II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3743 

To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to ensure that all 

firearms are traceable, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 14, 2020 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Mr. CASEY, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. HARRIS, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. 

MENENDEZ, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. REED, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, 

Ms. WARREN, and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to 

ensure that all firearms are traceable, 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Untraceable Firearms 

5 Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that— 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 3743 IS

1 (1) without the enactment of this Act, the Bu2 reau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives 

3 has the authority to regulate ghost guns (as defined 

4 in section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, as 

5 amended by section 3 of this Act) and unfinished 

6 frames and receivers; and 

7 (2) the purpose of this Act is to clarify and 

8 strengthen such authority. 

9 SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT THAT ALL FIREARMS BE TRACE10 ABLE. 

11 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 921(a) of title 18, United 

12 States Code, is amended— 

13 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘or (D) any 

14 destructive device’’ and inserting ‘‘; (D) any destruc15 tive device; or (E) any combination of parts designed 

16 or intended for use in converting any device into a 

17 firearm and from which a firearm may be readily as18 sembled’’; 

19 (2) in paragraph (10), by adding at the end the 

20 following: ‘‘The term ‘manufacturing firearms’ shall 

21 include assembling a functional firearm from a 

22 frame or receiver or molding, machining, or 3D 

23 printing a frame or receiver, and shall not include 

24 making or fitting special barrels, stocks, or trigger 

25 mechanisms to firearms.’’; 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 3743 IS

1 (3) by inserting after paragraph (29) the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(30) The term ‘frame or receiver’— 

4 ‘‘(A) means the part of a firearm that provides 

5 or is intended to provide the housing for the trigger 

6 group, regardless of the stage of manufacture; 

7 ‘‘(B) includes a frame or lower receiver, includ8 ing blank, casting, or machined body, that requires 

9 modification, including machining, drilling, filing or 

10 molding, to be used as part of a functional firearm, 

11 and which is designed and intended to be used in the 

12 assembly of a functional firearm; and 

13 ‘‘(C) does not include a piece of material that 

14 has had— 

15 ‘‘(i) its size or external shape altered solely 

16 to facilitate transportation or storage; or 

17 ‘‘(ii) solely its chemical composition al18 tered.’’; and 

19 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(36) The term ‘ghost gun’— 

21 ‘‘(A) means a firearm, including a frame or re22 ceiver, that lacks a unique serial number engraved 

23 or cast on the frame or receiver by a licensed manu24 facturer or importer in accordance with this chapter; 

25 and 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 3743 IS

1 ‘‘(B) does not include a firearm that has been 

2 rendered permanently inoperable.’’. 

3 (b) PROHIBITION; REQUIREMENTS.—Section 922 of 

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

5 end the following: 

6 ‘‘(aa)(1) The Congress finds and declares the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(A) Firearms tracing is the systematic track9 ing of the movement of a firearm recovered by law 

10 enforcement officials from the first sale of a firearm 

11 by the manufacturer or importer through the dis12 tribution chain (including the wholesaler and re13 tailer) to the first retail purchaser. 

14 ‘‘(B) Law enforcement agencies across the 

15 country work with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, 

16 Firearms and Explosives to trace firearms and 

17 thereby obtain investigative leads in the fight 

18 against violent crime and terrorism. 

19 ‘‘(C) The ability of law enforcement agencies to 

20 trace a firearm is dependent on the serial number or 

21 other marks on the firearm that identify the manu22 facturer or importer who manufactured or imported 

23 the firearm and that are unique to the firearm. 

24 ‘‘(D) Interstate gun trafficking interferes with 

25 lawful commerce in firearms and significantly conVerDate Sep 11 2014 15:59 Jun 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3743.IS S3743

pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 3743 IS

1 tributes to gun crime. Of the 254,700 firearms 

2 traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms 

3 and Explosives in 2018, 71,910 of those firearms 

4 were originally sold by a licensed firearms dealer in 

5 a State other than the State where the firearms 

6 were recovered. These guns made up 28.2 percent of 

7 all firearm recoveries in 2018. 

8 ‘‘(E) Even before the sale of a firearm, the gun, 

9 its component parts, and the raw materials from 

10 which they are made have considerably moved in 

11 interstate commerce. 

12 ‘‘(F) If unserialized and untraceable firearms 

13 may be constructed and transported freely from 

14 State to State, ordinary citizens and foreign visitors 

15 may fear to travel to or through certain parts of the 

16 country due to concern about violent crime and gun 

17 violence, and law enforcement agencies may be un18 able to address it. 

19 ‘‘(2)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), it 

20 shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture, sell, offer 

21 to sell, transfer, purchase, or receive a ghost gun in or 

22 affecting interstate or foreign commerce. 

23 ‘‘(B) Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to— 

24 ‘‘(i) the manufacture of a firearm by a licensed 

25 manufacturer if the licensed manufacturer complies 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 3743 IS

1 with section 923(i) before selling or transferring the 

2 firearm to another person; 

3 ‘‘(ii) the offer to sell, sale, or transfer of a fire4 arm to, or purchase or receipt of a firearm by, a li5 censed manufacturer or importer before January 1, 

6 2022; or 

7 ‘‘(iii) transactions between licensed manufactur8 ers and importers on any date. 

