II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 527 

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

Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm SS190 and SS192 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 3, 2005 

Mr. LAUTENBERG (for himself, Mr. CORZINE, Mr. SCHUMER, and Mrs. CLINTON) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 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 and SS192 

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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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

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

3 (1) Law enforcement is facing a new threat 

4 from handguns and accompanying ammunition, 

5 which are designed to penetrate police body armor, 

6 being marketed 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 and 5.7 x 28mm SS192 cartridges are 

12 legally available for purchase by civilians under cur13 rent law. 

14 (3) The Five-seveN Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm 

15 SS192 cartridges are capable of penetrating level 

16 IIA armor. The manufacturer advertises that ammu17 nition fired from the Five-seveN will perforate 48 

18 layers of Kevlar up to 200 meters and that the am19 munition travels at 2100 feet per second. 

20 (4) The Five-seveN Pistol, and similar hand21 guns designed to use ammunition capable of pene22 trating body armor, pose a devastating threat to law 

23 enforcement. 

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

25 the Nation’s law enforcement officers by— 
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1 (1) testing handguns and ammunition for capa2 bility to penetrate body armor; and 

3 (2) prohibiting the manufacture, importation, 

4 sale, or purchase by civilians of the Five-seveN Pis5 tol, ammunition for such pistol, or any other hand6 gun that uses ammunition found to be capable of 

7 penetrating body armor. 

8 SEC. 3. ARMOR PIERCING AMMUNITION. 

9 (a) EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF ARMOR PIERCING

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

11 States Code, is amended— 

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

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

14 end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

16 ‘‘(iii) a projectile that— 

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

18 ‘‘(II) the Attorney General deter19 mines, pursuant to section 926(d), to be 

20 capable of penetrating body armor.’’. 

21 (b) DETERMINATION OF CAPABILITY OF PROJEC22 TILES TO PENETRATE BODY ARMOR.—Section 926 of 

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

24 end the following: 
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1 ‘‘(d)(1) Not later than 1 year after the date of enact2 ment of this subsection, the Attorney General shall pro3 mulgate standards for the uniform testing of projectiles 

4 against Body Armor Exemplar. 

5 ‘‘(2) The standards promulgated pursuant to para6 graph (1) shall take into account, among other factors, 

7 variations in performance that are related to the type of 

8 handgun used, the length of the barrel of the handgun, 

9 the amount and kind of powder used to propel the projec10 tile, and the design of the projectile. 

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

12 Exemplar’ means body armor that the Attorney General 

13 determines meets minimum standards for the protection 

14 of law enforcement officers.’’ 

15 SEC. 4. ARMOR PIERCING HANDGUNS AND AMMUNITION. 

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

17 States Code, is amended by adding after subsection (y): 

18 ‘‘(z) FIVE-SEVEN PISTOL.— 

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

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

21 deliver, possess, transfer, or receive— 

22 ‘‘(A) the Fabrique Nationale Herstal Five23 SeveN Pistol; 

24 ‘‘(B) 5.7 x 28mm SS190 and SS192 car25 tridges; 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 (z)’’. 

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