I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3986 
To provide for the establishment of a national standard for incorporating 
a passive identification ability into all firearms sold in the United States. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 5, 2017 
Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ (for herself, Mr. BLUMENAUER, and Mr. SERRANO) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary 
A BILL 
To provide for the establishment of a national standard 
for incorporating a passive identification ability into all 
firearms sold in the United States. 
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 ‘‘Stopping the Iron 
Pipeline Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. PASSIVE CAPABILITY TO IDENTIFY LOST AND STO-
LEN FIREARMS. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL STANDARD.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall, 
in consultation with the National Institute for 
Standards and Technology, establish in regulations a 
national standard for the incorporation of a passive 
identification capability into all firearms sold in the 
United States. 
(2) PASSIVE IDENTIFICATION CAPABILITY DE-
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘passive identi-
fication capability’’ means a technology that— 
(A) enables a firearm to be identified by a 
mobile or fixed reading device; and 
(B) does not emit or broadcast an elec-
tronic signal or other information that would 
enable the firearm or its owner to be monitored 
or tracked. 
(3) 
CONSIDERATIONS.—In 
developing 
the 
standard, the Attorney General shall give equal pri-
ority to the following: 
(A) The right of firearm owners to main-
tain their full right to privacy under the 4th 
Amendment and their right to legally own fire-
arms under the 2nd Amendment. 
(B) The ability of law enforcement authori-
ties to use the capability to track lost and sto-
len guns. 
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(C) The ability of manufacturers to incor-
porate the capability using existing firearm 
manufacturing processes. 
(D) The resistance to tampering and de-
struction of the technology used to incorporate 
the capability. 
(b) PROHIBITION; PENALTY.— 
(1) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful for a 
person, in or affecting interstate or foreign com-
merce, to manufacture a firearm that does not have 
a passive identification capability that meets the na-
tional standard established under subsection (a). 
(2) CIVIL PENALTY.—After notice and oppor-
tunity for hearing, the Attorney General shall im-
pose on a person who violates paragraph (1) a civil 
money penalty in such amount, not exceeding 
$2,500 per firearm, as the Attorney General shall 
prescribe in regulations. 
(3) EFFECTIVE
DATE.—This subsection shall 
take effect on such date as the Attorney General 
shall prescribe in regulations that is not later than 
3 years after the establishment of the national 
standard under subsection (a). 
Æ 
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