9 ‘‘(bb) It shall be unlawful for a person other than 

10 a licensed manufacturer or importer to engrave or cast 

11 a serial number on a firearm in or affecting interstate or 

12 foreign commerce. 

13 ‘‘(cc) Beginning on January 1, 2022, it shall be un14 lawful for any person other than a licensed manufacturer 

15 or importer to possess a ghost gun in or affecting inter16 state or foreign commerce. 

17 ‘‘(dd) Beginning on January 1, 2022, it shall be un18 lawful for any person other than a licensed manufacturer 

19 or importer to possess a ghost gun in or affecting inter20 state or foreign commerce with the intent to sell or trans21 fer the ghost gun with or without further manufacturing 

22 or to manufacture a firearm with the ghost gun. 

23 ‘‘(ee)(1) It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, 

24 offer to sell, or transfer, in or affecting interstate or for25 eign commerce, to any person other than a licensed manuVerDate Sep 11 2014 15:59 Jun 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3743.IS S3743

pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 3743 IS

1 facturer a machine that has the sole or primary function 

2 of manufacturing firearms. 

3 ‘‘(2) Except as provided in paragraph (3), beginning 

4 on January 1, 2022, it shall be unlawful for any person 

5 other than a licensed manufacturer to possess, purchase, 

6 or receive, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, 

7 a machine that has the sole or primary function of manu8 facturing firearms. 

9 ‘‘(3) Paragraph (2) shall not apply to a person who 

10 is engaged in the business of selling manufacturing equip11 ment to a licensed manufacturer who possesses a machine 

12 with the intent to sell or transfer the machine to a licensed 

13 manufacturer.’’. 

14 (c) REQUIREMENTS.—Section 923(i) of title 18, 

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

16 following: ‘‘The serial number shall be engraved or cast 

17 on the frame or receiver in a manner sufficient to identify 

18 the firearm and the manufacturer or importer that put 

19 the serial number on the firearm.’’. 

20 (d) PENALTIES.—Section 924 of title 18, United 

21 States Code, is amended— 

22 (1) in subsection (a)(1)(B), by striking ‘‘or (q)’’ 

23 and inserting ‘‘(q), (aa), (bb), (cc), (dd), or (ee)’’; 

24 and 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 3743 IS

1 (2) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘or (k)’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘(k), (aa), (bb), (cc), (dd), or (ee)’’. 

3 SEC. 4. MODERNIZATION OF THE PROHIBITION ON UNDE4 TECTABLE FIREARMS. 

5 Section 922(p) of title 18, United States Code, is 

6 amended— 

7 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

8 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

9 (A), by striking ‘‘any firearm’’; 

10 (B) by amending subparagraph (A) to read 

11 as follows: 

12 ‘‘(A) an undetectable firearm; or’’; and 

13 (C) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘any 

14 major component of which, when subjected to 

15 inspection by the types of x-ray machines com16 monly used at airports, does not generate’’ and 

17 inserting the following: ‘‘a major component of 

18 a firearm which, if subjected to inspection by 

19 the types of detection devices commonly used at 

20 airports for security screening, would not gen21 erate’’; 

22 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

23 (A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read 

24 as follows: 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 3743 IS

1 ‘‘(A) the term ‘undetectable firearm’ means a 

2 firearm, as defined in section 921(a)(3)(A), of which 

3 no major component is wholly made of detectable 

4 material;’’; 

5 (B) by striking subparagraph (B) and in6 serting the following: 

7 ‘‘(B) the term ‘major component’, with respect 

8 to a firearm— 

9 ‘‘(i) means the slide or cylinder or the 

10 frame or receiver of the firearm; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a rifle or shotgun, in12 cludes the barrel of the firearm; and’’; and 

13 (C) by striking subparagraph (C) and all 

14 that follows through the end of the undesig15 nated matter following subparagraph (C) and 

16 inserting the following: 

17 ‘‘(C) the term ‘detectable material’ means any 

18 material that creates a magnetic field equivalent to 

19 or more than 3.7 ounces of 17–4 pH stainless 

20 steel.’’; 

21 (3) in paragraph (3)— 

22 (A) in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘, in23 cluding a prototype,’’ after ‘‘of a firearm’’; and 

24 (B) by striking the second sentence; and 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
10 

•S 3743 IS

1 (4) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘shall not 

2 apply to any firearm which’’ and all that follows and 

3 inserting the following: ‘‘shall not apply to— 

4 ‘‘(A) any firearm received by, in the possession 

5 of, or under the control of the United States; or 

6 ‘‘(B) the manufacture, importation, possession, 

7 transfer, receipt, shipment, or delivery of a firearm 

8 by a licensed manufacturer or licensed importer pur9 suant to a contract with the United States.’’. 

Æ 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS