II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 560

To reform the manner in which firearms are manufactured and distributed

by providing an incentive to State and local governments to bring claims

for the rising costs of gun violence in their communities.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 8, 1999

Mr. DASCHLE (for Mr. LAUTENBERG) (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. SCHUMER, and Mr. REED) introduced the following bill; which was read twice

and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To reform the manner in which firearms are manufactured

and distributed by providing an incentive to State and

local governments to bring claims for the rising costs

of gun violence in their communities.

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 ‘‘Gun Industry Account5 ability Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:
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1 (1) Across the Nation, local communities are

2 bringing rightful legal claims against the gun indus3 try to seek changes in the manner in which the in4 dustry conducts business in the civilian market in

5 those communities.

6 (2) Since firearms are the only widely available

7 consumer product designed to kill, firearm manufac8 tures, distributors, and retailers have a special re9 sponsibility to take into account the health and safe10 ty of the public in marketing firearms.

11 (3) The gun industry has failed in this respon12 sibility by engaging in practices that have contrib13 uted directly to the terrible burden of firearm-relat14 ed violence on society.

15 (4) The gun industry has generally refused to

16 include numerous safety devices with their products,

17 including devices to prevent the unauthorized use of

18 a firearm, indicators that a firearm is loaded, and

19 child safety locks, and the absence of such safety de20 vices has rendered these products unreasonably dan21 gerous.

22 (5) The gun industry has also engaged in dis23 tribution practices in which the industry oversupplies

24 certain legal markets with firearms with the knowl-
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1 edge that the excess firearms will be distributed into

2 nearby illegal markets.

3 (6) According to the National Center for Injury

4 Prevention and Control—

5 (A) at least 80 percent of the economic

6 costs of treating firearms injuries are paid for

7 by taxpayer dollars; and

8 (B) in 1990, firearm injuries resulted in

9 costs of more than $24,000,000,000 in hospital

10 and other medical care for long-term disability

11 and premature death.

12 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

13 In this Act:

14 (1) FEDERAL DAMAGES.—The term ‘‘Federal

15 damages’’ means the amount of damages sustained

16 by the Federal Government as a result of the sale,

17 distribution, use or misuse of a firearm (including

18 gun violence) including damages relating to medical

19 expenses, the costs of continuing care and disabil20 ities, law enforcement expenses, and lost wages.

21 (2) FIREARM.—The term ‘‘firearm’’ has the

22 meaning given the term in section 921 of title 18,

23 United States Code.
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1 (3) GUN VIOLENCE.—The term ‘‘gun violence’’

2 means any offense under Federal or State law

3 that—

4 (A) constitutes a crime of violence (as de5 fined in section 16 of title 18, United States

6 Code); and

7 (B) involves the use of a firearm.

8 (4) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘‘manufac9 turer’’ has the meaning given the term in section

10 921 of title 18, United States Code;

11 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of

12 the several States of the United States, the District

13 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the

14 Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the

15 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

16 (6) UNIT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The term

17 ‘‘unit of local government’’ means any city, town,

18 township, county, parish, village, or other general

19 purpose political subdivision of a State.

20 SEC. 4. RECOVERY OF FEDERAL DAMAGES BY STATES AND

21 UNITS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT SEEKING

22 FEDERAL DAMAGES.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—In any civil action by a State or

24 unit of local government against a manufacturer of fire25 arms to recover damages relating to the sale, distribution,
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1 use or misuse of a firearm (including gun violence) in the

2 State or unit of local government, the State or unit of

3 local government may, in addition to other damages, re4 cover any Federal damages associated with the claim as

5 provided in this section.

6 (b) FEDERAL ACTIONS.—If the Attorney General

7 files an action against a manufacturer of firearms to re8 cover Federal damages, a State or unit of local govern9 ment may not recover those Federal damages under this

10 section in any action filed on or after the date on which

11 the Attorney General files that action.

