I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3553 

To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to ensure that all 

firearms are traceable, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 27, 2019 

Mr. CICILLINE (for himself, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. NORTON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. 

ROSE of New York, Mr. CISNEROS, Ms. SHALALA, Ms. HILL of California, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mrs. 

DEMINGS, Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL, Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. GARCIA of 

Texas, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. CASE, Mr. HASTINGS, 

Ms. MENG, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. SIRES, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. 

LOWENTHAL, Ms. MOORE, and Ms. BROWNLEY of California) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to 

ensure that all firearms are traceable, and for other 

purposes. 

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 ‘‘Untraceable Firearms 

5 Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT THAT ALL FIREARMS BE TRACE2 ABLE. 

3 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 921(a) of title 18, United 

4 States Code, is amended— 

5 (1) in paragraph (3)— 

6 (A) by inserting ‘‘, including an unfinished 

7 frame or receiver’’ after ‘‘such weapon’’; and 

8 (B) by striking ‘‘or (D) any destructive de9 vice’’ and inserting ‘‘; (D) any destructive de10 vice; or (E) any combination of parts designed 

11 or intended for use in converting any device 

12 into a firearm and from which a firearm may 

13 be readily assembled’’; 

14 (2) in paragraph (10), by adding at the end the 

15 following: ‘‘The term ‘manufacturing firearms’ shall 

16 include assembling a functional firearm from a 

17 frame or receiver or molding, machining, or 3D 

18 printing a frame or receiver, and shall not include 

19 making or fitting special barrels, stocks, or trigger 

20 mechanisms to firearms.’’; 

21 (3) by inserting after paragraph (29) the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(30) The term ‘frame or receiver’— 

24 ‘‘(A) means the part of a firearm that can pro25 vide the action or housing for the hammer, bolt, or 

26 breechblock and firing mechanism; 


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1 ‘‘(B) includes a frame or lower receiver blank, 

2 casting, or machined body that requires further ma3 chining or molding to be used as part of a functional 

4 firearm, and which is designed and intended to be 

5 used in the assembly of a functional firearm; and 

6 ‘‘(C) does not include a piece of material that 

7 has had— 

8 ‘‘(i) its size or external shape altered solely 

9 to facilitate transportation or storage; or 

10 ‘‘(ii) solely its chemical composition al11 tered.’’; and 

12 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(36) The term ‘ghost gun’— 

14 ‘‘(A) means a firearm, including a frame or re15 ceiver, that lacks a unique serial number engraved 

16 or cast in metal or metal alloy on the frame or re17 ceiver by a licensed manufacturer or importer in ac18 cordance with this chapter; and 

19 ‘‘(B) does not include a firearm that has been 

20 rendered permanently inoperable.’’. 

21 (b) PROHIBITION; REQUIREMENTS.—Section 922 of 

22 title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

23 end the following: 

24 ‘‘(aa)(1) The Congress finds and declares the fol25 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(A) Firearms tracing is the systematic track2 ing of the movement of a firearm recovered by law 

3 enforcement officials from the first sale of a firearm 

4 by the manufacturer or importer through the dis5 tribution chain (including the wholesaler and re6 tailer) to the first retail purchaser. 

7 ‘‘(B) Law enforcement agencies across the 

8 country work with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, 

9 Firearms, and Explosives to trace firearms and 

10 thereby obtain investigative leads in the fight 

11 against violent crime and terrorism. 

12 ‘‘(C) The ability of law enforcement agencies to 

13 trace a firearm is dependent on the serial number or 

14 other marks on the firearm that identify the manu15 facturer or importer who manufactured or imported 

16 the firearm and that are unique to the firearm. 

17 ‘‘(D) Interstate gun trafficking interferes with 

18 lawful commerce in firearms and significantly con19 tributes to gun crime. Of the 211,384 firearms 

20 traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, 

21 and Explosives in 2016, 60,936 of those firearms 

22 were originally sold by a licensed firearms dealer in 

23 a State other than the State where the firearms 

24 were recovered. These guns made up 28.8 percent of 

25 all firearm recoveries in 2016. 


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1 ‘‘(E) Even before the sale of a firearm, the gun, 

2 its component parts, and the raw materials from 

3 which they are made have considerably moved in 

4 interstate commerce. 

5 ‘‘(F) If unserialized and untraceable firearms 

6 may be constructed and transported freely from 

7 State to State, ordinary citizens and foreign visitors 

8 may fear to travel to or through certain parts of the 

9 country due to concern about violent crime and gun 

10 violence, and law enforcement agencies may be un11 able to address it. 

