I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3182
To regulate certain 50 caliber sniper weapons in the same manner as machine
guns and other firearms.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 30, 2001
Mr. BLAGOJEVICH (for himself and Mr. WAXMAN) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in
addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To regulate certain 50 caliber sniper weapons in the same
manner as machine guns and other firearms.
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 ‘‘Trooper Timothy
Mossbruker Memorial Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) certain firearms originally designed and
built for use as long-range 50 caliber military sniper
weapons are increasingly sold in the domestic civil-
ian market, and there are fewer legal restrictions on
their possession or transfer than there are on hand-
guns;
(2) the intended use of these long-range fire-
arms, and an increasing number of models derived
directly from them, is the taking of human life and
the destruction of materiel, including armored vehi-
cles and such components of the national critical in-
frastructure as radars and microwave transmission
devices;
(3) these firearms are neither designed nor used
in any significant number for legitimate sporting or
hunting purposes and are clearly distinguishable
from rifles intended for sporting and hunting use;
(4) extraordinarily destructive ammunition for
these weapons, including armor-piercing and armor-
piercing incendiary ammunition, is freely sold in
interstate commerce; and
(5) the virtually unrestricted availability of
these firearms and ammunition, given the uses in-
tended in their design and manufacture, present a
serious and substantial threat to the national secu-
rity.
SEC. 3. COVERAGE OF 50 CALIBER SNIPER WEAPONS
UNDER NATIONAL FIREARMS ACT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 5845 of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (defining firearm) is
amended by striking ‘‘(6) a machine gun; (7) any silencer
(as defined in section 921 of title 18, United States Code);
and (8) a destructive device.’’ and inserting ‘‘(6) a 50 cal-
iber sniper weapon; (7) a machine gun; (8) any silencer
(as defined in section 921 of title 18, United States Code);
and (9) a destructive device.’’
(b) 50 CALIBER SNIPER WEAPON.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 5845 of such Code
is amended by redesignating subsections (d) through
(m) as subsections (e) through (n), respectively, and
by inserting after subsection (c) the following new
subsection:
‘‘(d) 50 CALIBER SNIPER WEAPON.—The term ‘50
caliber sniper weapon’ means a rifle capable of firing a
center-fire cartridge in 50 caliber, .50 BMG caliber, any
other variant of 50 caliber, or any metric equivalent of
such calibers.’’
(2) MODIFICATION TO DEFINITION OF RIFLE.—
Subsection (c) of section 5845 of such Code is
amended by inserting ‘‘or from a bipod or other sup-
port’’ after ‘‘shoulder’’.