I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1245
To amend title 18, United States Code, to regulate the transfer of firearms
over the Internet, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 24, 1999
Mr. RUSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to regulate the
transfer of firearms over the Internet, 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. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Internet Gun Traf-
ficking Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. REGULATION OF INTERNET FIREARMS TRANSFERS.
(a) PROHIBITIONS.—Section 922 of title 18, United
States Code, is amended by inserting after subsection (y)
the following:
‘‘(z) REGULATION OF INTERNET FIREARMS TRANS-
FERS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any
person to operate an Internet website, if a purpose
of the website is to offer 1 or more firearms for sale
or exchange, or is to otherwise facilitate the sale or
exchange of 1 or more firearms posted or listed on
the website, unless—
‘‘(A) the person is licensed as a manufac-
turer, importer, or dealer under section 923;
‘‘(B) the person notifies the Secretary of
the Internet address of the website, and any
other information concerning the website as the
Secretary may require by regulation; and
‘‘(C) if any firearm posted or listed for sale
or exchange on the website is not from the busi-
ness inventory or personal collection of that
person—
‘‘(i) the person, as a term or condition
for posting or listing the firearm for sale
or exchange on the website on behalf of a
prospective transferor, requires that, in the
event of any agreement to sell or exchange
the firearm pursuant to that posting or
listing, the firearm be transferred to that
person for disposition in accordance with
clause (iii);
‘‘(ii) the person prohibits the posting
or listing on the website of any information
(including any name, nickname, telephone
number, address, or electronic mail ad-
dress) that is reasonably likely to enable
the prospective transferor and prospective
transferee to contact one another directly
prior to the shipment of the firearm to
that person under clause (i), except that
this clause does not include any informa-
tion relating solely to the manufacturer,
importer, model, caliber, gauge, physical
attributes, operation, performance, or price
of the firearm; and
‘‘(iii) with respect to each firearm re-
ceived from a prospective transferor under
clause (i), the person—
‘‘(I) 
enters 
such 
information
about the firearm as the Secretary
may require by regulation into a sepa-
rate bound record;
‘‘(II) in transferring the firearm
to any transferee, complies with the
requirements of this chapter as if the
firearm were being transferred from
the business inventory of that person;
and
‘‘(III) if the prospective trans-
feror does not provide the person with
a certified copy of a valid firearms li-
cense issued to the prospective trans-
feror under this chapter, submits to
the Secretary a report of the transfer
or other disposition of the firearm on
a form specified by the Secretary,
which report shall not include the
name of, or any other identifying in-
formation relating to, the transferor.
‘‘(2) TRANSFERS BY PERSONS OTHER THAN LI-
CENSEES.—It shall be unlawful for any person who
is not licensed under section 923 to transfer a fire-
arm pursuant to a posting or listing of the firearm
for sale or exchange on an Internet website de-
scribed in paragraph (1) to any person other than
the operator of the website.’’.
(b) PENALTIES.—Section 924(a) of title 18, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(7) Whoever willfully violates section 922(z)(2)
shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more
than 2 years, or both.’’.
Æ