Details

• Sponsor - Kennedy
• Proposed - February 7, 2008
• Congressional Record Link - S.2605
• Amends - None.
• Amendments - None.
• Vote - None yet.
• Results - No change in law.

Status

February 7, 2008 - Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Synopsis

The bill is relatively short, so here is the entire text:

A BILL

To require certain semiautomatic pistols manufactured, imported, or sold by Federal firearms licensees to be capable of microstamping ammunition.

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

SECTION 1. REQUIREMENT THAT CERTAIN SEMIAUTOMATIC PISTOLS MANUFACTURED, IMPORTED, OR SOLD BY FEDERAL FIREARMS LICENSEES BE CAPABLE OF MICROSTAMPING AMMUNITION.

(a) In General- Section 923 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

`(m)(1)(A) A person licensed under this chapter shall not manufacture, import, or transfer a semiautomatic pistol to which this subparagraph applies that is not capable of microstamping ammunition.

`(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), a pistol is capable of microstamping ammunition if--

`(i) a microscopic array of characters that identify the make, model, and serial number of the pistol is etched into the breech face and firing pin of the pistol; and

`(ii) when ammunition is fired from the pistol, the characters are copied from the breech face and firing pin onto the cartridge case of the ammunition.

`(C) Subparagraph (A) shall apply only to semiautomatic pistols which--

`(i) are manufactured, or imported into the United States, on or after the effective date of this subsection; and

`(ii) have not been transferred to a person not licensed under this chapter.

`(2) Whoever violates paragraph (1) shall be fined an amount equal to--

`(A) in the case of a first such violation by the violator, $1,000 multiplied by the number of semiautomatic pistols involved in the violation;

`(B) in the case of a second such violation by the violator, $2,000 multiplied by the number of semiautomatic pistols involved in the violation; or

`(C) in the case of a third such violation by the violator, $3,000 multiplied by the number of semiautomatic pistols involved in the violation.'.

(b) Effective Date- The amendment made by subsection (a) shall take effect on January 1, 2010.

Analysis

Because EVERY gun sold by an FFL after 1/1/10 would need to microstamp, you could call this a short term, gun smith, full employment act.

But back to the basics, according the the definition, every gun would microstamp with the pin and the breech face, neither of which is a gun in legal terms and neither of which is currently serialized.

A simple file would take care of both problems.

Which is just the first problem with this bill. If they really wanted to have microstamping, they would need to:

1. regulate sales and installation of new parts,
2. criminalize possession of guns that don't microstamp. But, what about firearms that existed before 1/1/10 that have not changed hands?
3. consider how to deal with parts where the microstamping just wears out. Not every gun owner is going to keep a microscope around to see if the stamping is still legible.

I suggest we start by requiring all Kennedy family body guards have microstamping firearms to see if the technology is practical and useful.

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