Title: Untraceable Firearms Act of 2019
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
Untraceable Firearms Act of 2019
This bill generally prohibits and penalizes the manufacture, sale, transfer, purchase, or receipt of a ghost gun. A ghost gun is a firearm that lacks a unique serial number.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3553 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3553

To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to ensure that all 
            firearms are traceable, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 27, 2019

  Mr. Cicilline (for himself, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Khanna, Ms. 
 Norton, Ms. Schakowsky, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Rose of 
New York, Mr. Cisneros, Ms. Shalala, Ms. Hill of California, Mr. Levin 
   of Michigan, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mrs. Demings, Ms. Mucarsel-
Powell, Mr. DeSaulnier, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. 
Neguse, Mr. Case, Mr. Hastings, Ms. Meng, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Sires, Mr. 
 Larson of Connecticut, Mr. Lowenthal, Ms. Moore, and Ms. Brownley of 
 California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to ensure that all 
            firearms are traceable, 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 ``Untraceable Firearms Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT THAT ALL FIREARMS BE TRACEABLE.

    (a) Definitions.--Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, 
is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3)--
                    (A) by inserting ``, including an unfinished frame 
                or receiver'' after ``such weapon''; and
                    (B) by striking ``or (D) any destructive device'' 
                and inserting ``; (D) any destructive device; or (E) 
                any combination of parts designed or intended for use 
                in converting any device into a firearm and from which 
                a firearm may be readily assembled'';
            (2) in paragraph (10), by adding at the end the following: 
        ``The term `manufacturing firearms' shall include assembling a 
        functional firearm from a frame or receiver or molding, 
        machining, or 3D printing a frame or receiver, and shall not 
        include making or fitting special barrels, stocks, or trigger 
        mechanisms to firearms.'';
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (29) the following:
    ``(30) The term `frame or receiver'--
            ``(A) means the part of a firearm that can provide the 
        action or housing for the hammer, bolt, or breechblock and 
        firing mechanism;
            ``(B) includes a frame or lower receiver blank, casting, or 
        machined body that requires further machining or molding to be 
        used as part of a functional firearm, and which is designed and 
        intended to be used in the assembly of a functional firearm; 
        and
            ``(C) does not include a piece of material that has had--
                    ``(i) its size or external shape altered solely to 
                facilitate transportation or storage; or
                    ``(ii) solely its chemical composition altered.''; 
                and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(36) The term `ghost gun'--
            ``(A) means a firearm, including a frame or receiver, that 
        lacks a unique serial number engraved or cast in metal or metal 
        alloy on the frame or receiver by a licensed manufacturer or 
        importer in accordance with this chapter; and
            ``(B) does not include a firearm that has been rendered 
        permanently inoperable.''.
    (b) Prohibition; Requirements.--Section 922 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(aa)(1) The Congress finds and declares the following:
            ``(A) Firearms tracing is the systematic tracking of the 
        movement of a firearm recovered by law enforcement officials 
        from the first sale of a firearm by the manufacturer or 
        importer through the distribution chain (including the 
        wholesaler and retailer) to the first retail purchaser.
            ``(B) Law enforcement agencies across the country work with 
        the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to 
        trace firearms and thereby obtain investigative leads in the 
        fight against violent crime and terrorism.
            ``(C) The ability of law enforcement agencies to trace a 
        firearm is dependent on the serial number or other marks on the 
        firearm that identify the manufacturer or importer who 
        manufactured or imported the firearm and that are unique to the 
        firearm.
            ``(D) Interstate gun trafficking interferes with lawful 
        commerce in firearms and significantly contributes to gun 
        crime. Of the 211,384 firearms traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, 
        Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives in 2016, 60,936 of those 
        firearms were originally sold by a licensed firearms dealer in 
        a State other than the State where the firearms were recovered. 
        These guns made up 28.8 percent of all firearm recoveries in 
        2016.
            ``(E) Even before the sale of a firearm, the gun, its 
        component parts, and the raw materials from which they are made 
        have considerably moved in interstate commerce.
            ``(F) If unserialized and untraceable firearms may be 
        constructed and transported freely from State to State, 
        ordinary citizens and foreign visitors may fear to travel to or 
        through certain parts of the country due to concern about 
        violent crime and gun violence, and law enforcement agencies 
        may be unable to address it.
    ``(2)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), it shall be 
unlawful for any person to manufacture, sell, offer to sell, transfer, 
purchase, or receive a ghost gun in or affecting interstate or foreign 
commerce.
    ``(B) Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to--
            ``(i) the manufacture of a firearm by a licensed 
        manufacturer if the licensed manufacturer complies with section 
        923(i) before selling or transferring the firearm to another 
        person;
            ``(ii) the offer to sell, sale, or transfer of a firearm 
        to, or purchase or receipt of a firearm by, a licensed 
        manufacturer or importer before January 1, 2020; or
            ``(iii) transactions between licensed manufacturers and 
        importers on any date.
    ``(bb) It shall be unlawful for a person other than a licensed 
manufacturer or importer to engrave or cast a serial number on a 
firearm in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce.
    ``(cc) Beginning on January 1, 2020, it shall be unlawful for any 
person other than a licensed manufacturer or importer to possess a 
ghost gun in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce with the 
intent to sell or transfer the ghost gun with or without further 
manufacturing or to manufacture a firearm with the ghost gun.''.
    (c) Requirements.--Section 923(i) of title 18, United States Code, 
is amended by adding at the end the following: ``The serial number 
shall be engraved or cast in metal or metal alloy and sufficient to 
identify the firearm and the manufacturer or importer that put the 
serial number on the firearm.''.
    (d) Penalties.--Section 924 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)(B), by striking ``or (q)'' and 
        inserting ``(q), (aa), (bb), or (cc)''; and
            (2) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ``or (k)'' and 
        inserting ``(k), (aa), (bb), or (cc)''.

