I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1540

To ensure greater accountability by licensed firearms dealers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 1, 2003

Mr. LANGEVIN (for himself, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of 

Florida, Mr. CASE, Mr. CLAY, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. FRANK

of Massachusetts, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. 

LOFGREN, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PASCRELL, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. WEXLER, 

and Ms. WOOLSEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To ensure greater accountability by licensed firearms dealers.

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 ‘‘Crackdown on Dead5 beat Dealers Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds that—
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1 (1) a small number of licensed firearms dealers 

2 account for a large proportion of the firearms traced 

3 from crimes; 

4 (2) in 1998, 1.2 percent of licensed firearms 

5 dealers—1,020 of the approximately 83,200 licensed 

6 retail firearms dealers and pawnbrokers—accounted 

7 for over 57 percent of the crime guns traced to li8 censed firearms dealers; and 

9 (3) in 1998, just over 450 licensed firearms 

10 dealers had traced to them 10 or more guns that 

11 were used in crimes within 3 years after they sold 

12 the guns. 

13 SEC. 3. INCREASING THE NUMBER OF ALLOWED COMPLI14 ANCE INSPECTIONS OF FIREARMS DEALERS. 

15 Section 923(g)(1)(B)(ii)(I) of title 18, United States 

16 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘once’’ and inserting ‘‘3 

17 times’’. 

18 SEC. 4. INCREASING PENALTIES ON FIREARMS LICENSEES. 

19 Section 924(a)(3) of title 18, United States Code is 

20 amended by striking ‘‘one year’’ and inserting ‘‘5 years’’. 

21 SEC. 5. SERIOUS RECORDKEEPING OFFENSES THAT AID 

22 GUN TRAFFICKING. 

23 Section 924(a)(3) of title 18, United States Code, is 

24 amended by striking the period and inserting ‘‘; but if the 

25 violation is in relation to an offense under subsection 
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1 (a)(6) or (d) of section 922, shall be fined under this title, 

2 imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.’’. 

3 SEC. 6. SUSPENSION OF FIREARMS DEALER’S LICENSE AND 

4 CIVIL PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE 

5 GUN CONTROL ACT. 

6 Subsections (e) and (f) of section 923 of title 18, 

7 United States Code, are amended to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘(e) The Attorney General may, after notice and op9 portunity for hearing, suspend or revoke any license issued 

10 under this section, or may subject the licensee to a civil 

11 penalty of not more than $10,000 per violation, if the 

12 holder of the license has willfully violated any provision 

13 of this chapter or any rule or regulation prescribed by the 

14 Attorney General under this chapter or fails to have secure 

15 gun storage or safety devices available at any place in 

16 which firearms are sold under the license to persons who 

17 are not licensees (except that in any case in which a secure 

18 gun storage or safety device is temporarily unavailable be19 cause of theft, casualty loss, consumer sales, backorders 

20 from a manufacturer, or any other similar reason beyond 

21 the control of the licensee, the dealer shall not be consid22 ered to be in violation of the requirement to make available 

23 such a device). The Attorney General may, after notice 

24 and opportunity for hearing, suspend or revoke the license 

25 of, or assess a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 on, 
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1 a dealer who willfully transfers armor piercing ammuni2 tion. The Attorney General may at any time compromise, 

3 mitigate, or remit the liability with respect to any willful 

4 violation of this chapter or any rule or regulation pre5 scribed by the Attorney General under this chapter. The 

6 Attorney General’s actions under this subsection may be 

7 reviewed only as provided in subsection (f). 

8 ‘‘(f)(1) Any person whose application for a license is 

9 denied and any holder of a license which is suspended or 

10 revoked or who is assessed a civil penalty shall receive a 

11 written notice from the Attorney General stating specifi12 cally the grounds upon which the application was denied 

13 or upon which the license was suspended or revoked or 

14 the civil penalty assessed. Any notice of a suspension or 

15 revocation of a license shall be given to the holder of the 

16 license before the effective date of the suspension or rev17 ocation. 

18 ‘‘(2) If the Attorney General denies an application 

19 for a license, or suspends or revokes a license, or assesses 

20 a civil penalty, the Attorney General shall, upon request 

21 by the aggrieved party, promptly hold a hearing to review 

22 the denial, suspension, revocation, or assessment. In the 

23 case of a suspension or revocation of a license, the Attor24 ney General shall, on the request of the holder of the li25 cense, stay the effective date of the suspension or revoca-
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1 tion. A hearing under this paragraph shall be held at a 

2 location convenient to the aggrieved party. 

3 ‘‘(3) If after a hearing held under paragraph (2) the 

4 Attorney General decides not to reverse the decision to 

5 deny an application or suspend or revoke a license or as6 sess a civil penalty, the Attorney General shall give notice 

7 of the decision to the aggrieved party. The aggrieved party 

8 may at any time within 60 days after the date notice is 

9 given under this paragraph file a petition with the United 

10 States district court for the district in which party resides 

11 or in which the party’s principal place of business is lo12 cated for a de novo judicial review of the denial, suspen13 sion, revocation, or assessment. In a proceeding conducted 

14 under this subsection, the court may consider any evidence 

15 submitted by the parties to the proceeding whether or not 

16 such evidence was considered at the hearing held under 

17 paragraph (2). If the court decides that the Attorney Gen18 eral was not authorized to deny the application or to sus19 pend or revoke the license or to assess the civil penalty, 

20 the court shall order the Attorney General to take such 

21 action as may be necessary to comply with the judgment 

22 of the court.’’. 
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1 SEC. 7. TERMINATION OF FIREARMS DEALER’S LICENSE 

2 UPON FELONY CONVICTION. 

3 Section 925(b) of title 18, United States Code, is 

4 amended by striking ‘‘until any conviction pursuant to the 

5 indictment becomes final’’ and inserting ‘‘until the date 

6 of any conviction pursuant to the indictment’’. 

7 SEC. 8. HIRING AND TRAINING OF ADDITIONAL INSPEC8 TORS FOR THE BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TO9 BACCO, FIREARMS, AND EXPLOSIVES. 

10 (a) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF APPRO11 PRIATIONS.—For the hiring and training of 500 additional 

12 inspectors for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, 

13 and Explosives of the Department of Justice, there are 

14 authorized to be appropriated—

15 (1) not more than $100,000,000 for fiscal year 

16 2004; and 

17 (2) not more than $55,000,000 for each of fis18 cal years 2005 through 2008. 

19 (b) AVAILABILITY OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Amounts 

20 appropriated under subsection (a) are authorized to re21 main available until expended.

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