II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1647

To provide a fair process, with maximum opportunity for public comment,

that will help eradicate from this Nation those weapons for which no

legitimate purpose exists and which are so lethal that they constitute

an unreasonable risk to law enforcement and the public at large, while

at the same time ensuring that the law-abiding public has full access

to firearms created for legitimate purposes, including firearms intended

for hunting and recreational use.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 10 (legislative day, NOVEMBER 2), 1993

Mr. BINGAMAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To provide a fair process, with maximum opportunity for

public comment, that will help eradicate from this Nation

those weapons for which no legitimate purpose exists

and which are so lethal that they constitute an unreasonable risk to law enforcement and the public at large,

while at the same time ensuring that the law-abiding

public has full access to firearms created for legitimate

purposes, including firearms intended for hunting and

recreational use.

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. ATTORNEY GENERAL’S STANDING COMMISSION

2 ON SEMIAUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPONS.

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 30 days after

4 the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General

5 shall establish a Standing Commission on Semiautomatic

6 Assault Weapons.

7 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall be

9 composed of 8 members, including:

10 (A) The Assistant Attorney General for the

11 Criminal Division of the Department of Justice.

12 (B) The heads, or their designees, of the

13 Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of

14 Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the Drug

15 Enforcement Agency.

16 (C) Two representatives of national citi17 zen’s organizations concerned with protecting

18 the rights of the law-abiding public to keep and

19 bear arms.

20 (D) Two representatives of national citi21 zen’s organizations concerned with protecting

22 the public safety and the needs of the Nation’s

23 law enforcement officers.

24 (2) TERMS.—The Commission members who

25 are representatives of national citizen’s organizations

26 shall serve terms of 4 years, except that the terms
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1 of the members first appointed may be staggered to

2 ensure that the terms of no more than 3 members

3 expire in any 1 year.

4 (3) VACANCIES.—The Attorney General shall

5 make an appointment to fill a vacancy on the Com6 mission not later than 30 days from the date that

7 the vacancy occurred. An individual chosen to fill a

8 vacancy shall be appointed for the unexpired term of

9 the member replaced.

10 (c) MEETINGS.—The Commission shall meet at least

11 twice annually, at the call of the Attorney General and

12 at the request of at least 3 members, based on requests

13 for such a meeting from the public or law enforcement

14 entities. Each meeting of the Commission shall be open

15 to the public.

16 (d) DUTIES.—The Commission shall—

17 (1) on an ongoing basis based on input solicited

18 from private citizens, national organizations, and

19 law enforcement, make recommendations to the At20 torney General for restricting the manufacture, sale,

21 distribution, and possession of domestic-made semi22 automatic assault weapons and large capacity am23 munition feeding devices meeting the criteria set

24 forth in subsection (e);
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1 (2) establish procedures for making the rec2 ommendations required in paragraph (1) and for

3 identifying the nature and extent of the restrictions

4 recommended;

5 (3) conduct public hearings and meetings on

6 recommendations proposed by private citizens, law

7 enforcement, and the Commission; and

8 (4) together with the recommendations required

9 in paragraph (1), transmit to the Attorney General

10 a report containing the Commission’s findings and

11 conclusions based on a review and analysis of infor12 mation submitted to and collected by the Commis13 sion.

14 (e) ATTORNEY GENERAL’S DUTIES.—

15 (1) ACTION BASED ON RECOMMENDATIONS.—

16 Within 30 days of receipt by the Attorney General

17 of any recommendations of the Commission, the At18 torney General shall—

19 (A) reject the recommendations in whole of

20 the Commission; or

21 (B) accept the recommendations, in whole

22 or in part, of the Commission and commence a

23 public process, pursuant to the Administrative

24 Procedure Act, for issuing regulations based on

25 the Commission’s recommendations.
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1 (2) EFFECT.—(A) If the Attorney General re2 jects the recommendations of the Commission pursu3 ant to paragraph (1)(A), recommendations with re4 spect to the semiautomatic assault weapons and

5 large capacity ammunition feeding devices shall be

6 deemed terminated for the year in which they were

7 transmitted to the Attorney General.

8 (B) If the Attorney General accepts the rec9 ommendations of the Commission pursuant to para10 graph (1)(B), the Attorney General shall not be

11 bound by the recommendations, but may, based on

12 information received during public hearings and

13 through notices published in the Federal Register

14 pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act—

15 (i) make changes in any of the

16 recommendatins and impose such restrictions,

17 as the Attorney General determines necessary;

18 or

19 (ii) publish notice in the Federal Register

20 that no further action will be taken on the rec21 ommendations of the Commission.

22 (3) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Contempora23 neous with publication of final regulations in the

24 Federal Register, the Attorney General shall submit

25 the recommendations of the Department of Justice,
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1 which comprise the final regulations, together with

2 such regulations, to the appropriate committees of

3 the Congress.

4 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE OF REGULATIONS.—The effec5 tive date of regulations issued by the Attorney General

6 pursuant to subsection (e) shall be 90 days after such reg7 ulations are published in the Federal Register and submit8 ted, together with the recommendations of the Attorney

9 General, to the appropriate committees of Congress.

10 (g) CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF COMMIS11 SION REPORT.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Implementation of regula13 tions submitted to the Congress under subsection (e)

14 may be terminated only if a joint resolution (de15 scribed in paragraph (2)) disapproving such regula16 tions is enacted, in accordance with the provisions of

17 paragraph (3), before the end of the 90-day period

18 beginning on the date on which such final regula19 tions were published in the Federal Register and the

20 recommendations were submitted to the appropriate

21 committees of Congress. For purposes of applying

22 the preceding sentence and paragraphs (2) and (3),

23 the days on which either House of Congress is not

24 in session because of an adjournment of more than
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1 3 days to a day certain shall be excluded in the com2 putation of a period.

