I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 496 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the carrying of a firearm 

near a place where a senior Federal official is holding an official public 

event or carrying out an official or representational duty, or where 

any person is campaigning for Federal elective office. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 26, 2011 

Mr. KING of New York (for himself, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. ENGEL, 

Mr. RANGEL, and Ms. CHU) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the carrying of a firearm near a place where a senior Federal 

official is holding an official public event or carrying 

out an official or representational duty, or where any 

person is campaigning for Federal elective office. 

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 ‘‘Securing Citizens’ Pro5 tection at Federal Events Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CARRYING FIREARM NEAR A 

2 PLACE WHERE A SENIOR FEDERAL OFFICIAL 

3 IS HOLDING AN OFFICIAL PUBLIC EVENT OR 

4 CARRYING OUT AN OFFICIAL OR REPRESEN5 TATIONAL DUTY, OR WHERE ANY PERSON IS 

6 CAMPAIGNING FOR FEDERAL ELECTIVE OF7 FICE. 

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

9 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(aa)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), it shall 

12 be unlawful for any person, in or affecting interstate or 

13 foreign commerce, to knowingly carry a firearm at a place 

14 which the person knows is a restricted firearms zone. 

15 ‘‘(2) In a prosecution for an alleged violation of para16 graph (1), it shall be an affirmative defense, which may 

17 be established by a preponderance of the evidence, that, 

18 at the time of the alleged violation— 

19 ‘‘(A) the person was a law enforcement officer 

20 (whether on- or off-duty) authorized to carry a fire21 arm in the line of duty; or 

22 ‘‘(B) the person was carrying the firearm pur23 suant to the permission of a law enforcement officer; 

24 ‘‘(C) the person was a designated Federal 

25 protectee; 


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1 ‘‘(D) the person had the permission of a des2 ignated Federal protectee in the restricted firearms 

3 zone to carry a firearm in the zone while the place 

4 that constitutes the zone is treated as such for pur5 poses of this subsection; 

6 ‘‘(E) the person was carrying the firearm only 

7 on the premises of a business in which the person 

8 is employed and authorized by the employer to carry 

9 the firearm; 

10 ‘‘(F) the person was carrying the firearm only 

11 on real property owned or rented by the person; 

12 ‘‘(G) the person was a qualified retired law en13 forcement officer (as defined in section 926C(c)) 

14 carrying the identification required by section 

15 926C(d)); or 

16 ‘‘(H)(i) the firearm possessed by the person was 

17 unloaded, and was in a locked container or otherwise 

18 not readily accessible for use; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) any ammunition possessed by the person 

20 for the firearm was in a locked container separate 

21 from the firearm. 

22 ‘‘(3) Violations of this subsection shall be investigated 

23 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistance may 

24 be requested from any Federal, State, or local agency, any 

25 statute, rule, or regulation to the contrary (other than secVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:26 Feb 03, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H496.IH H496

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1 tion 374 or 375 of title 10, or section 1385 of this title) 

2 notwithstanding.’’. 

3 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 921(a) of such title is 

4 amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(36)(A) The term ‘restricted firearms zone’ means 

6 within 1,000 feet of the exterior of any building or struc7 ture in which, or at any other fixed place where— 

8 ‘‘(i) a senior Federal official is, within 30 min9 utes will be, or within the past 30 minutes was— 

10 ‘‘(I) holding an official event that is open 

11 to the public; or 

12 ‘‘(II) carrying out an official or representa13 tional duty; or 

14 ‘‘(ii) a designated Federal protectee is, within 

15 30 minutes will be, or within the past 30 minutes 

16 was engaging in campaign activity as a candidate for 

17 election for Federal office for purposes of the Fed18 eral Election Campaign Act of 1971. 

19 ‘‘(B) In subparagraph (A), the term ‘designated Fed20 eral protectee’ means a senior Federal official, or an indi21 vidual who is a candidate for election for Federal office 

22 for purposes of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 

23 1971. 

24 ‘‘(C) In this paragraph, the term ‘senior Federal offi25 cial’ means an individual who is the President of the 


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1 United States, the President-elect, the Vice President, or, 

2 if there is no Vice President, the officer next in the order 

3 of succession to the Office of the President of the United 

4 States, the Vice President-elect, any person who is acting 

5 as President under the Constitution and laws of the 

6 United States, a Member of Congress, a Member-of-Con7 gress-elect, a member of the executive branch of the Gov8 ernment who is the head of a department listed in section 

9 101 of title 5, the Director of Central Intelligence, a judge 

10 or justice of the Supreme Court or of any court created 

11 by Act of Congress (other than a magistrate judge ap12 pointed under section 631 of title 28, United States Code), 

13 an individual nominated for any of the foregoing positions, 

14 during the pendency of the nomination. 

15 ‘‘(D) In subparagraph (C), the terms ‘President-elect’ 

16 and ‘Vice-President-elect’ mean such persons as are the 

17 apparent successful candidates for the offices of President 

18 and Vice President, respectively, as ascertained from the 

19 results of the general elections held to determine the elec20 tors of President and Vice President in accordance with 

21 sections 1 and 2 of title 3.’’. 

22 (c) PENALTIES.—Section 924(a) of such title is 

23 amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(8) Whoever knowingly violates section 922(aa) 

2 shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 

3 10 years, or both.’’. 

Æ 


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