I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1962

To amend the Consumer Product Safety Act to confirm the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s jurisdiction over child safety devices for handguns, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 6, 2003

Mr. ENGEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL

To amend the Consumer Product Safety Act to confirm 

the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s jurisdiction 

over child safety devices for handguns, and for other 

purposes.

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

3 SECTION 1. AMENDMENT OF CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY 

4 ACT. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Consumer Product Safety 

6 Act (15 U.S.C. 2051 et seq.) is amended by adding at 

7 the end thereof the following: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 39. CHILD HANDGUN SAFETY DEVICES. 

2 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARD.—

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—

4 ‘‘(A) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.—Notwith5 standing section 3(a)(1)(E) of this Act, the 

6 Commission shall initiate a rulemaking pro7 ceeding under section 553 of title 5, United 

8 States Code, within 90 days after the date of 

9 enactment of this section to establish a con10 sumer product safety standard for handgun 

11 locks. The Commission may extend the 90-day 

12 period for good cause. Notwithstanding any 

13 other provision of law, including chapter 5 of 

14 title 5, United States Code, the Commission 

15 shall promulgate a final consumer product safe16 ty standard under this paragraph within 12 

17 months after the date on which it initiated the 

18 rulemaking. The Commission may extend that 

19 12-month period for good cause. The consumer 

20 product safety standard promulgated under this 

21 paragraph shall take effect 6 months after the 

22 date on which the final standard is promul23 gated. 

24 ‘‘(B) STANDARD REQUIREMENTS.—The 

25 standard promulgated under subparagraph (A) 

26 shall require gun locks that—
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1 ‘‘(i) are sufficiently difficult for chil2 dren to de-activate or remove; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) prevent the discharge of the 

4 handgun unless the gunlock has been de5 activated or removed. 

6 ‘‘(2) CERTAIN PROVISIONS NOT TO APPLY.—

7 ‘‘(A) PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT.—Sections 

8 7, 9, and 30(d) of this Act do not apply to the 

9 rulemaking proceeding under paragraph (1). 

10 Section 11 of this Act does not apply to any 

11 consumer product safety standard promulgated 

12 under paragraph (1). 

13 ‘‘(B) CHAPTER 5 OF TITLE 5.—Except for 

14 section 553, chapter 5 of title 5, United States 

15 Code, does not apply to this section. 

16 ‘‘(C) CHAPTER 6 OF TITLE 5.—Chapter 6 

17 of title 5, United States Code, does not apply 

18 to this section. 

19 ‘‘(D) NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

20 ACT.—The National Environmental Policy Act 

21 of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321) does not apply to 

22 this section. 

23 ‘‘(b) NO EFFECT ON STATE LAW.—Notwithstanding 

24 section 26 of this Act, this section does not annul, alter, 

25 impair, affect, or exempt any person subject to the provi-
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1 sions of this section from complying with any provision 

2 of the law of any State or any political subdivision thereof, 

3 except to the extent that such provisions of State law are 

4 inconsistent with any provision of this section, and then 

5 only to the extent of the inconsistency. A provision of 

6 State law is not inconsistent with this section if such pro7 vision affords greater protection to children in respect of 

8 handguns than is afforded by this section. 

9 ‘‘(c) ENFORCEMENT.—Notwithstanding subsection 

10 (a)(2)(A), the consumer product safety standard promul11 gated by the Commission under subsection (a) shall be en12 forced under this Act as if it were a consumer product 

13 safety standard described in section 7(a). 

14 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 ‘‘(1) CHILD.—The term ‘child’ means an indi16 vidual who has not attained the age of 13 years. 

17 ‘‘(2) HANDGUN LOCK.—The term ‘handgun 

18 lock’ means any disabling or locking device that is 

19 not built into the handgun at the time of manufac20 ture and that is designed to prevent the handgun 

21 from being discharged unless the device has been de22 activated or removed. 

23 ‘‘(3) HANDGUN.—The term ‘handgun’—
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1 ‘‘(A) has the meaning given that term in 

2 section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(B) includes any article taxable at the 

5 rate of 10 percent under section 4181 of the In6 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 4181). 

7 ‘‘(4) INCORPORATED DEFINITIONS.—The terms 

8 ‘licensed importer’, ‘licensed manufacturer’, and ‘li9 censed dealer’ have the meanings given those terms 

10 in section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code.’’. 

11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 1 of the 

12 Consumer Product Safety Act is amended by adding at 

13 the end of the table of contents the following:

‘‘Sec. 39. Child handgun safety devices.’’.

14 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

15 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Con16 sumer Product Safety Commission $2,000,000 to carry 

17 out the provisions of section 39 of the Consumer Product 

18 Safety Act, such sums to remain available until expended.

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