I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1540
To ensure greater accountability by licensed firearms dealers. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 1, 2003
Mr. LANGEVIN (for himself, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of 
Florida, Mr. CASE, Mr. CLAY, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. FRANK 
of Massachusetts, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. 
LOFGREN, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MEE-
HAN, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PASCRELL, Ms. 
SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. WEXLER, 
and Ms. WOOLSEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To ensure greater accountability by licensed firearms dealers.
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 ‘‘Crackdown on Dead-
beat Dealers Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds that—
(1) a small number of licensed firearms dealers 
account for a large proportion of the firearms traced 
from crimes; 
(2) in 1998, 1.2 percent of licensed firearms 
dealers—1,020 of the approximately 83,200 licensed 
retail firearms dealers and pawnbrokers—accounted 
for over 57 percent of the crime guns traced to li-
censed firearms dealers; and 
(3) in 1998, just over 450 licensed firearms 
dealers had traced to them 10 or more guns that 
were used in crimes within 3 years after they sold 
the guns. 
SEC. 3. INCREASING THE NUMBER OF ALLOWED COMPLI-
ANCE INSPECTIONS OF FIREARMS DEALERS. 
Section 923(g)(1)(B)(ii)(I) of title 18, United States 
Code, is amended by striking ‘‘once’’ and inserting ‘‘3 
times’’. 
SEC. 4. INCREASING PENALTIES ON FIREARMS LICENSEES. 
Section 924(a)(3) of title 18, United States Code is 
amended by striking ‘‘one year’’ and inserting ‘‘5 years’’. 
SEC. 5. SERIOUS RECORDKEEPING OFFENSES THAT AID 
GUN TRAFFICKING. 
Section 924(a)(3) of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by striking the period and inserting ‘‘; but if the 
violation is in relation to an offense under subsection
(a)(6) or (d) of section 922, shall be fined under this title, 
imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.’’. 
SEC. 6. SUSPENSION OF FIREARMS DEALER’S LICENSE AND 
CIVIL PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE 
GUN CONTROL ACT. 
Subsections (e) and (f) of section 923 of title 18, 
United States Code, are amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(e) The Attorney General may, after notice and op-
portunity for hearing, suspend or revoke any license issued 
under this section, or may subject the licensee to a civil 
penalty of not more than $10,000 per violation, if the 
holder of the license has willfully violated any provision 
of this chapter or any rule or regulation prescribed by the 
Attorney General under this chapter or fails to have secure 
gun storage or safety devices available at any place in 
which firearms are sold under the license to persons who 
are not licensees (except that in any case in which a secure 
gun storage or safety device is temporarily unavailable be-
cause of theft, casualty loss, consumer sales, backorders 
from a manufacturer, or any other similar reason beyond 
the control of the licensee, the dealer shall not be consid-
ered to be in violation of the requirement to make available 
such a device). The Attorney General may, after notice 
and opportunity for hearing, suspend or revoke the license 
of, or assess a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 on,
a dealer who willfully transfers armor piercing ammuni-
tion. The Attorney General may at any time compromise, 
mitigate, or remit the liability with respect to any willful 
violation of this chapter or any rule or regulation pre-
scribed by the Attorney General under this chapter. The 
Attorney General’s actions under this subsection may be 
reviewed only as provided in subsection (f). 
‘‘(f)(1) Any person whose application for a license is 
denied and any holder of a license which is suspended or 
revoked or who is assessed a civil penalty shall receive a 
written notice from the Attorney General stating specifi-
cally the grounds upon which the application was denied 
or upon which the license was suspended or revoked or 
the civil penalty assessed. Any notice of a suspension or 
revocation of a license shall be given to the holder of the 
license before the effective date of the suspension or rev-
ocation. 
‘‘(2) If the Attorney General denies an application 
for a license, or suspends or revokes a license, or assesses 
a civil penalty, the Attorney General shall, upon request 
by the aggrieved party, promptly hold a hearing to review 
the denial, suspension, revocation, or assessment. In the 
case of a suspension or revocation of a license, the Attor-
ney General shall, on the request of the holder of the li-
cense, stay the effective date of the suspension or revoca-
tion. A hearing under this paragraph shall be held at a 
location convenient to the aggrieved party. 
‘‘(3) If after a hearing held under paragraph (2) the 
Attorney General decides not to reverse the decision to 
deny an application or suspend or revoke a license or as-
sess a civil penalty, the Attorney General shall give notice 
of the decision to the aggrieved party. The aggrieved party 
may at any time within 60 days after the date notice is 
given under this paragraph file a petition with the United 
States district court for the district in which party resides 
or in which the party’s principal place of business is lo-
cated for a de novo judicial review of the denial, suspen-
sion, revocation, or assessment. In a proceeding conducted 
under this subsection, the court may consider any evidence 
submitted by the parties to the proceeding whether or not 
such evidence was considered at the hearing held under 
paragraph (2). If the court decides that the Attorney Gen-
eral was not authorized to deny the application or to sus-
pend or revoke the license or to assess the civil penalty, 
the court shall order the Attorney General to take such 
action as may be necessary to comply with the judgment 
of the court.’’.
SEC. 7. TERMINATION OF FIREARMS DEALER’S LICENSE 
UPON FELONY CONVICTION. 
Section 925(b) of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by striking ‘‘until any conviction pursuant to the 
indictment becomes final’’ and inserting ‘‘until the date 
of any conviction pursuant to the indictment’’. 
SEC. 8. HIRING AND TRAINING OF ADDITIONAL INSPEC-
TORS FOR THE BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TO-
BACCO, FIREARMS, AND EXPLOSIVES. 
(a) LIMITATIONS
ON AUTHORIZATION
OF APPRO-
PRIATIONS.—For the hiring and training of 500 additional 
inspectors for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, 
and Explosives of the Department of Justice, there are 
authorized to be appropriated—
(1) not more than $100,000,000 for fiscal year 
2004; and 
(2) not more than $55,000,000 for each of fis-
cal years 2005 through 2008. 
(b) AVAILABILITY OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Amounts 
appropriated under subsection (a) are authorized to re-
main available until expended.
Æ