I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3125
To provide for the identification of felons and persons adjudicated mentally
incompetent on driver’s licenses and certain identification documents
through a magnetic strip containing coded information and through the
establishment of a national system for the identification of such persons,
and to impose criminal penalties on any federally licensed firearms dealer
who sells a handgun to a person without using a device to read the
magnetic strip on the driver’s license or identification document of the
person.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 23, 1993
Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland (for himself, Mr. CRANE, Mr. GOODLATTE, and
Mr. SMITH of Michigan) introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To provide for the identification of felons and persons adju-
dicated mentally incompetent on driver’s licenses and
certain identification documents through a magnetic strip
containing coded information and through the establish-
ment of a national system for the identification of such
persons, and to impose criminal penalties on any feder-
ally licensed firearms dealer who sells a handgun to
a person without using a device to read the magnetic
strip on the driver’s license or identification document
of the person.
ready robbed, assaulted, and raped her. She
used her handgun to protect herself by shooting
and killing him. Had she not had a handgun,
the outcome would have been much different.
(C) Residents of Los Angeles were forced
to wait 15 days during the 1991 riots before
they could legally buy a firearm for protection,
in spite of the fact that police were admitting
that they could not protect the people.
(2) A point-of-sale instant background check
can easily lead to a gun owner registration system.
Commenting on the Virginia State instant check sys-
tem, the Congressional Office of Technology Assess-
ment said ‘‘The Virginia transaction log does not in-
clude the names of firearm purchasers, but the po-
tential exists regardless of legal prohibitions.’’.
(3) Laws requiring a waiting period before the
purchase of a firearm have not prevented crime
rates in various States that have enacted such laws
from increasing far above the national average in-
crease in crime rates.
(4) Police cannot protect, and are not legally
responsible for protecting, individual citizens, as evi-
denced by the following:
(A) The courts have consistently ruled that
the police do not have an obligation to protect
individuals, only the public in general. In War-
ren v. District of Columbia Metropolitan Police
Department (D.C. App. 444 A. 2d 1 (1981)),
the court stated ‘‘courts have without exception
concluded that when a municipality or other
governmental entity undertakes to furnish po-
lice services, it assumes a duty only to the pub-
lic at large and not to individual members of
the community’’.
(B) Former Florida Attorney General Jim
Smith told Florida legislators that police re-
sponded to only 200,000 of 700,000 calls for
help to Dade County authorities.
(C) The Department of Justice found that,
in 1989, there were 168,881 crimes of violence
which were not responded to by police within 1
hour.
(D) Currently, there are about 150,000 po-
lice officers on duty to protect a population of
more than 250,000,000 Americans.
SEC. 3. SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFYING FELONS AND PERSONS
ADJUDICATED MENTALLY INCOMPETENT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The laws and procedures of a
State are of the type described in this subsection if the
laws and procedures, in substance, provide the following:
(1) RECORDS CHECK REQUIRED BEFORE ISSU-
ANCE OF DRIVER’S LICENSE AND IDENTIFICATION
DOCUMENTS; USE OF MAGNETIC STRIPS TO IDEN-
TIFY
PROHIBITED
PERSONS.—Before the State
transportation agency issues, reissues, or reinstates
a license, the agency shall—
(A) conduct a record check to determine
whether the applicant therefor is a prohibited
person by examining the State list referred to
in paragraph (4) of this subsection and the na-
tional list referred to in subsection (b)(1); and
(B) affix to the license of the person a
magnetic strip on which is encoded information
that—
(i) identifies the licensee as a prohib-
ited person or as a nonprohibited person;
and
(ii) may be discerned only through the
use of an electronic device that—
(I) is read only;
(II) does not have storage or
communication capabilities; and
(III) signals the user of the de-
vice with—
(aa) a green light if the de-
vice reads a magnetic strip that
does not identify the person as a
prohibited person; and
(bb) a red light if the device
reads a magnetic strip that iden-
tifies the person as a prohibited
person.
(2) EFFECTS OF FELONY CONVICTION OR AD-
JUDICATION OF MENTAL INCOMPETENCY.—
(A) SEIZURE AND VOIDING OF DRIVER’S
LICENSE.—If a State court convicts a person of
a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term
exceeding 1 year or adjudicates a person as
mentally incompetent, the court shall seize any
license issued to the person by the State trans-
portation agency, and any such license shall be
void.
(B) ISSUANCE OF NEW LICENSE UPON RE-
QUEST.—Upon request of a person referred to
in subparagraph (A), the State transportation
agency shall issue to the person (if otherwise el-
igible therefor) another such license affixed to
which is a magnetic strip identifying the person
as a prohibited person.
(3) FUNDING OF RECORDS CHECKS.—
(A) INCREASE
IN
FINES
IMPOSED
UPON
CONVICTED FELONS.—Any person convicted in
the State of a crime punishable by imprison-
ment for a term exceeding 1 year shall, in addi-
tion to any sentence imposed under any other
provision of State law, be fined an amount suf-
ficient to cover the expenses of criminal records
checks 
conducted 
pursuant 
to 
paragraph
(1)(A), taking all such convictions into account
on an annual basis.
(B) SURCHARGE IMPOSED ON PROHIBITED
PERSONS TO OBTAIN A DRIVER’S LICENSE.—In
addition to any fee required to be paid by a per-
son to obtain a license, the State transportation
agency shall require a prohibited person to pay
surcharge in an amount determined by the
State to be sufficient to cover the expenses of
criminal records checks conducted by the agen-
cy pursuant to paragraph (1)(A), taking into
account fines imposed under subparagraph (B)
of this paragraph.
