I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 538 

To protect the Nation’s law enforcement officers by banning the Five-seveN 

Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm SS190, SS192, SS195LF, SS196, and SS197 

cartridges, testing handguns and ammunition for capability to penetrate 

body armor, and prohibiting the manufacture, importation, sale, or purchase of such handguns or ammunition by civilians. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 6, 2013 

Mr. ENGEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To protect the Nation’s law enforcement officers by banning 

the Five-seveN Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm SS190, SS192, 

SS195LF, SS196, and SS197 cartridges, testing handguns and ammunition for capability to penetrate body 

armor, and prohibiting the manufacture, importation, 

sale, or purchase of such handguns or ammunition 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’’. 


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•HR 538 IH

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

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

3 (1) Law enforcement is facing a threat from 

4 handguns and accompanying ammunition, which are 

5 designed to penetrate police body armor, being mar6 keted and sold to civilians. 

7 (2) A Five-seveN Pistol and accompanying am8 munition, manufactured by FN Herstal of Belgium 

9 as the ‘‘5.7 x 28 mm System’’, has recently been re10 covered by law enforcement on the streets. The Five11 seveN Pistol is legally available for purchase by civil12 ians under current law. 

13 (3) The Five-seveN Pistol is capable of pene14 trating level IIA armor. The manufacturer advertises 

15 that ammunition fired from the Five-seveN will per16 forate 48 layers of Kevlar up to 200 meters and that 

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

18 (4) The Five-seveN Pistol, and similar hand19 guns designed to use ammunition capable of pene20 trating body armor, pose a devastating threat to law 

21 enforcement. 

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

23 the Nation’s law enforcement officers by— 

24 (1) testing handguns and ammunition for capa25 bility to penetrate body armor; and 


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•HR 538 IH

1 (2) prohibiting the manufacture, importation, 

2 sale, or purchase by civilians of the Five-seveN Pis3 tol, ammunition for such pistol, or any other hand4 gun that uses ammunition found to be capable of 

5 penetrating body armor. 

6 SEC. 3. ARMOR PIERCING AMMUNITION. 

7 (a) EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF ARMOR PIERCING

8 AMMUNITION.—Section 921(a)(17)(B) of title 18, United 

9 States Code, is amended— 

10 (1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end; 

11 (2) in clause (ii), by striking the period at the 

12 end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

13 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(iii) a projectile that— 

15 ‘‘(I) may be used in a handgun; and 

16 ‘‘(II) the Attorney General deter17 mines, pursuant to section 926(d), to be 

18 capable of penetrating body armor.’’. 

19 (b) DETERMINATION OF CAPABILITY OF PROJEC20 TILES TO PENETRATE BODY ARMOR.—Section 926 of 

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

22 end the following: 

23 ‘‘(d)(1) Not later than 1 year after the date of enact24 ment of this subsection, the Attorney General shall proVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:24 Feb 15, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H538.IH H538

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•HR 538 IH

1 mulgate standards for the uniform testing of projectiles 

2 against Body Armor Exemplar. 

3 ‘‘(2) The standards promulgated pursuant to para4 graph (1) shall take into account, among other factors, 

5 variations in performance that are related to the type of 

6 handgun used, the length of the barrel of the handgun, 

7 the amount and kind of powder used to propel the projec8 tile, and the design of the projectile. 

9 ‘‘(3) As used in paragraph (1), the term ‘Body Armor 

10 Exemplar’ means body armor that the Attorney General 

11 determines meets minimum standards for the protection 

12 of law enforcement officers.’’. 

13 SEC. 4. ARMOR PIERCING HANDGUNS AND AMMUNITION. 

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

15 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(aa) FIVE-SEVEN PISTOL.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any 

19 person to manufacture, import, market, sell, ship, 

20 deliver, possess, transfer, or receive— 

21 ‘‘(A) the Fabrique Nationale Herstal Five22 seveN Pistol; 

23 ‘‘(B) 5.7 x 28mm SS190, SS192, 

24 SS195LF, SS196, or SS197 cartridges; or 


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1 ‘‘(C) any other handgun that uses armor 

2 piercing ammunition. 

3 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—This subsection shall not 

4 apply to— 

5 ‘‘(A) any firearm or armor piercing ammu6 nition manufactured for, and sold exclusively to, 

7 military, law enforcement, or intelligence agen8 cies of the United States; and 

9 ‘‘(B) the manufacture, possession, trans10 fer, receipt, shipment, or delivery of a firearm 

11 or armor piercing ammunition by a licensed 

12 manufacturer, or any person acting pursuant to 

13 a contract with a licensed manufacturer, for the 

14 purpose of examining and testing such firearm 

15 or ammunition to determine whether paragraph 

16 (1) applies to such firearm.’’. 

17 (b) PENALTIES.—Section 924(a)(1)(B) of title 18, 

18 United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘or (q)’’ and 

19 inserting ‘‘(q), or (aa)’’. 

Æ 


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