II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2270

To prohibit civil or equitable actions from being brought or continued against

manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms or ammunition for damages resulting from the misuse of their products by others,

to protect gun owner privacy and ownership rights, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 22, 2000

Mr. HATCH (for himself, Mr. CRAIG, and Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To prohibit civil or equitable actions from being brought

or continued against manufacturers, distributors, dealers,

or importers of firearms or ammunition for damages

resulting from the misuse of their products by others,

to protect gun owner privacy and ownership rights, 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 ‘‘Right to Bear Arms

5 Protection and Privacy Act of 2000’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES.

2 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:

3 (1) Citizens have a right, under the Second

4 Amendment to the United States Constitution, to

5 keep and bear arms.

6 (2) Lawsuits have been commenced against

7 manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and importers

8 of nondefective firearms, which seek money damages

9 and other relief for the harm caused by the misuse

10 of firearms by third parties, including criminals.

11 (3) The manufacture, importation, possession,

12 sale, and use of firearms and ammunition in the

13 United States is heavily regulated by Federal, State,

14 and local laws. Such Federal laws include the Gun

15 Control Act of 1968, the National Firearms Act,

16 and the Arms Export Control Act.

17 (4) Businesses in the United States that are en18 gaged in interstate and foreign commerce through

19 the lawful design, marketing, distribution, manufac20 ture, importation, or sale to the public of firearms

21 or ammunition that have been shipped or trans22 ported in interstate or foreign commerce are not,

23 and should not be, liable or otherwise legally respon24 sible for the harm caused by those who criminally or

25 unlawfully misuse firearm products or ammunition

26 products.
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1 (5) The possibility of imposing liability or other

2 legal restrictions on an entire industry as a result of

3 harm that is the sole responsibility of others is an

4 abuse of the legal system, erodes public confidence

5 in our Nation’s laws, threatens the diminution of a

6 basic constitutional right, invites the disassembly

7 and destabilization of other industries and economic

8 sectors lawfully competing in America’s free enter9 prise system, and constitutes an unreasonable bur10 den on interstate and foreign commerce.

11 (6) The liability and equitable actions com12 menced or contemplated by municipalities, cities,

13 and other entities are based on theories without

14 foundation in hundreds of years of the common law

15 and American jurisprudence. The possible sustaining

16 of these actions by a maverick judicial officer would

17 expand civil liability in a manner never contemplated

18 by the Framers of the Constitution. The Congress

19 further finds that such an expansion of liability

20 would constitute a deprivation of the rights, privi21 leges, and immunities guaranteed to a citizen of the

22 United States under the Fourteenth Amendment to

23 the United States Constitution.

24 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol25 lows:
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1 (1) To prohibit causes of action against law2 abiding manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and im3 porters of firearms or ammunition products for the

4 harm caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of

5 firearm products or ammunition products by others.

6 (2) To preserve a citizen’s constitutional access

7 to a supply of firearms and ammunition for all law8 ful purposes, including hunting, self-defense, col9 lecting, and competitive or recreational shooting.

10 (3) To protect a citizen’s right to privacy con11 cerning the lawful purchase and ownership of fire12 arms.

13 (4) To guarantee a citizen’s rights, privileges,

14 and immunities, as applied to the States, under the

15 Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Con16 stitution, pursuant to section five of that Amend17 ment.

18 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON BRINGING OF QUALIFIED CIVIL

19 ACTIONS IN FEDERAL OR STATE COURT.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—A qualified civil action may not

21 be brought in any Federal or State court.

22 (b) DISMISSAL OF PENDING ACTIONS.—A qualified

23 civil action that is pending on the date of the enactment

24 of this Act shall be dismissed immediately by the court

25 in which the action was brought.
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1 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

2 In this Act:

3 (1) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘‘manufac4 turer’’ means, with respect to a qualified product—

5 (A) a person who is lawfully engaged in a

6 business to import, make, produce, create, or

7 assemble a qualified product, and who designs

8 or formulates, or has engaged another person to

9 design or formulate, a qualified product;

10 (B) a lawful seller of a qualified product,

11 but only with respect to an aspect of the prod12 uct that is made or affected when the seller

13 makes, produces, creates, or assembles and de14 signs or formulates an aspect of the product

15 made by another person; and

16 (C) any lawful seller of a qualified product

17 who represents to a user of a qualified product

18 that the seller is a manufacturer of the quali19 fied product.

20 (2) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means any

21 individual, corporation, company, association, firm,

22 partnership, society, joint stock company, or any

23 other entity, including any governmental entity.

24 (3) QUALIFIED PRODUCT.—The term ‘‘qualified

25 product’’ means a firearm (as defined in section

26 921(a)(3) of title 18, United States Code) or ammu-
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1 nition (as defined in section 921(a)(17) of such

2 title), or a component part of a firearm or ammuni3 tion, that has been shipped or transported in inter4 state or foreign commerce.

