I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1147
To repeal the prohibitions relating to semiautomatic firearms and large
capacity ammunition feeding devices.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 20, 1997
Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary
A BILL
To repeal the prohibitions relating to semiautomatic firearms
and large capacity ammunition feeding devices.
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 ‘‘Second Amendment
Restoration Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The Second Amendment protects the rights
of individual persons to keep and bear arms, includ-
ing semi-automatic firearms.
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(2) Article I, Section 8 of the United States
Constitution grants Congress no authority to enact
gun control legislation. For example, in United
States v. Lopez (1995), the Supreme Court struck
down a gun control law on the grounds that the
Congress did not have authority under the Com-
merce Clause to enact such legislation.
(3) The United States Senate Subcommittee on
the Constitution reported in 1982 that, ‘‘In the Mili-
tia Act of 1792, the second Congress defined ‘militia
of the United States’ to include almost every free
adult male in the United States. These persons were
obligated by law to possess a (military-style) firearm
and a minimum supply of ammunition and military
equipment. . . . There can be little doubt from this
that when the Congress and the people spoke of the
a ‘militia,’ they had reference to the traditional con-
cept of the entire populace capable of bearing arms,
and not to any formal group such as what is today
called the National Guard.’’
(4) The Supreme Court stated in United States
v. Miller (1939) that, ‘‘The Militia comprised all
males physically capable of acting in concert for the
common defense . . . (and) when called for service,
these men were expected to appear bearing arms
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supplied by themselves and the kind in common use
at the time.’’
(5) High capacity semi-automatic firearms are
excellent for self-defense. These firearms are the
very guns which Korean merchants used to defend
themselves during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. These
firearms provided to be extremely useful to the Ko-
reans, as their stores were left standing while other
stores around them were burned to the ground.
(6) Semi-automatic weapons are not the guns
most frequently used in crime. The Bureau of Jus-
tice Statistics reported in 1993 that violent criminals
only carry or use a ‘‘military-type gun’’ in about one
percent of the crimes nationwide.
(7) Tracing is not a reliable indicator of which
guns are used in crime, and is thus a poor indicator
of how often so-called semi-automatic weapons are
misused. The Congressional Research Service re-
ported in 1993 that, ‘‘Firearms selected for tracing
do not constitute a random sample and cannot be
considered representative of the larger universe of all
firearms used by criminals.’’
(8) Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, To-
bacco and Firearms (BATF) have themselves stated
that, ‘‘BATF does not always know if a firearm
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being traced has been used in a crime.’’ For example
in 1989 in Los Angeles, ‘‘assault rifles’’ represented
approximately only 3 percent of guns seized, but 19
percent of gun traces.
(9) The National Association of Chiefs of Police
found in its 1992 poll that 66.7 percent of law en-
forcement agency heads agree that ‘‘law-abiding citi-
zens should have the right to purchase any type of
firearm (including semi-automatic weapons) for
sport or self-defense under state laws that now
exist.’’ Moreover, the same poll found that 89.6 per-
cent of the respondents did not believe that ‘‘ban-
ning (military-style) weapons would reduce criminals
from obtaining them.’’
SEC. 3. REPEAL OF THE PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO SEMI-
AUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPONS AND LARGE
CAPACITY AMMUNITION FEEDING DEVICES.
(a) Section 922 of title 18, United States Code,
is amended by striking subsections (v) and (w) and
by striking the appendix.
(b) Section 921(a) of such title is amended by
striking paragraphs (31) and (32).
(c) Section 923(i) of such title is amended by
striking the last 2 sentences.
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(d) Section 924(a)(1)(B) of such title is amend-
ed by striking ‘‘(r), (v), or (w)’’ and inserting ‘‘or
(r)’’.
(e) Section 924(c)(1) of such title is amended
by striking ‘‘short-barreled shotgun, or semiauto-
matic assault weapon,’’ and inserting ‘‘or short-bar-
reled shotgun’’.
(f) Title XI of the Violent Crime Control and
Law Enforcement Act of 1994 is hereby repealed.
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