3 (2) TERMS OF THE RESOLUTION.—A joint reso4 lution described in this paragraph means only a joint

5 resolution which is introduced within the 10-day pe6 riod beginning on the date on which the Attorney

7 General submits recommendations and a copy of the

8 regulations under subsection (e) and—

9 (A) which does not have a preamble;

10 (B) the matter after the resolving clause of

11 which is as follows: ‘‘That Congress disapproves

12 the recommendations of the Attorney General,

13 as contained in the regulations published by the

14 Attorney General in the Federal Register on

15 llllll,’’ the blank space being filled in

16 with the appropriate date; and

17 (C) the title of which is as follows: ‘‘Joint

18 resolution disapproving the recommendations of

19 the Attorney General’’.

20 (3) PROCEDURES FOR CONSIDERATION OF RES21 OLUTION OF APPROVAL.—Subject to paragraph (4),

22 the provisions of section 2908 (other than subsection

23 (a)) of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment

24 Act of 1990 shall apply to the consideration of a

25 joint resolution described in paragraph (2) in the
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1 same manner as such provisions apply to a joint res2 olution described in section 2908(a) of such Act.

3 (4) SPECIAL RULES.—For purposes of applying

4 paragraph (3) with respect to such provisions—

5 (A) any reference to the Committee on

6 Armed Services of the House of Representatives

7 shall be deemed a reference to an appropriate

8 committee of the House of Representatives

9 (specified by the Speaker of the House of Rep10 resentatives at the time of submission of rec11 ommendations under subsection (e)) and any

12 reference to the Committee on Armed Services

13 of the Senate shall be deemed a reference to an

14 appropriate committee of the Senate (specified

15 by the Majority Leader of the Senate at the

16 time of submission of recommendations under

17 subsection (e)); and

18 (B) any reference to the date on which the

19 President transmits a report shall be deemed a

20 reference to a date on which the Attorney Gen21 eral submits recommendations under subsection

22 (e).

23 (h) DEFINITIONS.—

24 (1) SEMIAUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPON.—The

25 term ‘‘semiautomatic assault weapon’’ means—
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1 (A) any of the firearms, or types, replicas,

2 or duplicates in any caliber of the firearms

3 known as—

4 (i) Norinco, Mitchell, and Poly Tech5 nologies Avtomat Kalashnikovs (all mod6 els);

7 (ii) Action Arms Israeli Military In8 dustries UZI and Galil;

9 (iii) Beretta AR–70 (SC–70);

10 (iv) Colt AR–15 and Sporter;

11 (v) Fabrique Nationale FN/FAL, FN/

12 LAR, and FNC;

13 (vi) SWD M–101 M–11; M 11–9; and

14 M–12;

15 (vii) INTRATEC TEC–9, TEC–DC9

16 and TEC–22; and

17 (viii) any shotgun which contains its

18 ammunition in a revolving cylinder, such

19 as but not limited to, the Street Sweeper

20 and Striker 12;

21 (B) a semiautomatic rifle that has an abil22 ity to accept a detachable magazine and has at

23 least 2 of—

24 (i) a folding or telescoping stock;
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1 (ii) a pistol grip that protrudes con2 spicuously beneath the action of the weap3 on;

4 (iii) a bayonet mount;

5 (iv) a flash suppressor or barrel hav6 ing a threaded muzzle; and

7 (v) a grenade launcher;

8 (C) a semiautomatic pistol that has an

9 ability to accept a detachable magazine and has

10 at least 2 of—

11 (i) an ammunition magazine that at12 taches to the pistol outside of the pistol

13 grip;

14 (ii) a barrel having a threaded muzzle;

15 (iii) a shroud that is attached to, or

16 partially or completely encircles, the barrel

17 and that permits the shooter to hold the

18 firearm with the nontrigger hand without

19 being burned;

20 (iv) a manufactured weight of 50

21 ounces or more when the pistol is un22 loaded; and

23 (v) a semiautomatic version of an

24 automatic firearm; and
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1 (D) a semiautomatic shotgun that has at

2 least 2 of—

3 (i) a folding or telescoping stock;

4 (ii) a pistol grip that protrudes con5 spicuously beneath the action of the weap6 on;

7 (iii) a fixed magazine capacity in ex8 cess of 5 rounds; and

9 (iv) an ability to accept a detachable

10 magazine.

11 (2) LARGE CAPACITY AMMUNITION FEEDING

12 DEVICE.—The term ‘‘large capacity ammunition

13 feeding device’’ means—

14 (A) a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or

15 similar device that has a capacity of, or that

16 can be readily restored or converted to accept,

17 more than 10 rounds of ammunition;

18 (B) any combination of parts from which

19 a device described in clause (i) can be assem20 bled; but

21 (C) does not include an attached tubular

22 device designed to accept, and capable of oper23 ating only with .22 caliber rimfire ammunition.

Æ