I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1962
To amend the Consumer Product Safety Act to confirm the Consumer Prod-
uct Safety Commission’s jurisdiction over child safety devices for hand-
guns, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 6, 2003
Mr. ENGEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Consumer Product Safety Act to confirm 
the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s jurisdiction 
over child safety devices for handguns, 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. AMENDMENT OF CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY 
ACT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Consumer Product Safety 
Act (15 U.S.C. 2051 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
the end thereof the following:
‘‘SEC. 39. CHILD HANDGUN SAFETY DEVICES. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARD.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—
‘‘(A) RULEMAKING
REQUIRED.—Notwith-
standing section 3(a)(1)(E) of this Act, the 
Commission shall initiate a rulemaking pro-
ceeding under section 553 of title 5, United 
States Code, within 90 days after the date of 
enactment of this section to establish a con-
sumer product safety standard for handgun 
locks. The Commission may extend the 90-day 
period for good cause. Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, including chapter 5 of 
title 5, United States Code, the Commission 
shall promulgate a final consumer product safe-
ty standard under this paragraph within 12 
months after the date on which it initiated the 
rulemaking. The Commission may extend that 
12-month period for good cause. The consumer 
product safety standard promulgated under this 
paragraph shall take effect 6 months after the 
date on which the final standard is promul-
gated. 
‘‘(B) 
STANDARD
REQUIREMENTS.—The 
standard promulgated under subparagraph (A) 
shall require gun locks that—
‘‘(i) are sufficiently difficult for chil-
dren to de-activate or remove; and 
‘‘(ii) prevent the discharge of the 
handgun unless the gunlock has been de-
activated or removed. 
‘‘(2) CERTAIN PROVISIONS NOT TO APPLY.—
‘‘(A) PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT.—Sections 
7, 9, and 30(d) of this Act do not apply to the 
rulemaking proceeding under paragraph (1). 
Section 11 of this Act does not apply to any 
consumer product safety standard promulgated 
under paragraph (1). 
‘‘(B) CHAPTER 5 OF TITLE 5.—Except for 
section 553, chapter 5 of title 5, United States 
Code, does not apply to this section. 
‘‘(C) CHAPTER 6 OF TITLE 5.—Chapter 6 
of title 5, United States Code, does not apply 
to this section. 
‘‘(D) NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY 
ACT.—The National Environmental Policy Act 
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321) does not apply to 
this section. 
‘‘(b) NO EFFECT ON STATE LAW.—Notwithstanding 
section 26 of this Act, this section does not annul, alter, 
impair, affect, or exempt any person subject to the provi-
sions of this section from complying with any provision 
of the law of any State or any political subdivision thereof, 
except to the extent that such provisions of State law are 
inconsistent with any provision of this section, and then 
only to the extent of the inconsistency. A provision of 
State law is not inconsistent with this section if such pro-
vision affords greater protection to children in respect of 
handguns than is afforded by this section. 
‘‘(c) ENFORCEMENT.—Notwithstanding subsection 
(a)(2)(A), the consumer product safety standard promul-
gated by the Commission under subsection (a) shall be en-
forced under this Act as if it were a consumer product 
safety standard described in section 7(a). 
‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) CHILD.—The term ‘child’ means an indi-
vidual who has not attained the age of 13 years. 
‘‘(2) HANDGUN
LOCK.—The term ‘handgun 
lock’ means any disabling or locking device that is 
not built into the handgun at the time of manufac-
ture and that is designed to prevent the handgun 
from being discharged unless the device has been de-
activated or removed. 
‘‘(3) HANDGUN.—The term ‘handgun’—