I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 24
To require ballistics testing of firearms manufactured in or imported into 
the United States, and to provide for the compilation, use, and avail-
ability of ballistics information for the purpose of curbing the use of 
firearms in crime. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 7, 2003
Mr. BECERRA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Judiciary 
A BILL 
To require ballistics testing of firearms manufactured in 
or imported into the United States, and to provide for 
the compilation, use, and availability of ballistics infor-
mation for the purpose of curbing the use of firearms 
in crime.
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 ‘‘Bullet Tracing Act 
To Reduce Gun Violence’’.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON TRANSFER OF FIREARM BY LI-
CENSED FIREARMS MANUFACTURER OR LI-
CENSED FIREARMS IMPORTER BEFORE TEST 
FIRING AND TRANSMISSION OF BALLISTICS 
RECORDS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 44 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 931. Test firing and transmission of ballistics 
records 
‘‘(a) A licensed manufacturer or licensed importer 
shall not transfer a firearm to any person before—
‘‘(1) test firing the firearm; 
‘‘(2) preparing ballistics records of the fired 
bullet and cartridge casings from the test fire; and 
‘‘(3) transmitting the records to the Attorney 
General. 
‘‘(b)(1)(A) With respect to each violation of sub-
section (a) by a licensee, the Attorney General may, after 
notice and opportunity for hearing, suspend for not more 
than 5 years or revoke the license of the licensee, impose 
on the licensee a civil fine of not more than $20,000, or 
both. 
‘‘(B) An action of the Attorney General under this 
paragraph may be reviewed only as provided in section 
923(f).
‘‘(2) The suspension or revocation of a license or the 
imposition of a civil fine under paragraph (1) shall not 
preclude any administrative remedy that is available to the 
Attorney General under other law. 
‘‘(3) Whoever knowingly violates subsection (a) shall 
be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 
years, or both.’’. 
(b) DEFINITION OF BALLISTICS.—Section 921(a) of 
such title is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(35) The term ‘ballistics’ means a comparative anal-
ysis of fired bullets or cartridge casings to identify the 
firearm from which the bullets or cartridge casings were 
discharged, through the identification of the unique char-
acteristics that each firearm imprints on bullets and car-
tridge casings.’’. 
(c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for such chapter is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing:
‘‘931. Test firing and automated storage of ballistics records.’’.
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall take effect 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 3. COMPILATION, USE, AND AVAILABILITY OF BALLIS-
TICS INFORMATION. 
(a) COMPILATION OF INFORMATION.—The Attorney 
General shall compile, in electronic form, the ballistics
records transmitted pursuant to section 931(a)(3) of title 
18, United States Code, and shall make the compilation 
available for use in Federal, State, and local criminal in-
vestigations, arrests, indictments, and prosecutions. 
(b) FEDERAL ASSISTANCE TO FIREARM MANUFAC-
TURERS AND IMPORTERS.—The Attorney General shall 
assist qualified firearms manufacturers and qualified fire-
arms importers in—
(1) obtaining use of new and upgraded comput-
erized ballistics equipment and bullet recovery equip-
ment owned by the Federal Government, to be 
placed at the sites of licensed manufacturers and li-
censed importers; 
(2) training personnel necessary to develop, 
maintain, research, and evaluate a database con-
taining ballistics information on firearms possessed 
by the manufacturers or importers, and to record 
and transmit to the Attorney General such informa-
tion; and 
(3) taking any other steps necessary to imple-
ment effective ballistics testing. 
(c) QUALIFIED FIREARMS MANUFACTURERS
AND 
QUALIFIED FIREARMS IMPORTERS.—A manufacturer or 
importer of firearms shall be considered qualified for as-
sistance under subsection (b) only if the Attorney General