I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3125

To provide for the identification of felons and persons adjudicated mentally

incompetent on driver’s licenses and certain identification documents

through a magnetic strip containing coded information and through the

establishment of a national system for the identification of such persons,

and to impose criminal penalties on any federally licensed firearms dealer

who sells a handgun to a person without using a device to read the

magnetic strip on the driver’s license or identification document of the

person.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 23, 1993

Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland (for himself, Mr. CRANE, Mr. GOODLATTE, and

Mr. SMITH of Michigan) introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To provide for the identification of felons and persons adjudicated mentally incompetent on driver’s licenses and

certain identification documents through a magnetic strip

containing coded information and through the establishment of a national system for the identification of such

persons, and to impose criminal penalties on any federally licensed firearms dealer who sells a handgun to

a person without using a device to read the magnetic

strip on the driver’s license or identification document

of the person.
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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 ‘‘Felon Identification

5 and Police Safety Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:

8 (1) State laws requiring a waiting period before

9 the purchase of a firearm have endangered the lives

10 of law-abiding Americans by preventing them from

11 protecting themselves, as demonstrated by the fol12 lowing examples:

13 (A) In 1991, Bonnie Elmasri of Wisconsin

14 tried to get a handgun to protect herself from

15 her estranged husband, but he returned home

16 and killed her and her 2 children before the 48-

17 hour waiting period required by State law had

18 expired.

19 (B) In 1990, Catherine Latta of North

20 Carolina tried to buy a firearm but was told by

21 police that it would take her 2 to 4 weeks to

22 get the necessary permit. After telling the clerk

23 she ‘‘would be dead by then,’’ she illegally

24 bought a handgun on the street. 5 hours later

25 she was attacked again by the man who had al-
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1 ready robbed, assaulted, and raped her. She

2 used her handgun to protect herself by shooting

3 and killing him. Had she not had a handgun,

4 the outcome would have been much different.

5 (C) Residents of Los Angeles were forced

6 to wait 15 days during the 1991 riots before

7 they could legally buy a firearm for protection,

8 in spite of the fact that police were admitting

9 that they could not protect the people.

10 (2) A point-of-sale instant background check

11 can easily lead to a gun owner registration system.

12 Commenting on the Virginia State instant check sys13 tem, the Congressional Office of Technology Assess14 ment said ‘‘The Virginia transaction log does not in15 clude the names of firearm purchasers, but the po16 tential exists regardless of legal prohibitions.’’.

17 (3) Laws requiring a waiting period before the

18 purchase of a firearm have not prevented crime

19 rates in various States that have enacted such laws

20 from increasing far above the national average in21 crease in crime rates.

22 (4) Police cannot protect, and are not legally

23 responsible for protecting, individual citizens, as evi24 denced by the following:
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1 (A) The courts have consistently ruled that

2 the police do not have an obligation to protect

3 individuals, only the public in general. In War4 ren v. District of Columbia Metropolitan Police

5 Department (D.C. App. 444 A. 2d 1 (1981)),

6 the court stated ‘‘courts have without exception

7 concluded that when a municipality or other

8 governmental entity undertakes to furnish po9 lice services, it assumes a duty only to the pub10 lic at large and not to individual members of

11 the community’’.

12 (B) Former Florida Attorney General Jim

13 Smith told Florida legislators that police re14 sponded to only 200,000 of 700,000 calls for

15 help to Dade County authorities.

16 (C) The Department of Justice found that,

17 in 1989, there were 168,881 crimes of violence

18 which were not responded to by police within 1

19 hour.

20 (D) Currently, there are about 150,000 po21 lice officers on duty to protect a population of

22 more than 250,000,000 Americans.
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1 SEC. 3. SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFYING FELONS AND PERSONS

2 ADJUDICATED MENTALLY INCOMPETENT.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The laws and procedures of a

4 State are of the type described in this subsection if the

5 laws and procedures, in substance, provide the following:

6 (1) RECORDS CHECK REQUIRED BEFORE ISSU7 ANCE OF DRIVER’S LICENSE AND IDENTIFICATION

8 DOCUMENTS; USE OF MAGNETIC STRIPS TO IDEN9 TIFY PROHIBITED PERSONS.—Before the State

10 transportation agency issues, reissues, or reinstates

11 a license, the agency shall—

12 (A) conduct a record check to determine

13 whether the applicant therefor is a prohibited

14 person by examining the State list referred to

15 in paragraph (4) of this subsection and the na16 tional list referred to in subsection (b)(1); and

17 (B) affix to the license of the person a

18 magnetic strip on which is encoded information

19 that—

20 (i) identifies the licensee as a prohib21 ited person or as a nonprohibited person;

22 and

23 (ii) may be discerned only through the

24 use of an electronic device that—

25 (I) is read only;
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1 (II) does not have storage or

2 communication capabilities; and

3 (III) signals the user of the de4 vice with—

5 (aa) a green light if the de6 vice reads a magnetic strip that

7 does not identify the person as a

8 prohibited person; and

9 (bb) a red light if the device

10 reads a magnetic strip that iden11 tifies the person as a prohibited

12 person.

