I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1014
To prevent children from injuring themselves with handguns.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 14, 2001
Ms. CARSON of Indiana introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To prevent children from injuring themselves with handguns.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Handgun Injury
Prevention Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) In the 10 years from 1987 through 1996,
nearly 2,200 children in the United States who were
14 years of age or younger died from unintentional
shootings, and in 1996 alone, 138 children were shot
and killed unintentionally, which is an average of 11
children every month, or 1 child every third day, ac-
cording to the National Center for Health Statistics.
(2) The United States leads the industrialized
world in the rates of children lost to unintentional
firearms-related deaths. A 1997 study from the Cen-
ters for Disease Control and Prevention found that
for unintentional firearms-related deaths for children
under the age of 15, the rate in the United States
was 9 times greater than in 25 other industrialized
countries combined.
(3) While the number of unintentional deaths
from firearms is an unacceptable toll on the children
of the United States, nearly 8 times that number are
treated annually in hospital emergency rooms in the
United States for nonfatal unintentional gunshot
wounds, according to an article in the June 12,
1996, issue of the Journal of the American Medical
Association.
(4) In the June 12, 1987, issue of the Journal
of the American Medical Association, a study of un-
intentional firearms deaths among children in Cali-
fornia found that unintentional gunshot wounds
most often involve handguns.
(5) A study in the December 1995 issue of the
Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine found
that children as young as 3 years old are strong
enough to fire most commercially available hand-
guns. The study found that 25 percent of 3- to 4-
year-olds and 70 percent of 5- to 6-year-olds had
sufficient finger strength to fire 59 (or 92 percent)
of the 64 commonly available handguns examined in
the study.
(6) Currently, firearms are the only products
manufactured in the United States that are not sub-
ject to minimum safety standards.
(7) A 1997 public opinion poll conducted by the
National Opinion Research Center at the University
of Chicago in conjunction with the Johns Hopkins
Center for Gun Policy and Research found that 74
percent of the people of the United States support
safety regulation of the firearms industry.
(8) Firearms, their component parts, and safety
locks designed to prevent firearms from accidentally
discharging, all move in interstate commerce.
(9) Many currently available trigger locks and
other similar devices are inadequate to prevent the
accidental discharge of the firearms to which they
are attached, or to prevent children from gaining ac-
cess to the firearms.
SEC. 3. REGULATION OF HANDGUN DISCHARGE PROTEC-
TION PRODUCTS.
(a) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of the
Treasury (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall
prescribe such regulations governing the design, manufac-
ture, and performance of, and commerce in, handgun dis-
charge protection products, as are necessary to reduce or
prevent unreasonable risk of injury to children from the
unintentional discharge of handguns.
(b) MINIMUM SAFETY STANDARD.—The regulations
required by subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, set forth
a minimum safety standard that a handgun discharge pro-
tection product must meet in order to be manufactured,
sold, transferred, or delivered consistent with this Act. In
developing the standard, the Secretary shall give appro-
priate consideration to handgun discharge protection
products that are not detachable, but are permanently in-
stalled and incorporated into the design of a handgun. The
standard shall include provisions to ensure that any hand-
gun discharge protection product that meets the standard
is of adequate quality and construction to prevent children
from operating a handgun, and to ensure that such a
product cannot be removed from a handgun except
through the use of a key, combination, or other method
of access made possible by the manufacturer of the prod-
uct.
(c) USE
OF
POISON
PACKAGING
PREVENTION
STANDARDS TEST PROTOCOLS.—In developing the stand-
ard required by subsection (b), the Secretary shall con-
sider using test protocols described in section 1700.20 of
title 16, Code of Federal Regulations, (in effect as of Jan-
uary 1, 1998), related to poison prevention packaging
standards.
(d) DEADLINE FOR ISSUANCE OF STANDARD.—With-
in 12 months after the date of the enactment of this Act,
the Secretary shall issue in final form the standard re-
quired by subsection (b).
(e) EFFECTIVE DATE OF STANDARD.—The standard
issued under subsection (b) shall take effect 6 months
after the date of issuance.
