II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1983

To amend title 18 of the United States Code, to enhance the authority 

of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to enforce 

the compliance of gun dealers with Federal firearms laws, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 9, 2003

Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Mr. REED, Mrs. CLINTON, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, and 

Mr. DURBIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To amend title 18 of the United States Code, to enhance 

the authority of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to enforce the compliance of gun 

dealers with Federal firearms laws, 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 ‘‘So No Innocent Person 

5 Ever Repeats the Sniper Tragedy Act of 2003’’ or the 

6 ‘‘SNIPER Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. ENFORCING COMPLIANCE WITH RECORD KEEPING 

2 REQUIREMENTS. 

3 (a) INSPECTIONS.—Section 923(g)(1) of title 18, 

4 United States Code, is amended—

5 (1) in subparagraph (B)(ii)(I), by striking 

6 ‘‘once’’ and inserting ‘‘4 times’’; 

7 (2) in subparagraph (C)(i), by striking ‘‘once’’ 

8 and inserting ‘‘4 times’’; 

9 (3) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as sub10 paragraph (E); and 

11 (4) by inserting after subparagraph (C), the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(D) If a licensed importer, licensed manu14 facturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector is 

15 found in violation of this chapter, or the related 

16 regulations, the Attorney General shall inspect 

17 or examine the inventory and records of such 

18 violator not less than once each year during the 

19 3 years following such violation.’’. 

20 (b) AMMUNITION SALES.—Section 923(g)(1)(A) is 

21 amended in the first sentence by striking ‘‘firearms at his’’ 

22 and inserting ‘‘firearms and ammunition, except on .22 

23 caliber rimfire ammunition, at such licensee’s’’. 

24 (c) PENALTY ENHANCEMENT.—Section 924(a)(1) of 

25 title 18, United States Code, is amended—
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1 (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 

2 the end; 

3 (2) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as sub4 paragraph (E); and 

5 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(D) willfully violates section 923(g); or’’. 

8 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS AGAINST VIOLATORS OF 

9 FEDERAL FIREARMS LAWS. 

10 (a) SUSPENSIONS.—Section 924 of title 18, United 

11 States Code, as amended by section 2(c), is further 

12 amended by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(q) A licensed importer, manufacturer, dealer, or 

14 collector who violates any provision of this chapter, or the 

15 related regulations, may be subject to—

16 ‘‘(1) the revocation of any applicable license; 

17 ‘‘(2) the suspension of any applicable license; or 

18 ‘‘(3) a fine under this title.’’. 

19 (b) WARNING LETTERS; NOTICES; FINES.—Section 

20 923(g) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by add21 ing at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(8) If an inspection under paragraph (1) reveals 

23 that a licensee has violated any provision of this chapter, 

24 or the related regulations, the Attorney General shall—
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1 ‘‘(A) issue a warning letter to the alleged viola2 tor, and maintain a copy of such letter, along with 

3 any written report prepared by the inspector— 

4 ‘‘(i) in the files of the appropriate Director 

5 of Industry Operations; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) at the headquarters of the Bureau of 

7 Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; 

8 ‘‘(B) issue a notice of revocation of the license 

9 and conduct the appropriate proceedings; or 

10 ‘‘(C) issue a notice of revocation, suspension, or 

11 imposition of a civil fine, and conduct the appro12 priate proceedings.’’. 

13 (c) TIMELINESS OF ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS.—The 

14 Attorney General shall, by regulation, require the Director 

15 of Industry Operations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, 

16 Firearms, and Explosives to issue a final decision within 

17 120 days from the date on which a notice of revocation, 

18 suspension, or imposition of a civil fine is mailed to a li19 censee (as that term is defined in section 103(j)(1) of the 

20 Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (18 U.S.C. 922 

21 note). 

22 (d) JUDICIAL STAYS OF ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS.—

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

24 amended by striking the period at the end of the first sen25 tence and inserting ‘‘, and shall not postpone the effective 
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1 date of such decision unless so ordered by a United States 

2 district court judge or magistrate who has jurisdiction 

3 over the matter.’’. 

