I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2670 

To protect the Nation’s law enforcement officers by regulating the sale of 

the Five-seveN pistol and its variants, testing handguns for capability 

to penetrate body armor, and regulating the manufacture, importation, 

sale, or purchase of such handguns by civilians. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 10, 2019 

Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, and Ms. DELAURO) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To protect the Nation’s law enforcement officers by regulating the sale of the Five-seveN pistol and its variants, 

testing handguns for capability to penetrate body armor, 

and regulating the manufacture, importation, sale, or 

purchase of such handguns by civilians. 

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 ‘‘Protect Law Enforce5 ment Armor Act’’ or the ‘‘PLEA Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Law enforcement is facing a threat from 

2 handguns and accompanying ammunition, which are 

3 designed to penetrate police body armor, being mar4 keted and sold to civilians. 

5 (2) A Five-seveN Pistol and accompanying am6 munition, manufactured by FN Herstal of Belgium 

7 as the ‘‘5.7 x 28 mm System’’, has recently been re8 covered by law enforcement on the streets. The Five9 seveN Pistol is legally available for purchase by civil10 ians under current law. 

11 (3) The Five-seveN Pistol is capable of pene12 trating level IIA armor. The manufacturer advertises 

13 that ammunition fired from the Five-seveN will per14 forate 48 layers of Kevlar up to 200 meters and that 

15 the ammunition travels at 2,100 feet per second. 

16 (4) The Five-seveN Pistol, and similar hand17 guns designed to use ammunition capable of pene18 trating body armor, pose a devastating threat to law 

19 enforcement. 

20 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to protect 

21 the Nation’s law enforcement officers by— 

22 (1) testing handguns and ammunition for capa23 bility to penetrate body armor; and 

24 (2) prohibiting the manufacture, importation, 

25 sale, or purchase by civilians of the Five-seveN PisVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 May 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2670.IH H2670

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1 tol, ammunition for such pistol, or any other hand2 gun that uses ammunition found to be capable of 

3 penetrating body armor. 

4 SEC. 3. ARMOR-PIERCING HANDGUNS TREATED THE SAME 

5 AS MACHINEGUNS FOR PURPOSES OF ALL 

6 FEDERAL CRIMINAL LAWS RELATING TO 

7 FIREARMS. 

8 (a) DEFINITION OF ARMOR-PIERCING HANDGUN.— 

9 Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended 

10 by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(36) The term ‘armor-piercing handgun’ means any 

12 handgun that fires ammunition that the Attorney General 

13 determines is capable of penetrating body armor when 

14 fired from such handgun pursuant to section 926(d) of 

15 this title.’’. 

16 (b) DETERMINATION OF ABILITY TO PENETRATE

17 BODY ARMOR.—Section 926 of such title is amended by 

18 adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(d)(1) Not later than 1 year after the date of enact20 ment of this subsection, the Attorney General shall pro21 mulgate standards for the uniform testing of firearms and 

22 ammunition for their ability to penetrate the Body Armor 

23 Exemplar. 

24 ‘‘(2) The standards promulgated pursuant to this 

25 subsection shall take into account variations in performVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 May 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2670.IH H2670

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1 ance relating to the size of the firearm and ammunition, 

2 the propellant included in the ammunition, the material 

3 composition of the bullet, the length of the barrel of the 

4 firearm, the current or historical marketing of the fire5 arm’s capabilities, and any other considerations the Attor6 ney General deems relevant, except that in no case shall 

7 a handgun capable of piercing the Body Armor Exemplar 

8 be deemed exempt from any restrictions under this title 

9 by reason of sporting use. 

10 ‘‘(3) The standards promulgated pursuant to this 

11 subsection shall recognize that the Fabrique Nationale 

12 Herstal Five-seveN and Five-seveN MK2 handguns were 

13 purposefully designed to fire ammunition capable of pene14 trating body armor. 

15 ‘‘(4) As used in this subsection, the term ‘Body 

16 Armor Exemplar’ means body armor that the Attorney 

17 General determines meets minimum standards for the pro18 tection of law enforcement officers.’’. 

19 (c) INCLUSION IN DEFINITION OF FIREARM.—Sec20 tion 921(a)(3)(A) of such title is amended by inserting 

21 ‘‘, including an armor-piercing handgun’’ before the semi22 colon. 

23 (d) BAN ON POSSESSION OR TRANSFER.—Section 

24 922(o) of such title is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘or armor2 piercing handgun’’ after ‘‘machinegun’’; and 

3 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

4 (A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subpara5 graph (A); 

6 (B) by striking the period at the end of 

7 subparagraph (B) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

8 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(C) any otherwise lawful transfer or otherwise 

10 lawful possession of an armor-piercing handgun that 

11 was lawfully possessed before the date this subpara12 graph takes effect.’’. 

13 (e) BAN ON UNAUTHORIZED TRANSPORT IN INTER14 STATE OR FOREIGN COMMERCE.—Section 922 of such 

15 title is amended in each of subsections (a)(4) and (b)(4) 

16 by inserting ‘‘armor-piercing handgun,’’ before ‘‘machine17 gun’’. 

18 (f) ENHANCED PENALTIES FOR USING, CARRYING, 

19 OR POSSESSING DURING AND IN RELATION TO A CRIME

20 OF VIOLENCE OR DRUG TRAFFICKING CRIME.—Section 

21 924(c)(1) of such title is amended in each of subpara22 graphs (B)(ii) and (C)(ii) by inserting ‘‘, an armor-pierc23 ing handgun,’’ after ‘‘machinegun’’. 

24 (g) PENALTIES FOR CONSPIRING TO COMMIT AN OF25 FENSE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN ENHANCED PENALTIES.— 


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1 Section 924(o) of such title is amended by inserting ‘‘, 

2 armor-piercing handgun,’’ after ‘‘machinegun’’. 

3 (h) EXCEPTION FROM REQUIREMENT TO ALLOW IM4 PORTATION OF AN UNSERVICEABLE FIREARM THAT IS A

5 CURIO OR MUSEUM PIECE.—Section 925(d)(2) of such 

6 title is amended by inserting ‘‘an armor-piercing handgun 

7 or’’ before ‘‘a machinegun’’. 

8 (i) EXCEPTION FROM CONCEALED FIREARMS AL9 LOWED TO BE CARRIED BY QUALIFIED LAW ENFORCE10 MENT OFFICERS.—Section 926B(e)(3) of such title is 

11 amended by redesignating subparagraphs (B) and (C) as 

12 subparagraphs (C) and (D), respectively, and inserting 

13 after subparagraph (A) the following: 

14 ‘‘(B) any armor-piercing handgun;’’. 

15 (j) EXCEPTION FROM CONCEALED FIREARMS AL16 LOWED TO BE CARRIED BY QUALIFIED RETIRED LAW

17 ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.—Section 926C(e)(1)(C) of 

18 such title is amended by redesignating clauses (ii) and (iii) 

19 as clauses (iii) and (iv), respectively, and inserting after 

20 clause (i) the following: 

21 ‘‘(ii) any armor-piercing handgun;’’. 

Æ 


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