12 (c) ACTIONS BROUGHT BY A STATE OR UNIT OF

13 LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—

14 (1) NOTICE OF CIVIL ACTION.—A State or unit

15 of local government seeking to recover Federal dam16 ages under this section shall serve a copy of the

17 complaint on Attorney General in accordance with

18 rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

19 (2) ENTRY OF APPEARANCE.—If the Attorney

20 General is served under paragraph (1), the Attorney

21 General may proceed with the action by entering an

22 appearance before the expiration of the 30-day pe23 riod beginning on the date on which the Attorney

24 General is served under paragraph (1).
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1 (3) EFFECT OF FAILURE TO ENTER APPEAR2 ANCE OR PROCEED WITH THE ACTION.—If a State

3 or unit of local government serves the Attorney Gen4 eral under paragraph (1), the State of unit of local

5 government may recover Federal damages under this

6 section only if the Attorney General—

7 (A) fails to enter an appearance in the ac8 tion in accordance with paragraph (2) or gives

9 written notice to the court of an intent not to

10 enter the action; or

11 (B) does not proceed with the action before

12 the expiration of the 6-month period (or such

13 additional period as the court may allow after

14 notice) beginning on the date on which the At15 torney General enters an appearance under

16 paragraph (2).

17 (4) LIMITATION.—If the Attorney General en18 ters an appearance under paragraph (2) and pro19 ceeds with the action before the expiration of the 6-

20 month period described in paragraph (3)(B), the

21 State or unit of local government may not recover

22 Federal damages under this section.

23 (d) PREVENTION OF DUAL RECOVERY OF FEDERAL

24 DAMAGES.—If there is a conflict between a State and 1

25 or more units of local government within the State over
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1 which jurisdiction may recover Federal damages under

2 this section on behalf of a certain area in the State, only

3 the first jurisdiction to file an action described in sub4 section (a) may recover those Federal damages.

5 (e) FEDERAL RIGHT TO DAMAGES IN OTHER AC6 TIONS.—The recovery of Federal damages by a State or

7 unit of local government under this section may not be

8 construed to waive any right of the Federal Government

9 to recover other Federal damages in an action by the At10 torney General.

11 (f) DISMISSAL OR COMPROMISE.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—In an action for Federal

13 damages brought by a State or unit of local govern14 ment under this section—

15 (A) the action may not be dismissed or

16 compromised without the approval of the court;

17 and

18 (B) notice of the proposed dismissal or

19 compromise shall be given to the Attorney Gen20 eral in such manner as the court directs.

21 (2) COURT APPROVAL.—In approving the dis22 missal or compromise of an action described in para23 graph (1), the court shall—

24 (A) state whether the dismissal or com25 promise is with or without prejudice to the
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1 right of the Federal Government to bring an ac2 tion for the Federal damages at issue; and

3 (B) determine the percentage of any

4 amount recovered by the State or unit of local

5 government that represents Federal damages.

6 (g) DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF FEDERAL DAMAGES

7 RECOVERED.—Of the total amount of Federal damages

8 recovered by a State or local government under this sec9 tion (including any amount recovered pursuant to a dis10 missal or compromise under subsection (f))—

(1) 1 11 ⁄3 shall be paid to the Federal Government,

12 to be used for crime prevention, mentoring pro13 grams, and firearm injury prevention research and

14 activities; and

(2) 2 15 ⁄3 shall be retained by the State or unit of

16 local government, of which—

(A) 1 17 ⁄3 shall be used for—

18 (i) law enforcement activities;

19 (ii) families of law enforcement offi20 cers injured or killed in the line of duty as

21 a result of gun violence; and

22 (iii) a compensation fund for the vic23 tims of gun violence; and

(B) 1 24 ⁄3 shall be used for education (reduce

25 class size, school modernization, after school,
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1 summer school, and tutoring), child care, or

2 children’s health care; and

(C) 1 3 ⁄3 may be used by the State or unit

4 of local government in the discretion of the

5 State or unit of local government.

6 (h) EFFECTIVE DATE.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

8 this section only applies to an action described in

9 subsection (a) that is filed on or after the date of

10 enactment of this Act.

11 (2) AMENDMENT OF COMPLAINT IN PENDING

12 ACTIONS.—This section applies to an action de13 scribed in subsection (a) that is filed before the date

14 of enactment of this Act, if—

15 (A) as of such date of enactment, there

16 has been no dismissal, compromise, or other

17 final disposition of the action; and

18 (B) after such date of enactment, the

19 State or unit of local government amends the

20 complaint to include relief for Federal damages

21 pursuant to this section.

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