5 (4) QUALIFIED CIVIL ACTION.—The term

6 ‘‘qualified civil action’’ means a civil or equitable ac7 tion brought by any person against a lawful manu8 facturer or lawful seller of a qualified product, or a

9 trade association, for damages or other relief as a

10 result of the criminal or unlawful misuse of a quali11 fied product by the person or a third party, but shall

12 not include an action brought against a manufac13 turer, seller, or transferor who knowingly manufac14 tures, sells, or transfers a qualified product with

15 knowledge that such product will be used to commit

16 a crime under Federal or State law.

17 (5) SELLER.—The term ‘‘seller’’ means, with

18 respect to a qualified product, a person who—

19 (A) in the course of a lawful business con20 ducted for that purpose, lawfully sells, distrib21 utes, rents, leases, prepares, blends, packages,

22 labels, or otherwise is involved in placing a

23 qualified product in the stream of commerce; or

24 (B) lawfully installs, repairs, refurbishes,

25 reconditions, or maintains an aspect of a quali-
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1 fied product that is alleged to have resulted in

2 damages.

3 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes each of

4 the several States of the United States, the District

5 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the

6 Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the

7 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,

8 and any other territory or possession of the United

9 States, and any political subdivision of any such

10 place.

11 (7) TRADE ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘‘trade as12 sociation’’ means any association or business organi13 zation (whether or not incorporated under Federal

14 or State law) 2 or more members of which are man15 ufacturers or sellers of a qualified product.

16 SEC. 5. PROHIBITION OF BACKGROUND CHECK FEE; GUN

17 OWNER PRIVACY.

18 (a) PROHIBITION OF BACKGROUND CHECK FEE.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 33 of title 28,

20 United States Code, is amended by adding at the

21 end the following:

22 ‘‘§ 540C. Prohibition of fee for background check in

23 connection with firearm transfer

24 ‘‘No officer, employee, or agent of the United States,

25 including a State or local officer or employee acting on
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1 behalf of the United States, may charge or collect any fee

2 in connection with any background check required in con3 nection with the transfer of a firearm (as defined in sec4 tion 921(a) of title 18).’’.

5 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis

6 for chapter 33 of title 28, United States Code, is

7 amended by inserting after the item relating to sec8 tion 540B the following:

‘‘540C. Prohibition of fee for background check in connection with firearm

transfer.’’.

9 (b) PROTECTION OF GUN OWNER PRIVACY AND

10 OWNERSHIP RIGHTS.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 44 of title 18,

12 United States Code, is amended by adding at the

13 end the following:

14 ‘‘§ 931. Gun owner privacy and ownership rights

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro16 vision of law, no department, agency, or instrumentality

17 of the United States or officer, employee, or agent of the

18 United States, including a State or local officer or em19 ployee acting on behalf of the United States—

20 ‘‘(1) shall perform any criminal background

21 check through the National Instant Criminal Back22 ground Check System (referred to in this section as

23 the ‘system’) on any person if the system does not

24 require and result in the immediate destruction of
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1 all information, in any form whatsoever or through

2 any medium, about any such person that is deter3 mined, through the use of the system, not to be pro4 hibited by subsection (g) or (n) of section 922, or by

5 State law, from receiving a firearm; or

6 ‘‘(2) shall continue to operate the system (in7 cluding requiring a background check before the

8 transfer of a firearm) unless—

9 ‘‘(A) the NICS Index complies with the re10 quirements of section 552a(e)(5) of title 5,

11 United States Code; and

12 ‘‘(B) the agency responsible for the system

13 and the system’s compliance with Federal law

14 does not invoke the exceptions under subsection

15 (j)(2) or paragraph (2) or (3) of subsection (k)

16 of section 552a of title 5, United States Code,

17 except if specifically identifiable information is

18 compiled for a particular law enforcement inves19 tigation or specific criminal enforcement mat20 ter.

21 ‘‘(b) APPLICABILITY.—Subsection (a)(1) does not

22 apply to the retention or transfer of information relating

23 to—
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1 ‘‘(1) any unique identification number provided

2 by the National Instant Criminal Background Check

3 System under section 922(t)(1)(B)(i); or

4 ‘‘(2) the date on which that number is pro5 vided.’’.

6 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis

7 for chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, is

8 amended by adding at the end the following:

‘‘931. Gun owner privacy and ownership rights.’’.

9 (c) CIVIL REMEDIES.—Any person aggrieved by a

10 violation of section 540C of title 28 or 931 of title 18,

11 United States Code (as added by this section), may bring

12 an action in the United States district court for the dis13 trict in which the person resides for actual damages, puni14 tive damages, and such other relief as the court deter15 mines to be appropriate, including a reasonable attorney’s

16 fee.

17 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

18 this section take effect on the date of enactment of this

19 Act except that the amendments made by subsection (a)

20 shall take effect as of November 30, 1998.

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