(2) To determine the cost to taxpayers of incor-
porating microstamping technology into a firearm, 
including the cost of any new or additional equip-
ment for law enforcement, and additional training 
forensic crime laboratories would need in order to 
read the presence of a microstamp on ballistic crime 
scene evidence. 
(3) To identify whether there are domestic or 
international patents applicable to any technology 
capable of being applied in the manufacturing of a 
firearm, capable of placing a microscopic array of 
characters that identify the make, model, and serial 
number of the firearm, etched or otherwise im-
printed in two or more places on the interior surface 
or internal working parts of a semiautomatic pistol 
firearm are transferred by imprinting on each car-
tridge casing when the firearm is discharged. 
(4) To determine whether the normal operation 
of a firearm over time and repeated firing adversely 
affects the quality, reproducibility, and legibility of 
the firearms microstamping impressions on a car-
tridge case, whether metallic or non-metallic, fired in 
a microstamped firearm. 
(5) To determine if, utilizing a broad and di-
verse spectrum of pistols and handgun ammunition 
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(both imported and domestically produced) that is 
commercially available for sale in the United States, 
a casing will be imprinted with a legible microstamp. 
(6) To determine the extra cost to manufacture 
firearms incorporating firearms microstamping tech-
nology on a mass production basis using manufac-
turing techniques and equipment commonly in use in 
the firearms industry. 
(7) The most effective method for casing recov-
ery that can be used to collect fired cases for entry 
into a microstamping reading system and the cost of 
such recovery equipment. 
(8) Which countries, if any, require the sale of 
microstamped firearms and how effective micro-
stamping has been in investigating crimes committed 
with microstamped firearms. 
(9) How many revolvers, manually operated 
handguns, semiautomatic handguns, manually oper-
ated rifles, and semiautomatic rifles are sold in the 
United States each year, the percentage of crimes 
committed with revolvers, other manually operated 
handguns, and manually operated rifles as compared 
with semiautomatic handguns and semiautomatic ri-
fles, and the percentage of cases where spent shell 
casings are recovered at a crime scene. 
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(10) Determine if, when implemented, micro-
stamping would encourage a shift to the use of fire-
arms that do not automatically eject spent casings, 
to neutralize microstamping identification. 
(11) A comprehensive list of environmental and 
nonenvironmental factors, including modifications to 
a firearm with common tools and interchangeable 
parts, that can remove or change the identifying 
marks on a cartridge case so as to preclude a sci-
entifically reliable identification of a firearm that 
has been microstamped, and whether these factors 
would preclude the specimen from being admissible 
as evidence in a court of law. This would also in-
clude leaving spent shell casings from another fire-
arm at a crime scene. 
(12) The technical improvements in database 
management that will be necessary to keep pace as 
the number of microstamped firearms increases, and 
the estimated cost of any improvements. 
(13) Legal issues that need to be addressed at 
the Federal and State levels to obtain the type of in-
formation that would be captured and stored as part 
of a national microstamping identification program 
and the sharing of the information between any 
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State firearm identification systems and the Federal 
firearm identification system. 
(14) What storage and retrieval procedures 
guarantee the integrity of information concerning a 
microstamped firearm for an indefinite period of 
time and ensure proper chain of custody and admis-
sibility of microstamped evidence or images in a 
court of law. 
(15) The time, cost, and resources necessary to 
enter microstamping information into a database 
listing all new handguns sold in the United States 
and those possessed lawfully by firearms owners. 
(16) The time, cost, and resources necessary to 
retrofit all firearms in the United States with micro-
stamped parts and the cost of entering that informa-
tion into a database. 
(17) The impediments to mandating the retro-
fitting of firearms in private hands with micro-
stamping technology, and the potential cost to fire-
arm owners of doing so. 
(18) The cost to Federal and State law enforce-
ment of retrofitting firearms in their possession with 
microstamping technology. 
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(19) Whether the cost of firearms micro-
stamping technology outweighs the investigative ben-
efit to law enforcement. 
(20) Whether State-based microstamping sys-
tems, or a combination of State and Federal micro-
stamping systems can be used to create a centralized 
list of firearms owners. 