4 (e) ENFORCEMENT ACTION NOT DEPENDENT UPON

5 CRIMINAL CONVICTION.—Section 923(f) of title 18, 

6 United States Code, is amended by striking paragraph (4). 

7 SEC. 4. RESTRICTION OF GUN SALES TO IN-STATE RESI8 DENTS. 

9 Section 922(b)(3) of title 18, United States Code, is 

10 amended by striking ‘‘(A) shall not apply’’ and all that 

11 follows through ‘‘and (B)’’. 

12 SEC. 5. BALLISTICS TESTING OF FIREARMS. 

13 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 

14 ‘‘Technological Resource to Assist Criminal Enforcement 

15 Act’’ or the ‘‘TRACE Act’’. 

16 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are—

17 (1) to increase public safety by assisting law en18 forcement in solving more gun-related crimes and of19 fering prosecutors evidence to link felons to gun 

20 crimes through ballistics technology; 

21 (2) to provide for ballistics testing of all new 

22 firearms for sale to assist in the identification of 

23 firearms used in crimes; 
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1 (3) to require ballistics testing of all firearms in 

2 custody of Federal agencies to assist in the identi3 fication of firearms used in crimes; and 

4 (4) to add ballistics testing to existing firearms 

5 enforcement programs. 

6 (c) DEFINITION OF BALLISTICS.—Section 921(a) of 

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

8 end the following: 

9 ‘‘(36) BALLISTICS.—The term ‘ballistics’ means a 

10 comparative analysis of fired bullets and cartridge casings 

11 to identify the firearm from which bullets and cartridge 

12 casings were discharged, through identification of the 

13 unique markings that each firearm imprints on bullets and 

14 cartridge casings.’’. 

15 (d) TEST FIRING AND AUTOMATED STORAGE OF

16 BALLISTICS RECORDS.—

17 (1) AMENDMENT.—Section 923 of title 18, 

18 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

19 end the following: 

20 ‘‘(m)(1) In addition to the other licensing require21 ments under this section, a licensed manufacturer or li22 censed importer shall—

23 ‘‘(A) test fire firearms manufactured or im24 ported by such licensees as specified by the Attorney 

25 General by regulation;
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1 ‘‘(B) prepare ballistics images of the fired bullet 

2 and cartridge casings from the test fire; 

3 ‘‘(C) make the records available to the Attorney 

4 General for entry into the electronic database estab5 lished under paragraph (3)(B); and 

6 ‘‘(D) store the fired bullet and cartridge casings 

7 in such a manner and for such a period as specified 

8 by the Attorney General by regulation. 

9 ‘‘(2) Nothing in this subsection creates a cause of ac10 tion against any Federal firearms licensee or any other 

11 person for any civil liability except for imposition of a civil 

12 penalty under this section. 

13 ‘‘(3)(A) The Attorney General shall assist firearm 

14 manufacturers and importers in complying with paragraph 

15 (1) by—

16 ‘‘(i) acquiring, installing, and upgrading ballis17 tics equipment and bullet and cartridge casing recov18 ery equipment to be placed at locations readily ac19 cessible to licensed manufacturers and importers; 

20 ‘‘(ii) hiring or designating sufficient personnel 

21 to develop and maintain a database of ballistics im22 ages of fired bullets and cartridge casings, research, 

23 and evaluation; 
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1 ‘‘(iii) providing education about the role of bal2 listics as part of a comprehensive firearm crime re3 duction strategy; 

4 ‘‘(iv) providing for the coordination among Fed5 eral, State, and local law enforcement and regulatory 

6 agencies and the firearm industry to curb firearm7 related crime and illegal firearm trafficking; and 

8 ‘‘(v) taking other necessary steps to make bal9 listics testing effective. 

10 ‘‘(B) The Attorney General shall—

11 ‘‘(i) establish an electronic database—

12 ‘‘(I) through which State and local law en13 forcement agencies can promptly access the bal14 listics records stored under this subsection, as 

15 soon as such capability is available; and 

16 ‘‘(II) that shall not include any identifying 

17 information regarding dealers, collectors, or 

18 purchasers of firearms; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) require training for all ballistics exam20 iners. 

