Accountability for Online Firearms Marketplaces Act of 2021
Bill: S.2725 | Sponsor: Sen. Blumenthal, Richard (D-CT)
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
Accountability for Online Firearms Marketplaces Act of 2021
This bill removes the federal liability protection that a provider of an interactive computer service (e.g., a social media company) receives for content provided by third parties if the provider operates an online firearms marketplace. Online firearms marketplace refers to an interactive computer service that (1) facilitates firearm-related transactions, (2) advertises or otherwise makes available proposals for transferring firearms, or (3) makes digital instructions for programming a three-dimensional printer to make a firearm.

To amend the Communications Decency Act to remove immunity for online 
             firearms marketplaces, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Accountability for Online Firearms 
Marketplaces Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The core purpose of section 230 of the Communications 
        Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230) (commonly known as the 
        ``Communications Decency Act'') (referred to in this section as 
        ``Section 230'') is to provide a specific protection for online 
        platforms acting as Good Samaritans to stop online abuse. 
        Specifically, Section 230 states that providers of interactive 
        computer services will not be treated as publishers or speakers 
        of user-generated content. In turn, the provision entrusted 
        providers to act as Good Samaritans to police their platforms 
        by blocking and screening offensive content.
            (2) Section 230 bars actions that hold providers liable as 
        publishers of third-party content, but the statute is 
        irrelevant to claims unrelated to such publications. If a claim 
        does not treat the defendant as a publisher, Section 230 should 
        not apply.
            (3) However, courts have interpreted Section 230 as 
        providing sweeping immunity for a broad array of providers, 
        including providers alleged to have facilitated violations of 
        criminal laws online. This interpretation is overly broad and 
        discourages the self-policing that Section 230 intended to 
        incentivize.
            (4) In Daniel v. Armslist, the Wisconsin Supreme Court read 
        Section 230 to bar claims against an online firearms 
        marketplace. The court's decision swept so broadly as to cover 
        websites designed to encourage and facilitate firearms 
        trafficking in violation of chapter 44 of title 18, United 
        States Code.
            (5) Online firearms marketplaces have made it increasingly 
        easy for people who are prohibited from gun ownership to 
        purchase guns online. Online firearms marketplaces facilitate 
        such sales because while Federal law requires licensed gun 
        dealers to perform background checks on prospective buyers, it 
        does not require unlicensed sellers to do so. For more than a 
        decade, online firearms marketplaces have exploited this legal 
        loophole by allowing unlicensed sellers to sell guns directly 
        to people prohibited from gun ownership.
            (6) Every year, unlicensed sellers post more than 1,000,000 
        advertisements on online firearms marketplaces in States that 
        do not legally require a background check. Individuals with 
        criminal histories and other prohibited purchasers rely on 
        these postings to evade basic background check laws and procure 
        firearms. One study found that nearly 1 in 9 prospective gun 
        buyers who respond to advertisements from unlicensed sellers on 
        a major online firearms marketplace would not pass a background 
        check, which is a rate that is 7 times higher than the denial 
        rate in contexts where background checks are required.
            (7) Congress did not intend for Section 230 to bar 
        otherwise valid claims against online firearms marketplaces for 
        their own design of a website that encourages and contributes 
        to its users circumventing Federal laws, including Federal gun 
        laws.

SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF VICTIMS OF GUN VIOLENCE.

    Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``No provider'' 
                and inserting ``Except as provided in paragraph (3), no 
                provider''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Treatment of publisher or speaker does not apply to 
        online firearms marketplace.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply to 
        an online firearms marketplace, for purposes of any claim in an 
        action brought against the online firearms marketplace in its 
        capacity as an online firearms marketplace.''; and
            (2) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) Online firearms marketplace.--The term `online 
        firearms marketplace' means an interactive computer service 
        that--
                    ``(A) facilitates transactions related to firearms, 
                firearms accessories, firearms equipment, and other 
                firearms-related materials;
                    ``(B) advertises or makes available any posting or 
                listing of any statement by a transferor or by a 
                transferee that could be reasonable inferred to propose 
                the transfer of a firearm; or
                    ``(C) makes digital instructions in the form of 
                Computer Aided Design files or other code that can 
                automatically program a 3-dimensional printer or 
                similar device to produce a firearm or complete a 
                firearm from an unfinished frame or receiver,
        regardless of whether such transactions or other activities 
        violate the terms of service of the interactive computer 
        services.
            ``(6) Firearm.-- The term `firearm' has the meaning given 
        the term in section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code.''.
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