I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1784 

To protect the Nation’s law enforcement officers by banning the Five-seveN 

Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm SS190 and SS192 cartridges, testing handguns 

and ammunition for capability to penetrate body armor, and prohibiting 

the manufacture, importation, sale, or purchase of such handguns or 

ammunition by civilians. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 29, 2007 

Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. 

FARR, Ms. WATSON, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mrs. MALONEY of New 

York, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. SHERMAN, Mrs. LOWEY, Ms. WOOLSEY, and 

Mr. MORAN of Virginia) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To protect the Nation’s law enforcement officers by banning 

the Five-seveN Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm SS190 and SS192 

cartridges, testing handguns and ammunition for capability to penetrate body armor, and prohibiting the manufacture, importation, sale, or purchase of such handguns 

or ammunition by civilians. 

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

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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect Law Enforce3 ment Armor Act’’ or the ‘‘PLEA Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Law enforcement is facing a new threat 

7 from handguns and accompanying ammunition, 

8 which are designed to penetrate police body armor, 

9 being marketed and sold to civilians. 

10 (2) A Five-seveN Pistol and accompanying am11 munition, manufactured by FN Herstal of Belgium 

12 as the ‘‘5.7 x 28 mm System’’, has recently been re13 covered by law enforcement on the streets. The Five14 seveN Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm SS192 cartridges are 

15 legally available for purchase by civilians under cur16 rent law. 

17 (3) The Five-seveN Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm 

18 SS192 cartridges are capable of penetrating level 

19 IIA armor. The manufacturer advertises that ammu20 nition fired from the Five-seveN will perforate 48 

21 layers of Kevlar up to 200 meters and that the am22 munition travels at 2100 feet per second. 

23 (4) The Five-seveN Pistol, and similar hand24 guns designed to use ammunition capable of pene25 trating body armor, pose a devastating threat to law 

26 enforcement. 

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1 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to protect 

2 the Nation’s law enforcement officers by— 

3 (1) testing handguns and ammunition for capa4 bility to penetrate body armor; and 

5 (2) prohibiting the manufacture, importation, 

6 sale, or purchase by civilians of the Five-seveN Pis7 tol, ammunition for such pistol, or any other hand8 gun that uses ammunition found to be capable of 

9 penetrating body armor. 

10 SEC. 3. ARMOR PIERCING AMMUNITION. 

11 (a) EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF ARMOR PIERCING

12 AMMUNITION.—Section 921(a)(17)(B) of title 18, United 

13 States Code, is amended— 

14 (1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end; 

15 (2) in clause (ii), by striking the period at the 

16 end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

17 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(iii) a projectile that— 

19 ‘‘(I) may be used in a handgun; and 

20 ‘‘(II) the Attorney General deter21 mines, pursuant to section 926(d), to be 

22 capable of penetrating body armor.’’. 

23 (b) DETERMINATION OF CAPABILITY OF PROJEC24 TILES TO PENETRATE BODY ARMOR.—Section 926 of 

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1 title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

2 end the following: 

3 ‘‘(d)(1) Not later than 1 year after the date of enact4 ment of this subsection, the Attorney General shall pro5 mulgate standards for the uniform testing of projectiles 

6 against Body Armor Exemplar. 

7 ‘‘(2) The standards promulgated pursuant to para8 graph (1) shall take into account, among other factors, 

9 variations in performance that are related to the type of 

10 handgun used, the length of the barrel of the handgun, 

11 the amount and kind of powder used to propel the projec12 tile, and the design of the projectile. 

13 ‘‘(3) As used in paragraph (1), the term ‘Body Armor 

14 Exemplar’ means body armor that the Attorney General 

15 determines meets minimum standards for the protection 

16 of law enforcement officers.’’. 

17 SEC. 4. ARMOR PIERCING HANDGUNS AND AMMUNITION. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 922 of title 18, United 

19 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol20 lowing: 

21 ‘‘(aa) FIVE-SEVEN PISTOL.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any 

23 person to manufacture, import, market, sell, ship, 

24 deliver, possess, transfer, or receive— 

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1 ‘‘(A) the Fabrique Nationale Herstal Five2 SeveN Pistol; 

3 ‘‘(B) 5.7 x 28mm SS190 and SS192 car4 tridges; or 

5 ‘‘(C) any other handgun that uses armor 

6 piercing ammunition. 

7 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—This subsection shall not 

8 apply to— 

9 ‘‘(A) any firearm or armor piercing ammu10 nition manufactured for, and sold exclusively to, 

11 military, law enforcement, or intelligence agen12 cies of the United States; and 

13 ‘‘(B) the manufacture, possession, trans14 fer, receipt, shipment, or delivery of a firearm 

15 or armor piercing ammunition by a licensed 

16 manufacturer, or any person acting pursuant to 

17 a contract with a licensed manufacturer, for the 

18 purpose of examining and testing such firearm 

19 or ammunition to determine whether paragraph 

20 (1) applies to such firearm.’’. 

21 (b) PENALTIES.—Section 924(a)(1)(B) of title 18, 

22 United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘or (q)’’ and 

23 inserting ‘‘(q), or (aa)’’. 

Æ 

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