(21) The cost-effectiveness of systems currently 
in use by Federal and State law enforcement with 
regard to the forensic identification of spent projec-
tiles, and whether an approach based on the Na-
tional Integrated Ballistic Information Network 
(NIBIN) supported by the Bureau of Alcohol, To-
bacco, Firearms, and Explosives is superior to using 
State-based microstamping initiatives. 
SEC. 4. CONSULTATION. 
In carrying out this Act, the National Research 
Council of the National Academy of Sciences shall consult 
with— 
(1) Federal, State, and local officials with ex-
pertise in budgeting, administering, and using a bal-
listic imaging system, including the Bureau of Alco-
hol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the 
Federal Bureau of Investigation; 
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(2) law enforcement officials who use ballistic 
imaging systems; 
(3) entities affected by the actual and proposed 
uses of microstamping technology, including manu-
facturers, distributors, importers, and retailers of 
firearms and ammunition, firearms purchasers and 
owners and their organized representatives, the 
Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ In-
stitute, Inc., the National Shooting Sports Founda-
tion, Inc., and National Rifle Association; and 
(4) 
experts 
in 
ballistics 
imaging, 
micro-
stamping, and related fields, such as the Association 
of Firearm and Tool Mark Examiners, projectile re-
covery system manufacturers, and universities that 
have conducted studies on microstamping including 
the University of California at Davis. 
SEC. 5. REPORT. 
Not later than 30 days after the National Research 
Council of the National Academy of Sciences completes 
the study conducted under section 3, the National Re-
search Council shall submit to the Attorney General a re-
port on the results of the study, and the Attorney General 
shall submit to the Congress a report, which shall be made 
public, that contains the results of the study. 
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SEC. 6. SUSPENSION OF USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS FOR 
MICROSTAMPING TECHNOLOGY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of law, a State shall not use Federal funds for micro-
stamping technology until the report referred to in section 
5 is completed and transmitted to the Congress. 
(b) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—On request of a State, the 
Attorney General may waive the application of subsection 
(a) to a use of Federal funds upon a showing that the 
use would be in the national interest. 
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) The term ‘‘microstamping technology’’ 
means the process or technology of etching, engrav-
ing or otherwise imprinting on the interior surface 
or internal working parts of a firearm in a micro-
scopic array of alpha numeric characters, bar, gear, 
or other code or symbol, that identifies the make, 
model, and serial number of the firearm or other 
unique distinguishing identification mark, code, or 
number associated with the firearm, that is intended 
to be transferred by imprinting or embossing on to 
the primer or other part of a cartridge case from a 
cartridge discharged in that firearm. 
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(2) The term ‘‘handgun’’ has the meaning given 
the term in section 921(a)(29) of title 18, United 
States Code. 
(3) The term ‘‘rifle’’ has the meaning given the 
term in section 921(a)(7) of title 18, United States 
Code. 
(4) The term ‘‘cartridge case’’ means the main 
body of a single round of ammunition into which 
other components are inserted to form a cartridge. 
(5) The terms ‘‘manually operated handgun’’ 
and ‘‘manually operated rifle’’ mean any handgun or 
rifle, as the case may be, in which all loading, un-
loading, and reloading of the firing chamber is ac-
complished through manipulation by the user. 
(6) The term ‘‘semiautomatic handgun’’ means 
any repeating handgun which utilizes a portion of 
the energy of a firing cartridge to extract the fired 
cartridge case and chamber the next round, which 
requires a separate pull of the trigger to fire each 
cartridge. 
(7) The term ‘‘semiautomatic rifle’’ has the 
meaning given the term in section 921(a)(28) of title 
18, United States Code. 
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(8) The term ‘‘projectile’’ means that part of 
ammunition that is, by means of an explosive, ex-
pelled through the barrel of a firearm. 
(9) The term ‘‘revolver’’ means a firearm with 
a cylinder having several chambers so arranged as to 
rotate around an axis and be discharged successively 
by the same firing mechanism through a common 
barrel. 
Æ 
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