13 (2) EFFECTS OF FELONY CONVICTION OR AD14 JUDICATION OF MENTAL INCOMPETENCY.—

15 (A) SEIZURE AND VOIDING OF DRIVER’S

16 LICENSE.—If a State court convicts a person of

17 a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term

18 exceeding 1 year or adjudicates a person as

19 mentally incompetent, the court shall seize any

20 license issued to the person by the State trans21 portation agency, and any such license shall be

22 void.

23 (B) ISSUANCE OF NEW LICENSE UPON RE24 QUEST.—Upon request of a person referred to

25 in subparagraph (A), the State transportation
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1 agency shall issue to the person (if otherwise el2 igible therefor) another such license affixed to

3 which is a magnetic strip identifying the person

4 as a prohibited person.

5 (3) FUNDING OF RECORDS CHECKS.—

6 (A) INCREASE IN FINES IMPOSED UPON

7 CONVICTED FELONS.—Any person convicted in

8 the State of a crime punishable by imprison9 ment for a term exceeding 1 year shall, in addi10 tion to any sentence imposed under any other

11 provision of State law, be fined an amount suf12 ficient to cover the expenses of criminal records

13 checks conducted pursuant to paragraph

14 (1)(A), taking all such convictions into account

15 on an annual basis.

16 (B) SURCHARGE IMPOSED ON PROHIBITED

17 PERSONS TO OBTAIN A DRIVER’S LICENSE.—In

18 addition to any fee required to be paid by a per19 son to obtain a license, the State transportation

20 agency shall require a prohibited person to pay

21 surcharge in an amount determined by the

22 State to be sufficient to cover the expenses of

23 criminal records checks conducted by the agen24 cy pursuant to paragraph (1)(A), taking into
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1 account fines imposed under subparagraph (B)

2 of this paragraph.

3 (4) REQUIREMENT TO MAINTAIN AND UPDATE

4 COMPUTERIZED LIST OF PROHIBITED PERSONS.—

5 The State shall create and maintain a computerized

6 list of all persons who are prohibited persons by rea7 son of a conviction or adjudication in the State, and,

8 within 2 years after the date of the enactment of

9 this Act, shall achieve and maintain at least 80 per10 cent currency of case dispositions in the computer11 ized list for all cases in which there has been an

12 entry of activity within the then immediately preced13 ing 5 years.

14 (b) DUTIES OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The At15 torney General of the United States shall—

16 (1) create a national, computerized list of pro17 hibited persons;

18 (2) incorporate State criminal history records

19 into the Federal criminal records system maintained

20 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation;

21 (3) develop hardware and software systems to

22 link State lists referred to in subsection (a)(4) with

23 the national list referred to in paragraph (1) of this

24 subsection; and
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1 (4) provide any responsible State agency with

2 access to the national list, upon request.

3 (c) PROCEDURES FOR CORRECTING ERRONEOUS

4 RECORDS.—

5 (1) REQUEST FOR INFORMATION.—Any person

6 identified as a prohibited person in records main7 tained under this section may request the Attorney

8 General of the United States to notify the person of

9 the reasons therefor.

10 (2) COMPLIANCE WITH REQUEST.—Within 5

11 days after receipt of a request under paragraph (1),

12 the Attorney General shall comply with the request.

13 (3) SUBMISSION OF ADDITIONAL INFORMA14 TION.—Any person described in paragraph (1) may

15 submit to the Attorney General information to cor16 rect, clarify, or supplement records maintained

17 under this section with respect to the person.