SEC. 4. ORDERS; INSPECTIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may issue an order
prohibiting the manufacture, sale, transfer, or delivery of
a handgun discharge protection product which the Sec-
retary finds has been designed, or has been or is intended
to be manufactured, transferred, or distributed in violation
of this Act or a regulation prescribed under this Act.
(b) AUTHORITY TO REQUIRE THE RECALL, REPAIR,
OR REPLACEMENT
OF, OR
THE PROVISION
OF RE-
FUNDS.—The Secretary may issue an order requiring the
manufacturer of, and any dealer in, a handgun discharge
protection product which the Secretary finds has been de-
signed, manufactured, transferred, or delivered in viola-
tion of this Act or a regulation prescribed under this Act,
to—
(1) provide notice of the risks associated with
the product, and of how to avoid or reduce the risks,
to—
(A) the public;
(B) in the case of the manufacturer of the
product, each dealer in the product; and
(C) in the case of a dealer in the product,
the manufacturer of the product and the other
persons known to the dealer as dealers in the
product;
(2) bring the product into conformity with the
regulations prescribed under this Act;
(3) repair the product;
(4) replace the product with a like or equivalent
product which is in compliance with such regula-
tions;
(5) refund the purchase price of the product,
or, if the product is more than 1 year old, a lesser
amount based on the value of the product after rea-
sonable use;
(6) recall the product from the stream of com-
merce; or
(7) submit to the Secretary a satisfactory plan
for implementation of any action required under this
subsection.
(c) INSPECTIONS.—In order to ascertain compliance
with this Act and the regulations and orders issued under
this Act, the Secretary may, at reasonable times—
(1) enter any place in which handgun discharge
protection products are manufactured, stored, or
held, for distribution in commerce, and inspect those
areas where the products are manufactured, stored,
or held; and
(2) enter and inspect any conveyance being
used to transport for commercial purposes a hand-
gun discharge protection product.
SEC. 5. UNLAWFUL ACTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning 30 days after a final
standard issued under section 3(b) takes effect, it shall
be unlawful—
(1) for any licensed manufacturer or licensed
importer to sell, transfer, or deliver to any person
any handgun without a handgun discharge protec-
tion product that meets the standard; and
(2) for any licensed dealer to sell, transfer, or
deliver to any person any handgun without the
handgun discharge protection product supplied to
the dealer by the licensed manufacturer or importer.
(b) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to
the sale, transfer, or delivery of a handgun to a depart-
ment or agency of the Federal Government or of any State
government or political subdivision of a State.
SEC. 6. WARNING LABELS FOR HANDGUNS.
(a) INCLUSION OF WARNING LABELS IN HANDGUN
PACKAGING.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—A licensed manufacturer, li-
censed importer, or licensed dealer shall not sell,
transfer, or deliver a handgun with accompanying
packaging or other descriptive materials, unless the
warning label described in paragraph (2) is dis-
played on the principal display panel of the pack-
aging and on the materials.
(2) WARNING LABEL.—
(A) CONTENT.—The warning label re-
ferred to in paragraph (1) is a label that, in
conspicuous and legible type, contains the fol-
lowing statement:
‘‘Children are attracted to and can oper-
ate handguns, which can cause severe inju-
ries or death.
‘‘Prevent child access by always keeping
handguns locked away and unloaded.’’.
(B) APPEARANCE.—The statement re-
quired by subparagraph (A) shall, by typog-
raphy, layout, or color, be in contrast with
other printed matter on the package or descrip-
tive materials, in a manner similar to that de-
scribed in section 1500.121 of title 16, Code of
Federal Regulations (in effect as of January 1,
1998).
(b) AFFIXATION OF WARNING LABEL TO HANDGUN
TRANSFERRED WITHOUT PACKAGING.—A licensed manu-
facturer, licensed importer, or licensed dealer shall not
sell, transfer, or deliver a handgun without accompanying
packaging or other descriptive materials, unless the label
described in subsection (a)(2)(A) is affixed to the handgun
by a method to be prescribed by rule by the Secretary.