(4) REQUIREMENT TO MAINTAIN AND UPDATE
COMPUTERIZED
LIST
OF
PROHIBITED
PERSONS.—
The State shall create and maintain a computerized
list of all persons who are prohibited persons by rea-
son of a conviction or adjudication in the State, and,
within 2 years after the date of the enactment of
this Act, shall achieve and maintain at least 80 per-
cent currency of case dispositions in the computer-
ized list for all cases in which there has been an
entry of activity within the then immediately preced-
ing 5 years.
(b) DUTIES OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The At-
torney General of the United States shall—
(1) create a national, computerized list of pro-
hibited persons;
(2) incorporate State criminal history records
into the Federal criminal records system maintained
by the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
(3) develop hardware and software systems to
link State lists referred to in subsection (a)(4) with
the national list referred to in paragraph (1) of this
subsection; and
(4) provide any responsible State agency with
access to the national list, upon request.
(c) PROCEDURES
FOR CORRECTING ERRONEOUS
RECORDS.—
(1) REQUEST FOR INFORMATION.—Any person
identified as a prohibited person in records main-
tained under this section may request the Attorney
General of the United States to notify the person of
the reasons therefor.
(2) COMPLIANCE
WITH
REQUEST.—Within 5
days after receipt of a request under paragraph (1),
the Attorney General shall comply with the request.
(3) SUBMISSION
OF
ADDITIONAL
INFORMA-
TION.—Any person described in paragraph (1) may
submit to the Attorney General information to cor-
rect, clarify, or supplement records maintained
under this section with respect to the person.
(4) CONSIDERATION AND USE OF ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION.—Within 5 days after receipt of such
information, the Attorney General shall consider the
information, investigate the matter further, correct
any and all erroneous Federal records relating to
such person, and notify any Federal department or
agency or any State that was the source of the erro-
neous records of the errors.
(d) JUDICIAL
REVIEW.—Any person erroneously
identified as a prohibited person in records maintained
pursuant to this section may bring an action in any United
States district court against the United States, or any
State or political subdivision thereof which is the source
of the erroneous information, for damages (including con-
sequential damages), injunctive relief, and such other re-
lief as the court deems appropriate. If the person prevails
in the action, the court shall allow the person a reasonable
attorney’s fee as part of the costs.
(e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:
(1) LICENSE.—The term ‘‘license’’ means a li-
cense or permit to operate a motor vehicle on the
roads and highways of the State, and any identifica-
tion document issued by a State transportation
agency solely for purposes of identification.
(2) PROHIBITED PERSON.—The term ‘‘prohib-
ited person’’ means a person who—
(A) has been convicted of a crime punish-
able under Federal or State law by imprison-
ment for a term exceeding 1 year; or
(B)(i) has been adjudicated mentally in-
competent; and
(ii)(I) has not been restored to capacity by
court order; or
(II) has been so restored to capacity for
less than 5 years.
(3) STATE
TRANSPORTATION
AGENCY.—The
term ‘‘State transportation agency’’ means the State
agency responsible for issuing a license, permit, or
identification document described in paragraph (1).
(f) JUSTICE ASSISTANCE FUNDS WITHHELD FROM
CERTAIN STATES UNLESS CERTAIN LAWS AND PROCE-
DURES ARE IN EFFECT.—2 years after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau of Jus-
tice Assistance shall reduce by 25 percent the annual allo-
cation to a State for a fiscal year under title I of the Om-
nibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 if the
State has in effect, as of such date of enactment, a waiting
period, or a system for identifying felons, before the pur-
chase of a handgun, and the State does not, by the end
of such 2-year period, have in effect all of the laws and
procedures of the type described in subsection (a). If, at
any time after such 2-year period, any State has in effect
a waiting period before the purchase of a handgun, or a
system for identifying felons or persons adjudicated men-
tally incompetent other than as provided pursuant to laws
and procedures of the type described in subsection (a), the
Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance shall reduce
by 25 percent the annual allocation to the State for a fis-
cal year under title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and
Safe Streets Act of 1968.
SEC. 4. LICENSED FIREARMS DEALERS REQUIRED TO
CHECK MAGNETIC STRIP ON DRIVER’S LI-
CENSE OF ANY PERSON ATTEMPTING TO
PURCHASE A HANDGUN.
(a) PROHIBITION.—Section 922 of title 18, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow-
ing:
‘‘(s)(1) It shall be unlawful for any licensed dealer
knowingly to—
‘‘(A) sell a handgun to any person not licensed
under section 923, unless the licensed dealer has
used an electronic device described in section
3(a)(1)(B)(ii) of Felon Identification and Police
Safety Act of 1993 to read the magnetic strip af-
fixed to an identification document issued to the per-
son by the transportation agency of the State in
which the premises of the licensed dealer is located;
or
‘‘(B) fail to notify local law enforcement au-
thorities, within 72 hours, of any person attempting
to purchase a handgun who is identified as a prohib-
ited person through the use of such a device.
‘‘(2) As used in paragraph (1):
‘‘(A) The term ‘handgun’ means a firearm
which has a short stock and is designed to be
held and fired by the use of a single hand.
‘‘(B) The term ‘identification document’
means a license or permit to operate a motor
vehicle, and any identification document issued
solely for purposes of identification.
‘‘(C) The term ‘transportation agency’
means the agency responsible for issuing com-
mercial or noncommercial identification docu-
ments.
‘‘(3) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in any State that
does not have in effect the laws and procedures required
by section 3(a) of the Felon Identification and Police Safe-
ty Act of 1993.’’.
(b) PENALTY.—Section 924(a) of such title is amend-
ed—
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘paragraph
(2) or (3) of’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(5) Any licensed dealer who violates section 922(s)
shall be imprisoned not more than 1 year, fined not more
than $1,000, or both.’’.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section apply to conduct engaged in after the 2-year
period that begins with the date of the enactment of this
Act.
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