SEC. 3. MODERNIZATION OF THE PROHIBITION ON UNDETECTABLE FIREARMS.

    Section 922(p) of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking 
        ``any firearm'';
            (2) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read as 
                follows:
            ``(A) an undetectable firearm; or''.
                    (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking `` any major 
                component of which, when subjected to inspection by the 
                types of x-ray machines commonly used at airports, does 
                not generate'' and inserting the following: ``a major 
                component of a firearm which, if subjected to 
                inspection by the types of detection devices commonly 
                used at airports for security screening, would not 
                generate'';
            (3) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read as 
                follows:
            ``(A) the term `undetectable firearm' means a firearm, as 
        defined in section 921(a)(3)(A), of which no major component is 
        wholly made of detectable material;'';
                    (B) by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting the 
                following:
            ``(B) the term `major component', with respect to a 
        firearm--
                    ``(i) means the slide or cylinder or the frame or 
                receiver of the firearm; and
                    ``(ii) in the case of a rifle or shotgun, includes 
                the barrel of the firearm; and''; and
                    (C) by striking subparagraph (C) and all that 
                follows through the end of the undesignated matter 
                following subparagraph (C) and inserting the following:
            ``(C) the term `detectable material' means any material 
        that creates a magnetic field equivalent to or more than 3.7 
        ounces of 17-4 PH stainless steel.'';
            (4) in paragraph (3)--
                            (A) in the first sentence, by inserting ``, 
                        including a prototype,'' after ``of a 
                        firearm''; and
                            (B) by striking the second sentence; and
            (5) in paragraph (5), by striking ``shall not apply to any 
        firearm which'' and all that follows and inserting the 
        following: ``shall not apply to--
            ``(A) any firearm received by, in the possession of, or 
        under the control of the United States; or
            ``(B) the manufacture, importation, possession, transfer, 
        receipt, shipment, or delivery of a firearm by a licensed 
        manufacturer or licensed importer pursuant to a contract with 
        the United States.''.
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