Armor-Piercing Bullets Act of 2017

Bill: 115-hr-4721
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Engel, Eliot L. [D-NY-16]
Introduced: 2017-12-21
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects: Firearms and explosives
Latest action: action_date: 2018-01-22
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.

Summaries:
action_date: 2017-12-21
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Armor-Piercing Bullets Act of 2017</b></p> <p>This bill establishes a framework for determining whether certain armor piercing ammunition is primarily intended for sporting purposes. Current law prohibits the import, manufacture, and distribution of armor piercing ammunition. However, armor piercing ammunition that is primarily intended for sporting purposes is exempt from the prohibition and may be lawfully imported, manufactured, and distributed.

tv_txt: I 115th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 4721 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES December 21, 2017 Mr. Engel (for himself, Mr. Vargas , Mrs. Watson Coleman , Mr. Meeks , Ms. Speier , Mr. Grijalva , and Mr. Cohen ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To enact into law a framework for deciding whether certain projectiles are primarily intended for sporting purposes for purposes of determining whether the projectiles are armor piercing ammunition.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Armor-Piercing Bullets Act of 2017 . 2. Framework for deciding whether certain projectiles are primarily intended for sporting purposes for purposes of determining whether the projectiles are armor piercing ammunition Section 921(a)(17) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: (D) (i) For purposes of subparagraph (C), a .22 caliber projectile that otherwise would be armor piercing ammunition shall be considered to be primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes if the projectile weighs 40 grains or less and is loaded into a rimfire cartridge. (ii) (I) (aa) Except as provided in clause (i), a projectile that otherwise would be armor piercing ammunition shall, for purposes of subparagraph (C), be considered to be primarily intended to be used for sporting purpose if the projectile is loaded into a cartridge for which the only handgun that is readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade is a single shot handgun, subject to subclause (II). (bb) In subclause (aa), the term single shot handgun means a break-open or bolt action handgun that can accept only a single cartridge manually, and does not accept or use a magazine or other ammunition feeding device, but does not include a pocket pistol or derringer-type firearm. (II) For purposes of subparagraph (C), the Attorney General may treat a projectile as not primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes if substantial evidence exists that the projectile is not primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes. .