21 ‘‘(4) The Attorney General shall conduct mandatory 

22 ballistics testing of all firearms obtained or in the posses23 sion of their respective agencies. 

24 ‘‘(5) Not later than 3 years after the date of enact25 ment of this subsection, and annually thereafter, the At-
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1 torney General shall submit to the Committees on the Ju2 diciary of the Senate and the House of Representatives 

3 a report regarding the implementation of this section, in4 cluding—

5 ‘‘(A) the number of Federal and State criminal 

6 investigations, arrests, indictments, and prosecutions 

7 of all cases in which access to ballistics records, pro8 vided under the system established under this sec9 tion and under similar systems operated by any 

10 State, served as a valuable investigative tool in the 

11 prosecution of gun crimes; 

12 ‘‘(B) the extent to which ballistics records are 

13 accessible across jurisdictions; and 

14 ‘‘(C) a statistical evaluation of the test pro15 grams conducted pursuant to paragraph (4). 

16 ‘‘(6) There are authorized to be appropriated to the 

17 Department of Justice $20,000,000 for each of the fiscal 

18 years 2005 through 2008 to carry out this subsection, to 

19 be used to—

20 ‘‘(A) install ballistics equipment and bullet and 

21 cartridge casing recovery equipment; 

22 ‘‘(B) establish sites for ballistics testing; 

23 ‘‘(C) pay salaries and expenses of necessary 

24 personnel; and 

25 ‘‘(D) conduct related research and evaluation.’’. 
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1 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

3 subparagraphs (A) and (B), the amendment 

4 made by paragraph (1) shall take effect on the 

5 date on which the Attorney General, in con6 sultation with the Board of the National Inte7 grated Ballistics Information Network, certifies 

8 that the ballistics system used by the Depart9 ment of Justice is sufficiently developed to sup10 port mandatory ballistics testing of new fire11 arms. 

12 (B) BALLISTICS TESTING.—Section 

13 923(m)(1) of title 18, United States Code, as 

14 added by paragraph (1), shall take effect 2 

15 years after the date of enactment of this Act. 

16 (C) EFFECTIVE ON DATE OF ENACT17 MENT.—Section 923(m)(4) of title 18, United 

18 States Code, as added by paragraph (1), shall 

19 take effect on the date of enactment of this Act. 

20 (e) PRIVACY RIGHTS OF LAW ABIDING CITIZENS.—

21 Ballistics information of individual guns in any form or 

22 database established by this section may not be used for 

23 prosecutorial purposes unless law enforcement officials 

24 have a reasonable belief that a crime has been committed 
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1 and that ballistics information would assist in the inves2 tigation of that crime. 

3 SEC. 6. ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR THE BUREAU OF ALCO4 HOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS, AND EXPLOSIVES. 

5 (a) GUN CRIME TASK FORCES.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 

7 establish, within each field division of the Bureau of 

8 Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, a group 

9 of inspectors, agents, and support personnel to be 

10 known as the ‘‘gun crime task force’’. 

11 (2) PURPOSE.—The gun crime task forces es12 tablished pursuant to paragraph (1) shall inves13 tigate, and assist in the regulation of, and if appro14 priate, the prosecution of, licensees (as that term is 

15 defined in section 103(j)(1) of the Brady Handgun 

16 Violence Prevention Act (18 U.S.C. 922 note)) and 

17 unlicensed dealers, who are suspected of violating 

18 chapter 44 or 96 of title 18, United States Code. 

19 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

20 (1) GUN CRIME TASK FORCES.—There are au21 thorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each of 

22 the fiscal years 2005 through 2008 to carry out the 

23 provisions of subsection (a). 

24 (2) INDUSTRY OPERATIONS.—There are author25 ized to be appropriated $25,000,000 for each of the 
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1 fiscal years 2005 through 2008 to employ additional 

2 inspectors, regulators, and employees in the Industry 

3 Operations field divisions of the Bureau of Alcohol, 

4 Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

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