I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4594 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to treat bump-stock-type devices 

as machineguns, and to ban the possession or transfer of other devices 

designed to accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic firearm. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 1, 2019 

Mr. MOULTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to treat bumpstock-type devices as machineguns, and to ban the possession or transfer of other devices designed to accelerate 

the rate of fire of a semiautomatic firearm. 

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 ‘‘Bumpstocks and Accel5 eration Devices Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. BUMP-STOCK-TYPE DEVICES TREATED AS MA2 CHINEGUNS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 921(a)(23) of title 18, 

4 United States Code, is amended— 

5 (1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘The’’; and 

6 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(B) In such section 5845(b) as applied to this chap8 ter— 

9 ‘‘(i) the term ‘automatically’ as it modifies 

10 ‘shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily re11 stored to shoot,’ means functioning as the result of 

12 a self-acting or self-regulating mechanism that al13 lows the firing of multiple rounds through a single 

14 function of the trigger; 

15 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘single function of the trigger’ 

16 means a single pull of the trigger and analogous mo17 tions; and 

18 ‘‘(iii) the term ‘machinegun’ includes a bump19 stock-type device.’’. 

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

21 amended by inserting after paragraph (29) the following: 

22 ‘‘(30) BUMP-STOCK-TYPE DEVICE.—The term 

23 ‘bump-stock-type device’ means a device that allows a 

24 semiautomatic firearm to shoot more than one shot with 

25 a single pull of the trigger by harnessing the recoil energy 

26 of the semiautomatic firearm to which it is affixed so that 


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1 the trigger resets and continues firing without additional 

2 physical manipulation of the trigger by the shooter. 

3 ‘‘(31) SEMIAUTOMATIC FIREARM.—The term ‘semi4 automatic firearm’ means any repeating firearm that— 

5 ‘‘(A) utilizes a portion of the energy of a firing 

6 cartridge to extract the fired cartridge case and 

7 chamber the next round; and 

8 ‘‘(B) requires a separate function of the trigger 

9 to fire each cartridge.’’. 

10 SEC. 3. BAN ON POSSESSION OR TRANSFER OF ACCELERA11 TION DEVICE OR BINARY-TRIGGER-TYPE DE12 VICE. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 922 of title 18, United 

14 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(aa)(1) It shall be unlawful for any person, in or 

17 affecting interstate or foreign commerce, to possess or 

18 transfer an acceleration device or a binary-trigger-type de19 vice. 

20 ‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to— 

21 ‘‘(A) the otherwise lawful possession of such a 

22 device before the date that is 90 days after the date 

23 this subsection takes effect, if the device is destroyed 

24 or disposed of within that 90-day period; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) the possession of such a device by or for, 

2 or the transfer of a device for or to, the United 

3 States, a department or agency of the United States, 

4 a State, or a department, agency, or political sub5 division of a State, for the purposes of testing or ex6 perimentation authorized by the Attorney General.’’. 

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

8 amended by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(36) The term ‘acceleration device’ means any part, 

10 combination of parts, component, device, attachment, or 

11 accessory that is designed and functions to accelerate the 

12 rate of fire of a semiautomatic firearm but not convert 

13 the semiautomatic firearm into a machinegun. 

14 ‘‘(37) The term ‘binary-trigger-type device’ means a 

15 device that allows a semiautomatic firearm to fire more 

16 than one cartridge with a single pull and release of the 

17 trigger if— 

18 ‘‘(A) the device treats the pull and release of 

19 the trigger as separate functions to fire a cartridge; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(B) each function results in at least one fired 

22 cartridge.’’. 

23 (c) PENALTIES.—Section 924(a)(2) of such title is 

24 amended by striking ‘‘or (o)’’ and inserting ‘‘(o), or (aa).’’ 


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1 SEC. 4. SENTENCING GUIDELINES. 

2 Pursuant to its authority under section 924 of title 

3 28, United States Code, and in accordance with this sec4 tion, the United States Sentencing Commission shall 

5 amend and review the Federal sentencing guidelines and 

6 policy statements to ensure that the guidelines provide for 

7 a penalty enhancement of not less than 2 offense levels 

8 for a violation of section 922(aa) of title 18 of such Code, 

9 and for a violation of section 922(o) of such title 18 con10 sisting of possession of a bump-stock-type device (as de11 fined in section 921(a)(30) of such title 18) if the device 

12 that is the subject of the violation has been— 

13 (1) used, carried, or possessed during or in re14 lation to a crime of violence or drug trafficking 

15 crime (as such terms are defined in section 

16 924(c)(3) of such title 18); or 

17 (2) smuggled unlawfully into or from the 

18 United States. 

Æ 


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