18 (4) CONSIDERATION AND USE OF ADDITIONAL

19 INFORMATION.—Within 5 days after receipt of such

20 information, the Attorney General shall consider the

21 information, investigate the matter further, correct

22 any and all erroneous Federal records relating to

23 such person, and notify any Federal department or

24 agency or any State that was the source of the erro25 neous records of the errors.
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1 (d) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Any person erroneously

2 identified as a prohibited person in records maintained

3 pursuant to this section may bring an action in any United

4 States district court against the United States, or any

5 State or political subdivision thereof which is the source

6 of the erroneous information, for damages (including con7 sequential damages), injunctive relief, and such other re8 lief as the court deems appropriate. If the person prevails

9 in the action, the court shall allow the person a reasonable

10 attorney’s fee as part of the costs.

11 (e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

12 (1) LICENSE.—The term ‘‘license’’ means a li13 cense or permit to operate a motor vehicle on the

14 roads and highways of the State, and any identifica15 tion document issued by a State transportation

16 agency solely for purposes of identification.

17 (2) PROHIBITED PERSON.—The term ‘‘prohib18 ited person’’ means a person who—

19 (A) has been convicted of a crime punish20 able under Federal or State law by imprison21 ment for a term exceeding 1 year; or

22 (B)(i) has been adjudicated mentally in23 competent; and

24 (ii)(I) has not been restored to capacity by

25 court order; or
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1 (II) has been so restored to capacity for

2 less than 5 years.

3 (3) STATE TRANSPORTATION AGENCY.—The

4 term ‘‘State transportation agency’’ means the State

5 agency responsible for issuing a license, permit, or

6 identification document described in paragraph (1).

7 (f) JUSTICE ASSISTANCE FUNDS WITHHELD FROM

8 CERTAIN STATES UNLESS CERTAIN LAWS AND PROCE9 DURES ARE IN EFFECT.—2 years after the date of the

10 enactment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau of Jus11 tice Assistance shall reduce by 25 percent the annual allo12 cation to a State for a fiscal year under title I of the Om13 nibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 if the

14 State has in effect, as of such date of enactment, a waiting

15 period, or a system for identifying felons, before the pur16 chase of a handgun, and the State does not, by the end

17 of such 2-year period, have in effect all of the laws and

18 procedures of the type described in subsection (a). If, at

19 any time after such 2-year period, any State has in effect

20 a waiting period before the purchase of a handgun, or a

21 system for identifying felons or persons adjudicated men22 tally incompetent other than as provided pursuant to laws

23 and procedures of the type described in subsection (a), the

24 Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance shall reduce

25 by 25 percent the annual allocation to the State for a fis-
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1 cal year under title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and

2 Safe Streets Act of 1968.

3 SEC. 4. LICENSED FIREARMS DEALERS REQUIRED TO

4 CHECK MAGNETIC STRIP ON DRIVER’S LI5 CENSE OF ANY PERSON ATTEMPTING TO

6 PURCHASE A HANDGUN.

7 (a) PROHIBITION.—Section 922 of title 18, United

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow9 ing:

10 ‘‘(s)(1) It shall be unlawful for any licensed dealer

11 knowingly to—

12 ‘‘(A) sell a handgun to any person not licensed

13 under section 923, unless the licensed dealer has

14 used an electronic device described in section

15 3(a)(1)(B)(ii) of Felon Identification and Police

16 Safety Act of 1993 to read the magnetic strip af17 fixed to an identification document issued to the per18 son by the transportation agency of the State in

19 which the premises of the licensed dealer is located;

20 or

21 ‘‘(B) fail to notify local law enforcement au22 thorities, within 72 hours, of any person attempting

23 to purchase a handgun who is identified as a prohib24 ited person through the use of such a device.

25 ‘‘(2) As used in paragraph (1):
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1 ‘‘(A) The term ‘handgun’ means a firearm

2 which has a short stock and is designed to be

3 held and fired by the use of a single hand.

4 ‘‘(B) The term ‘identification document’

5 means a license or permit to operate a motor

6 vehicle, and any identification document issued

7 solely for purposes of identification.

8 ‘‘(C) The term ‘transportation agency’

9 means the agency responsible for issuing com10 mercial or noncommercial identification docu11 ments.

12 ‘‘(3) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in any State that

13 does not have in effect the laws and procedures required

14 by section 3(a) of the Felon Identification and Police Safe15 ty Act of 1993.’’.

16 (b) PENALTY.—Section 924(a) of such title is amend17 ed—

18 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘paragraph

19 (2) or (3) of’’; and

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

21 ‘‘(5) Any licensed dealer who violates section 922(s)

22 shall be imprisoned not more than 1 year, fined not more

23 than $1,000, or both.’’.

24 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

25 this section apply to conduct engaged in after the 2-year
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1 period that begins with the date of the enactment of this

2 Act.

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