I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5667 

To provide for the conduct of a study on the effectiveness of firearms microstamping technology and an evaluation of its effectiveness as a law 

enforcement tool. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 1, 2010 

Mr. BOREN (for himself, Mr. BROUN of Georgia, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. 

ROSS, Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN, Mr. ALTMIRE, Mr. MILLER of Florida, 

and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide for the conduct of a study on the effectiveness 

of firearms microstamping technology and an evaluation 

of its effectiveness as a law enforcement tool. 

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 ‘‘Firearms Micro5 stamping Evaluation and Study Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 The purposes of this Act are the following: 


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1 (1) To conduct a comprehensive study of fire2 arms microstamping technology that can be incor3 porated into a firearm during the manufacturing 

4 process in order to determine whether the technology 

5 is workable and could be a cost-effective law enforce6 ment tool for use in criminal investigations. 

7 (2) To determine the cost to manufacturers, 

8 firearm owners, and State governments of man9 dating the incorporation of microstamping tech10 nology into a firearm. 

11 (3) To determine what happens to the reli12 ability of firearms microstamping if non-metallic ma13 terials are used to manufacture cartridge cases. 

14 SEC. 3. STUDY. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 12 months after 

16 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen17 eral shall enter into an arrangement with the National Re18 search Council of the National Academy of Sciences, which 

19 shall have sole responsibility for conducting under the ar20 rangement a study to examine: 

21 (1) The design parameters for an effective and 

22 uniform system of microstamping firearms and car23 tridge cases and how this information will be stored 

24 and retrieved. 


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1 (2) To determine the cost to taxpayers of incor2 porating microstamping technology into a firearm, 

3 including the cost of any new or additional equip4 ment for law enforcement, and additional training 

5 forensic crime laboratories would need in order to 

6 read the presence of a microstamp on ballistic crime 

7 scene evidence. 

8 (3) To identify whether there are domestic or 

9 international patents applicable to any technology 

10 capable of being applied in the manufacturing of a 

11 firearm, capable of placing a microscopic array of 

12 characters that identify the make, model, and serial 

13 number of the firearm, etched or otherwise im14 printed in two or more places on the interior surface 

15 or internal working parts of a semiautomatic pistol 

16 firearm are transferred by imprinting on each car17 tridge casing when the firearm is discharged. 

18 (4) To determine whether the normal operation 

19 of a firearm over time and repeated firing adversely 

20 affects the quality, reproducibility, and legibility of 

21 the firearms microstamping impressions on a car22 tridge case, whether metallic or non-metallic, fired in 

23 a microstamped firearm. 

24 (5) To determine if, utilizing a broad and di25 verse spectrum of pistols and handgun ammunition 


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1 (both imported and domestically produced) that is 

2 commercially available for sale in the United States, 

3 a casing will be imprinted with a legible microstamp. 

4 (6) To determine the extra cost to manufacture 

5 firearms incorporating firearms microstamping tech6 nology on a mass production basis using manufac7 turing techniques and equipment commonly in use in 

8 the firearms industry. 

9 (7) The most effective method for casing recov10 ery that can be used to collect fired cases for entry 

11 into a microstamping reading system and the cost of 

12 such recovery equipment. 

13 (8) Which countries, if any, require the sale of 

14 microstamped firearms and how effective micro15 stamping has been in investigating crimes committed 

16 with microstamped firearms. 

17 (9) How many revolvers, manually operated 

18 handguns, semiautomatic handguns, manually oper19 ated rifles, and semiautomatic rifles are sold in the 

20 United States each year, the percentage of crimes 

21 committed with revolvers, other manually operated 

22 handguns, and manually operated rifles as compared 

23 with semiautomatic handguns and semiautomatic ri24 fles, and the percentage of cases where spent shell 

25 casings are recovered at a crime scene. 


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1 (10) Determine if, when implemented, micro2 stamping would encourage a shift to the use of fire3 arms that do not automatically eject spent casings, 

4 to neutralize microstamping identification. 

5 (11) A comprehensive list of environmental and 

6 nonenvironmental factors, including modifications to 

7 a firearm with common tools and interchangeable 

8 parts, that can remove or change the identifying 

9 marks on a cartridge case so as to preclude a sci10 entifically reliable identification of a firearm that 

11 has been microstamped, and whether these factors 

12 would preclude the specimen from being admissible 

13 as evidence in a court of law. This would also in14 clude leaving spent shell casings from another fire15 arm at a crime scene. 

16 (12) The technical improvements in database 

17 management that will be necessary to keep pace as 

18 the number of microstamped firearms increases, and 

19 the estimated cost of any improvements. 

20 (13) Legal issues that need to be addressed at 

21 the Federal and State levels to obtain the type of in22 formation that would be captured and stored as part 

23 of a national microstamping identification program 

24 and the sharing of the information between any 


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1 State firearm identification systems and the Federal 

2 firearm identification system. 

3 (14) What storage and retrieval procedures 

4 guarantee the integrity of information concerning a 

5 microstamped firearm for an indefinite period of 

6 time and ensure proper chain of custody and admis7 sibility of microstamped evidence or images in a 

8 court of law. 

