I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3553 
To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to ensure that all 
firearms are traceable, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 27, 2019 
Mr. CICILLINE (for himself, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. NOR-
TON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. 
ROSE of New York, Mr. CISNEROS, Ms. SHALALA, Ms. HILL of Cali-
fornia, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mrs. 
DEMINGS, Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL, Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. GARCIA of 
Texas, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. CASE, Mr. HASTINGS, 
Ms. MENG, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. SIRES, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. 
LOWENTHAL, Ms. MOORE, and Ms. BROWNLEY of California) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to 
ensure that all firearms are traceable, and for other 
purposes. 
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 ‘‘Untraceable Firearms 
Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT THAT ALL FIREARMS BE TRACE-
ABLE. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 921(a) of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (3)— 
(A) by inserting ‘‘, including an unfinished 
frame or receiver’’ after ‘‘such weapon’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘or (D) any destructive de-
vice’’ and inserting ‘‘; (D) any destructive de-
vice; or (E) any combination of parts designed 
or intended for use in converting any device 
into a firearm and from which a firearm may 
be readily assembled’’; 
(2) in paragraph (10), by adding at the end the 
following: ‘‘The term ‘manufacturing firearms’ shall 
include assembling a functional firearm from a 
frame or receiver or molding, machining, or 3D 
printing a frame or receiver, and shall not include 
making or fitting special barrels, stocks, or trigger 
mechanisms to firearms.’’; 
(3) by inserting after paragraph (29) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(30) The term ‘frame or receiver’— 
‘‘(A) means the part of a firearm that can pro-
vide the action or housing for the hammer, bolt, or 
breechblock and firing mechanism; 
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‘‘(B) includes a frame or lower receiver blank, 
casting, or machined body that requires further ma-
chining or molding to be used as part of a functional 
firearm, and which is designed and intended to be 
used in the assembly of a functional firearm; and 
‘‘(C) does not include a piece of material that 
has had— 
‘‘(i) its size or external shape altered solely 
to facilitate transportation or storage; or 
‘‘(ii) solely its chemical composition al-
tered.’’; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(36) The term ‘ghost gun’— 
‘‘(A) means a firearm, including a frame or re-
ceiver, that lacks a unique serial number engraved 
or cast in metal or metal alloy on the frame or re-
ceiver by a licensed manufacturer or importer in ac-
cordance with this chapter; and 
‘‘(B) does not include a firearm that has been 
rendered permanently inoperable.’’. 
(b) PROHIBITION; REQUIREMENTS.—Section 922 of 
title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘(aa)(1) The Congress finds and declares the fol-
lowing: 
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‘‘(A) Firearms tracing is the systematic track-
ing of the movement of a firearm recovered by law 
enforcement officials from the first sale of a firearm 
by the manufacturer or importer through the dis-
tribution chain (including the wholesaler and re-
tailer) to the first retail purchaser. 
‘‘(B) Law enforcement agencies across the 
country work with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, 
Firearms, and Explosives to trace firearms and 
thereby obtain investigative leads in the fight 
against violent crime and terrorism. 
‘‘(C) The ability of law enforcement agencies to 
trace a firearm is dependent on the serial number or 
other marks on the firearm that identify the manu-
facturer or importer who manufactured or imported 
the firearm and that are unique to the firearm. 
‘‘(D) Interstate gun trafficking interferes with 
lawful commerce in firearms and significantly con-
tributes to gun crime. Of the 211,384 firearms 
traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, 
and Explosives in 2016, 60,936 of those firearms 
were originally sold by a licensed firearms dealer in 
a State other than the State where the firearms 
were recovered. These guns made up 28.8 percent of 
all firearm recoveries in 2016. 
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‘‘(E) Even before the sale of a firearm, the gun, 
its component parts, and the raw materials from 
which they are made have considerably moved in 
interstate commerce. 
‘‘(F) If unserialized and untraceable firearms 
may be constructed and transported freely from 
State to State, ordinary citizens and foreign visitors 
may fear to travel to or through certain parts of the 
country due to concern about violent crime and gun 
violence, and law enforcement agencies may be un-
able to address it. 
