II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4238 

To prevent gun trafficking. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 17, 2022 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To prevent gun trafficking. 

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 ‘‘Hadiya Pendleton and 

5 Nyasia Pryear-Yard Gun Trafficking and Crime Preven6 tion Act of 2022’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FIREARMS TRAFFICKING. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 44 of title 18, United 

9 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘§ 932. Trafficking in firearms 

12 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 


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1 ‘‘(1) the term ‘actual buyer’ means the indi2 vidual for whom a firearm is being purchased, re3 ceived, or acquired; and 

4 ‘‘(2) the term ‘term of imprisonment exceeding 

5 1 year’ does not include any offense classified by the 

6 applicable jurisdiction as a misdemeanor and punish7 able by a term of imprisonment of 2 years or less. 

8 ‘‘(b) OFFENSES.—It shall be unlawful for any person, 

9 regardless of whether anything of value is exchanged— 

10 ‘‘(1) to ship, transport, transfer, or otherwise 

11 dispose to a person, 2 or more firearms in or affect12 ing interstate or foreign commerce, if the transferor 

13 knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the 

14 use, carrying, or possession of a firearm by the re15 cipient would be in violation of, or would result in 

16 a violation of, any Federal, State, or local law pun17 ishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding 1 year; 

18 ‘‘(2) to receive from a person, 2 or more fire19 arms in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, 

20 if the recipient knows or has reasonable cause to be21 lieve that such receipt would be in violation of, or 

22 would result in a violation of, any Federal, State, or 

23 local law punishable by a term of imprisonment ex24 ceeding 1 year; 


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1 ‘‘(3) to make a statement to a licensed im2 porter, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer re3 lating to the purchase, receipt, or acquisition from 

4 a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or li5 censed dealer of 2 or more firearms that have moved 

6 in or affected interstate or foreign commerce that— 

7 ‘‘(A) is material to— 

8 ‘‘(i) the identity of the actual buyer of 

9 the firearms; or 

10 ‘‘(ii) the intended trafficking of the 

11 firearms; and 

12 ‘‘(B) the person knows or has reasonable 

13 cause to believe is false; or 

14 ‘‘(4) to direct, promote, or facilitate conduct 

15 specified in paragraph (1), (2), or (3). 

16 ‘‘(c) GIFT EXCEPTIONS.—Subsection (b) shall not 

17 apply to a firearm that is— 

18 ‘‘(1) lawfully acquired by a person to be given 

19 as a gift to another person not prohibited from pos20 sessing a firearm under Federal or State law; or 

21 ‘‘(2) lawfully received or otherwise acquired— 

22 ‘‘(A) by a court-appointed trustee, receiver, 

23 or conservator for, or on behalf of, an estate or 

24 creditor; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) by a person to carry out a bequest, 

2 or an acquisition by intestate succession under 

3 the laws of the State of residence of the person. 

4 ‘‘(d) PENALTIES.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

6 any person who violates, or conspires to violate, sub7 section (b) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned 

8 for not more than 20 years, or both. 

9 ‘‘(2) ORGANIZER ENHANCEMENT.—If an indi10 vidual violates subsection (b) in concert with 5 or 

11 more other individuals, and the individual planned 

12 the violation or recruited or directed one of the other 

13 individuals to commit the violation— 

14 ‘‘(A) the maximum term of imprisonment 

15 shall be 25 years; and 

16 ‘‘(B) if a firearm involved in the violation 

17 is a machinegun or destructive device, or is 

18 equipped with a firearm silencer or muffler, the 

19 maximum term of imprisonment shall be 35 

20 years. 

21 ‘‘(3) LICENSEES.— 

22 ‘‘(A) CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR KNOWING

23 FACILITATION OF TRAFFICKING THROUGH SALE

24 OR DELIVERY OF FIREARMS.—If a licensed 

25 manufacturer, licensed importer, licensed colVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:45 May 20, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4238.IS S4238

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1 lector, or licensed dealer knowingly facilitates a 

2 violation of subsection (b), the licensee shall be 

3 fined $20,000 per trafficked firearm sold or de4 livered by the licensee, imprisoned for not more 

5 than 10 years, or both. 

6 ‘‘(B) CIVIL PENALTIES FOR SALE OR DE7 LIVERY OF FIREARMS WITH RECKLESS DIS8 REGARD OF TRAFFICKING.—In the case of any 

9 licensed manufacturer, licensed importer, li10 censed collector, or licensed dealer who reck11 lessly disregards that a person is acquiring 2 or 

12 more firearms from the licensee in violation of 

13 or with intent to violate subsection (b), the At14 torney General shall, after notice and oppor15 tunity for a hearing, impose a civil penalty that 

16 is not less than $5,000 and not more than 

17 $10,000 per trafficked firearm sold or delivered 

18 by the licensee. 

