permit a fee es13 tablished by the Secretary in an amount not to ex14 ceed $100.’’.

15 (e) PENALTIES.—Section 844(a) of title 18, United

16 States Code, is amended—

17 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1) after ‘‘(a)’’; and

18 (2) by adding at the end the following:

19 ‘‘(2) BACKGROUND CHECKS.—A person who

20 violates section 842(p) shall be fined under this title,

21 imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.’’.

22 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

23 subsections (a), (b), (c), and (e) take effect 18 months

24 after the date of enactment of this Act.

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