12 ‘‘(2)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), it 

13 shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture, sell, offer 

14 to sell, transfer, purchase, or receive a ghost gun in or 

15 affecting interstate or foreign commerce. 

16 ‘‘(B) Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to— 

17 ‘‘(i) the manufacture of a firearm by a licensed 

18 manufacturer if the licensed manufacturer complies 

19 with section 923(i) before selling or transferring the 

20 firearm to another person; 

21 ‘‘(ii) the offer to sell, sale, or transfer of a fire22 arm to, or purchase or receipt of a firearm by, a li23 censed manufacturer or importer before January 1, 

24 2020; or 


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1 ‘‘(iii) transactions between licensed manufactur2 ers and importers on any date. 

3 ‘‘(bb) It shall be unlawful for a person other than 

4 a licensed manufacturer or importer to engrave or cast 

5 a serial number on a firearm in or affecting interstate or 

6 foreign commerce. 

7 ‘‘(cc) Beginning on January 1, 2020, it shall be un8 lawful for any person other than a licensed manufacturer 

9 or importer to possess a ghost gun in or affecting inter10 state or foreign commerce with the intent to sell or trans11 fer the ghost gun with or without further manufacturing 

12 or to manufacture a firearm with the ghost gun.’’. 

13 (c) REQUIREMENTS.—Section 923(i) of title 18, 

14 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

15 following: ‘‘The serial number shall be engraved or cast 

16 in metal or metal alloy and sufficient to identify the fire17 arm and the manufacturer or importer that put the serial 

18 number on the firearm.’’. 

19 (d) PENALTIES.—Section 924 of title 18, United 

20 States Code, is amended— 

21 (1) in subsection (a)(1)(B), by striking ‘‘or (q)’’ 

22 and inserting ‘‘(q), (aa), (bb), or (cc)’’; and 

23 (2) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘or (k)’’ 

24 and inserting ‘‘(k), (aa), (bb), or (cc)’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. MODERNIZATION OF THE PROHIBITION ON UNDE2 TECTABLE FIREARMS. 

3 Section 922(p) of title 18, United States Code, is 

4 amended— 

5 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

6 striking ‘‘any firearm’’; 

7 (2) in paragraph (1)— 

8 (A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read 

9 as follows: 

10 ‘‘(A) an undetectable firearm; or’’. 

11 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘ any 

12 major component of which, when subjected to 

13 inspection by the types of x-ray machines com14 monly used at airports, does not generate’’ and 

15 inserting the following: ‘‘a major component of 

16 a firearm which, if subjected to inspection by 

17 the types of detection devices commonly used at 

18 airports for security screening, would not gen19 erate’’; 

20 (3) in paragraph (2)— 

21 (A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read 

22 as follows: 

23 ‘‘(A) the term ‘undetectable firearm’ means a 

24 firearm, as defined in section 921(a)(3)(A), of which 

25 no major component is wholly made of detectable 

26 material;’’; 


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1 (B) by striking subparagraph (B) and in2 serting the following: 

3 ‘‘(B) the term ‘major component’, with respect 

4 to a firearm— 

5 ‘‘(i) means the slide or cylinder or the 

6 frame or receiver of the firearm; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a rifle or shotgun, in8 cludes the barrel of the firearm; and’’; and 

9 (C) by striking subparagraph (C) and all 

10 that follows through the end of the undesig11 nated matter following subparagraph (C) and 

12 inserting the following: 

13 ‘‘(C) the term ‘detectable material’ means any 

14 material that creates a magnetic field equivalent to 

15 or more than 3.7 ounces of 17–4 PH stainless 

16 steel.’’; 

17 (4) in paragraph (3)— 

18 (A) in the first sentence, by inserting 

19 ‘‘, including a prototype,’’ after ‘‘of a fire20 arm’’; and 

21 (B) by striking the second sentence; 

22 and 

23 (5) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘shall not 

24 apply to any firearm which’’ and all that follows and 

25 inserting the following: ‘‘shall not apply to— 


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1 ‘‘(A) any firearm received by, in the possession 

2 of, or under the control of the United States; or 

3 ‘‘(B) the manufacture, importation, possession, 

4 transfer, receipt, shipment, or delivery of a firearm 

5 by a licensed manufacturer or licensed importer pur6 suant to a contract with the United States.’’. 

Æ 


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