19 ‘‘(C) LICENSE SUSPENSION OR REVOCA20 TION.—If the Attorney General determines, 

21 after notice and opportunity for a hearing, that 

22 firearms were acquired by or from a licensed 

23 manufacturer, licensed importer, licensed col24 lector, or licensed dealer in violation of sub25 section (b) and the licensee knew, had reasonVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:45 May 20, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4238.IS S4238

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1 able cause to believe, or recklessly disregarded 

2 that the firearms were acquired in violation of 

3 that subsection, the Attorney General— 

4 ‘‘(i) may suspend or revoke the license 

5 issued to the licensee under this chapter 

6 for not more than 1 year; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) if the license issued to the li8 censee under this chapter has previously 

9 been suspended or revoked under clause 

10 (i), may revoke the license for not more 

11 than 5 years.’’. 

12 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

13 The table of sections for chapter 44 of title 18, United 

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

‘‘932. Trafficking in firearms.’’. 

16 (c) DIRECTIVE TO SENTENCING COMMISSION.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Pursuant to its authority 

18 under section 994(p) of title 28, United States Code, 

19 the United States Sentencing Commission shall re20 view and, if appropriate, amend the Federal sen21 tencing guidelines and policy statements applicable 

22 to persons convicted of offenses under section 932 of 

23 title 18, United States Code (as added by subsection 

24 (a)). 


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1 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out this sub2 section, the Commission shall— 

3 (A) review the penalty structure that the 

4 Federal sentencing guidelines currently provide 

5 based on the number of firearms involved in the 

6 offense; and 

7 (B) determine whether any changes to that 

8 penalty structure are appropriate in order to 

9 carry out the intent of Congress that those pen10 alties reflect— 

11 (i) the gravity of the offense; 

12 (ii) the number of trafficked firearms 

13 purchased by or from the defendant; 

14 (iii) the extent of the defendant’s 

15 knowledge about the overall scheme to 

16 traffic firearms; 

17 (iv) the amount of money or value of 

18 nonmonetary compensation provided to the 

19 defendant for the defendant’s participa20 tion; and 

21 (v) the defendant’s culpability, includ22 ing— 

23 (I) as mitigating factors, whether 

24 the defendant— 


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1 (aa) is a relative or current 

2 or former intimate partner of an3 other individual involved in a 

4 conspiracy to traffic firearms; 

5 (bb) is a domestic violence 

6 survivor; or 

7 (cc) has been otherwise ex8 ploited by personal affection, fear 

9 of reprisals, or economic need to 

10 commit an offense under section 

11 932 of title 18, United States 

12 Code (as added by subsection 

13 (a)); and 

14 (II) as aggravating factors, 

15 whether— 

16 (aa) the trafficked firearms 

17 were used in additional crimes; 

18 (bb) a person was injured or 

19 killed with the trafficked fire20 arms; or 

21 (cc) the defendant was pre22 viously convicted of a firearms23 related offense. 

24 (d) DIRECTIVE TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.—Not 

25 later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, 


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1 and annually thereafter, the Attorney General shall submit 

2 to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the 

3 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representa4 tives a report containing the following information: 

5 (1) For the prior 12-month period— 

6 (A) the number of investigations initiated 

7 for violations of section 932 of title 18, United 

8 States Code (as added by subsection (a)); 

9 (B) the number of Federal firearm licens10 ees or other individuals or entities— 

11 (i) that were criminally charged with 

12 a violation described in subparagraph (A); 

13 or 

14 (ii) against whom a civil penalty case 

15 was initiated for a violation described in 

16 subparagraph (A); and 

17 (C) the number of investigations described 

18 in subparagraph (A) referred to the Attorney 

19 General from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, 

20 Firearms, and Explosives, the Federal Bureau 

21 of Investigation, or any other Federal law en22 forcement agency that did not result in criminal 

23 charges or the initiation of a civil penalty case. 

24 (2) To the extent the information is available, 

25 the average length of the sentences of imprisonment 


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1 and average fines imposed on individuals, entities, 

2 and Federal firearm licensees convicted of violations 

3 of section 932 of title 18, United States Code, (as 

4 added by subsection (a)) during the prior 12-month 

5 period. 

6 (3) A narrative describing the firearm traf7 ficking schemes prosecuted under section 932 of title 

8 18, United States Code, (as added by subsection (a)) 

9 during the prior 12-month period, including— 

10 (A) the sources of firearms; 

11 (B) the roles of various defendants in the 

12 scheme; 

13 (C) the number of firearms trafficked; and 

14 (D) a description of any trafficking prac15 tices or trends common among various firearm 

16 trafficking schemes. 

17 SEC. 3. REMOVING RELIEF FROM DISABILITIES EXCEPTION 

18 FOR LICENSEES INDICTED FOR FIREARMS 

19 TRAFFICKING. 

20 Section 925(b) of title 18, United States Code, is 

21 amended by inserting ‘‘other than firearms trafficking 

22 under section 932,’’ after ‘‘indicted for a crime punishable 

23 by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year,’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. ELIMINATION OF OBLIGATORY STAY OF EFFECTIVE 

2 DATE OF LICENSE REVOCATION. 

3 Section 923(f)(2) of title 18, United States Code, is 

4 amended by striking the period at the end of the second 

5 sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘unless the revoca6 tion is based in whole or in part on a violation of section 

7 932, in which case, the Attorney General may only stay 

8 the effective date of the revocation upon a showing by the 

9 holder that good cause exists to do so.’’. 

Æ 


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