9 (15) The time, cost, and resources necessary to 

10 enter microstamping information into a database 

11 listing all new handguns sold in the United States 

12 and those possessed lawfully by firearms owners. 

13 (16) The time, cost, and resources necessary to 

14 retrofit all firearms in the United States with micro15 stamped parts and the cost of entering that informa16 tion into a database. 

17 (17) The impediments to mandating the retro18 fitting of firearms in private hands with micro19 stamping technology, and the potential cost to fire20 arm owners of doing so. 

21 (18) The cost to Federal and State law enforce22 ment of retrofitting firearms in their possession with 

23 microstamping technology. 


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1 (19) Whether the cost of firearms micro2 stamping technology outweighs the investigative ben3 efit to law enforcement. 

4 (20) Whether State-based microstamping sys5 tems, or a combination of State and Federal micro6 stamping systems can be used to create a centralized 

7 list of firearms owners. 

8 (21) The cost-effectiveness of systems currently 

9 in use by Federal and State law enforcement with 

10 regard to the forensic identification of spent projec11 tiles, and whether an approach based on the Na12 tional Integrated Ballistic Information Network 

13 (NIBIN) supported by the Bureau of Alcohol, To14 bacco, Firearms, and Explosives is superior to using 

15 State-based microstamping initiatives. 

16 SEC. 4. CONSULTATION. 

17 In carrying out this Act, the National Research 

18 Council of the National Academy of Sciences shall consult 

19 with— 

20 (1) Federal, State, and local officials with ex21 pertise in budgeting, administering, and using a bal22 listic imaging system, including the Bureau of Alco23 hol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the 

24 Federal Bureau of Investigation; 


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1 (2) law enforcement officials who use ballistic 

2 imaging systems; 

3 (3) entities affected by the actual and proposed 

4 uses of microstamping technology, including manu5 facturers, distributors, importers, and retailers of 

6 firearms and ammunition, firearms purchasers and 

7 owners and their organized representatives, the 

8 Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ In9 stitute, Inc., the National Shooting Sports Founda10 tion, Inc., and National Rifle Association; and 

11 (4) experts in ballistics imaging, micro12 stamping, and related fields, such as the Association 

13 of Firearm and Tool Mark Examiners, projectile re14 covery system manufacturers, and universities that 

15 have conducted studies on microstamping including 

16 the University of California at Davis. 

17 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

18 Not later than 30 days after the National Research 

19 Council of the National Academy of Sciences completes 

20 the study conducted under section 3, the National Re21 search Council shall submit to the Attorney General a re22 port on the results of the study, and the Attorney General 

23 shall submit to the Congress a report, which shall be made 

24 public, that contains the results of the study. 


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1 SEC. 6. SUSPENSION OF USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS FOR 

2 MICROSTAMPING TECHNOLOGY. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi4 sion of law, a State shall not use Federal funds for micro5 stamping technology until the report referred to in section 

6 5 is completed and transmitted to the Congress. 

7 (b) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—On request of a State, the 

8 Attorney General may waive the application of subsection 

9 (a) to a use of Federal funds upon a showing that the 

10 use would be in the national interest. 

11 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

12 In this Act: 

13 (1) The term ‘‘microstamping technology’’ 

14 means the process or technology of etching, engrav15 ing or otherwise imprinting on the interior surface 

16 or internal working parts of a firearm in a micro17 scopic array of alpha numeric characters, bar, gear, 

18 or other code or symbol, that identifies the make, 

19 model, and serial number of the firearm or other 

20 unique distinguishing identification mark, code, or 

21 number associated with the firearm, that is intended 

22 to be transferred by imprinting or embossing on to 

23 the primer or other part of a cartridge case from a 

24 cartridge discharged in that firearm. 


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1 (2) The term ‘‘handgun’’ has the meaning given 

2 the term in section 921(a)(29) of title 18, United 

3 States Code. 

4 (3) The term ‘‘rifle’’ has the meaning given the 

5 term in section 921(a)(7) of title 18, United States 

6 Code. 

7 (4) The term ‘‘cartridge case’’ means the main 

8 body of a single round of ammunition into which 

9 other components are inserted to form a cartridge. 

10 (5) The terms ‘‘manually operated handgun’’ 

11 and ‘‘manually operated rifle’’ mean any handgun or 

12 rifle, as the case may be, in which all loading, un13 loading, and reloading of the firing chamber is ac14 complished through manipulation by the user. 

15 (6) The term ‘‘semiautomatic handgun’’ means 

16 any repeating handgun which utilizes a portion of 

17 the energy of a firing cartridge to extract the fired 

18 cartridge case and chamber the next round, which 

19 requires a separate pull of the trigger to fire each 

20 cartridge. 

21 (7) The term ‘‘semiautomatic rifle’’ has the 

22 meaning given the term in section 921(a)(28) of title 

23 18, United States Code. 


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1 (8) The term ‘‘projectile’’ means that part of 

2 ammunition that is, by means of an explosive, ex3 pelled through the barrel of a firearm. 

4 (9) The term ‘‘revolver’’ means a firearm with 

5 a cylinder having several chambers so arranged as to 

6 rotate around an axis and be discharged successively 

7 by the same firing mechanism through a common 

8 barrel. 

Æ 


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