‘‘(2)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), it 
shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture, sell, offer 
to sell, transfer, purchase, or receive a ghost gun in or 
affecting interstate or foreign commerce. 
‘‘(B) Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to— 
‘‘(i) the manufacture of a firearm by a licensed 
manufacturer if the licensed manufacturer complies 
with section 923(i) before selling or transferring the 
firearm to another person; 
‘‘(ii) the offer to sell, sale, or transfer of a fire-
arm to, or purchase or receipt of a firearm by, a li-
censed manufacturer or importer before January 1, 
2020; or 
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‘‘(iii) transactions between licensed manufactur-
ers and importers on any date. 
‘‘(bb) It shall be unlawful for a person other than 
a licensed manufacturer or importer to engrave or cast 
a serial number on a firearm in or affecting interstate or 
foreign commerce. 
‘‘(cc) Beginning on January 1, 2020, it shall be un-
lawful for any person other than a licensed manufacturer 
or importer to possess a ghost gun in or affecting inter-
state or foreign commerce with the intent to sell or trans-
fer the ghost gun with or without further manufacturing 
or to manufacture a firearm with the ghost gun.’’. 
(c) REQUIREMENTS.—Section 923(i) of title 18, 
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
following: ‘‘The serial number shall be engraved or cast 
in metal or metal alloy and sufficient to identify the fire-
arm and the manufacturer or importer that put the serial 
number on the firearm.’’. 
(d) PENALTIES.—Section 924 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)(1)(B), by striking ‘‘or (q)’’ 
and inserting ‘‘(q), (aa), (bb), or (cc)’’; and 
(2) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘or (k)’’ 
and inserting ‘‘(k), (aa), (bb), or (cc)’’. 
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SEC. 3. MODERNIZATION OF THE PROHIBITION ON UNDE-
TECTABLE FIREARMS. 
Section 922(p) of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 
striking ‘‘any firearm’’; 
(2) in paragraph (1)— 
(A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read 
as follows: 
‘‘(A) an undetectable firearm; or’’. 
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘ any 
major component of which, when subjected to 
inspection by the types of x-ray machines com-
monly used at airports, does not generate’’ and 
inserting the following: ‘‘a major component of 
a firearm which, if subjected to inspection by 
the types of detection devices commonly used at 
airports for security screening, would not gen-
erate’’; 
(3) in paragraph (2)— 
(A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read 
as follows: 
‘‘(A) the term ‘undetectable firearm’ means a 
firearm, as defined in section 921(a)(3)(A), of which 
no major component is wholly made of detectable 
material;’’; 
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(B) by striking subparagraph (B) and in-
serting the following: 
‘‘(B) the term ‘major component’, with respect 
to a firearm— 
‘‘(i) means the slide or cylinder or the 
frame or receiver of the firearm; and 
‘‘(ii) in the case of a rifle or shotgun, in-
cludes the barrel of the firearm; and’’; and 
(C) by striking subparagraph (C) and all 
that follows through the end of the undesig-
nated matter following subparagraph (C) and 
inserting the following: 
‘‘(C) the term ‘detectable material’ means any 
material that creates a magnetic field equivalent to 
or more than 3.7 ounces of 17–4 PH stainless 
steel.’’; 
(4) in paragraph (3)— 
(A) in the first sentence, by inserting 
‘‘, including a prototype,’’ after ‘‘of a fire-
arm’’; and 
(B) by striking the second sentence; 
and 
(5) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘shall not 
apply to any firearm which’’ and all that follows and 
inserting the following: ‘‘shall not apply to— 
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‘‘(A) any firearm received by, in the possession 
of, or under the control of the United States; or 
‘‘(B) the manufacture, importation, possession, 
transfer, receipt, shipment, or delivery of a firearm 
by a licensed manufacturer or licensed importer pur-
suant to a contract with the United States.’’. 
Æ 
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