[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3125 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3125

  To provide for the identification of felons and persons adjudicated 
 mentally incompetent on driver's licenses and certain identification 
  documents through a magnetic strip containing coded information and 
 through the establishment of a national system for the identification 
  of such persons, and to impose criminal penalties on any federally 
licensed firearms dealer who sells a handgun to a person without using 
    a device to read the magnetic strip on the driver's license or 
                 identification document of the person.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 23, 1993

 Mr. Bartlett of Maryland (for himself, Mr. Crane, Mr. Goodlatte, and 
    Mr. Smith of Michigan) introduced the following bill; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide for the identification of felons and persons adjudicated 
 mentally incompetent on driver's licenses and certain identification 
  documents through a magnetic strip containing coded information and 
 through the establishment of a national system for the identification 
  of such persons, and to impose criminal penalties on any federally 
licensed firearms dealer who sells a handgun to a person without using 
    a device to read the magnetic strip on the driver's license or 
                 identification document of the person.

    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 ``Felon Identification and Police 
Safety Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) State laws requiring a waiting period before the 
        purchase of a firearm have endangered the lives of law-abiding 
        Americans by preventing them from protecting themselves, as 
        demonstrated by the following examples:
                    (A) In 1991, Bonnie Elmasri of Wisconsin tried to 
                get a handgun to protect herself from her estranged 
                husband, but he returned home and killed her and her 2 
                children before the 48-hour waiting period required by 
                State law had expired.
                    (B) In 1990, Catherine Latta of North Carolina 
                tried to buy a firearm but was told by police that it 
                would take her 2 to 4 weeks to get the necessary 
                permit. After telling the clerk she ``would be dead by 
                then,'' she illegally bought a handgun on the street. 5 
                hours later she was attacked again by the man who had 
                already robbed, assaulted, and raped her. She used her 
                handgun to protect herself by shooting and killing him. 
                Had she not had a handgun, the outcome would have been 
                much different.
                    (C) Residents of Los Angeles were forced to wait 15 
                days during the 1991 riots before they could legally 
                buy a firearm for protection, in spite of the fact that 
                police were admitting that they could not protect the 
                people.
            (2) A point-of-sale instant background check can easily 
        lead to a gun owner registration system. Commenting on the 
        Virginia State instant check system, the Congressional Office 
        of Technology Assessment said ``The Virginia transaction log 
        does not include the names of firearm purchasers, but the 
        potential exists regardless of legal prohibitions.''.
            (3) Laws requiring a waiting period before the purchase of 
        a firearm have not prevented crime rates in various States that 
        have enacted such laws from increasing far above the national 
        average increase in crime rates.
            (4) Police cannot protect, and are not legally responsible 
        for protecting, individual citizens, as evidenced by the 
        following:
                    (A) The courts have consistently ruled that the 
                police do not have an obligation to protect 
                individuals, only the public in general. In Warren v. 
                District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department 
                (D.C. App. 444 A. 2d 1 (1981)), the court stated 
                ``courts have without exception concluded that when a 
                municipality or other governmental entity undertakes to 
                furnish police services, it assumes a duty only to the 
                public at large and not to individual members of the 
                community''.
                    (B) Former Florida Attorney General Jim Smith told 
                Florida legislators that police responded to only 
                200,000 of 700,000 calls for help to Dade County 
                authorities.
                    (C) The Department of Justice found that, in 1989, 
                there were 168,881 crimes of violence which were not 
                responded to by police within 1 hour.
                    (D) Currently, there are about 150,000 police 
                officers on duty to protect a population of more than 
                250,000,000 Americans.

SEC. 3. SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFYING FELONS AND PERSONS ADJUDICATED MENTALLY 
              INCOMPETENT.

    (a) In General.--The laws and procedures of a State are of the type 
described in this subsection if the laws and procedures, in substance, 
provide the following:
            (1) Records check required before issuance of driver's 
        license and identification documents; use of magnetic strips to 
        identify prohibited persons.--Before the State transportation 
        agency issues, reissues, or reinstates a license, the agency 
        shall--
                    (A) conduct a record check to determine whether the 
                applicant therefor is a prohibited person by examining 
                the State list referred to in paragraph (4) of this 
                subsection and the national list referred to in 
                subsection (b)(1); and
                    (B) affix to the license of the person a magnetic 
                strip on which is encoded information that--
                            (i) identifies the licensee as a prohibited 
                        person or as a nonprohibited person; and
                            (ii) may be discerned only through the use 
                        of an electronic device that--
                                    (I) is read only;
                                    (II) does not have storage or 
                                communication capabilities; and
                                    (III) signals the user of the 
                                device with--
                                            (aa) a green light if the 
                                        device reads a magnetic strip 
                                        that does not identify the 
                                        person as a prohibited person; 
                                        and
                                            (bb) a red light if the 
                                        device reads a magnetic strip 
                                        that identifies the person as a 
                                        prohibited person.
            (2) Effects of felony conviction or adjudication of mental 
        incompetency.--
                    (A) Seizure and voiding of driver's license.--If a 
                State court convicts a person of a crime punishable by 
                imprisonment for a term exceeding 1 year or adjudicates 
                a person as mentally incompetent, the court shall seize 
                any license issued to the person by the State 
                transportation agency, and any such license shall be 
                void.
                    (B) Issuance of new license upon request.--Upon 
                request of a person referred to in subparagraph (A), 
                the State transportation agency shall issue to the 
                person (if otherwise eligible therefor) another such 
                license affixed to which is a magnetic strip 
                identifying the person as a prohibited person.
            (3) Funding of records checks.--
                    (A) Increase in fines imposed upon convicted 
                felons.--Any person convicted in the State of a crime 
                punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding 1 year 
                shall, in addition to any sentence imposed under any 
                other provision of State law, be fined an amount 
                sufficient to cover the expenses of criminal records 
                checks conducted pursuant to paragraph (1)(A), taking 
                all such convictions into account on an annual basis.
                    (B) Surcharge imposed on prohibited persons to 
                obtain a driver's license.--In addition to any fee 
                required to be paid by a person to obtain a license, 
                the State transportation agency shall require a 
                prohibited person to pay surcharge in an amount 
                determined by the State to be sufficient to cover the 
                expenses of criminal records checks conducted by the 
                agency pursuant to paragraph (1)(A), taking into 
                account fines imposed under subparagraph (B) of this 
                paragraph.
            (4) Requirement to maintain and update computerized list of 
        prohibited persons.--The State shall create and maintain a 
        computerized list of all persons who are prohibited persons by 
        reason of a conviction or adjudication in the State, and, 
        within 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
        shall achieve and maintain at least 80 percent currency of case 
        dispositions in the computerized list for all cases in which 
        there has been an entry of activity within the then immediately 
        preceding 5 years.
    (b) Duties of the Attorney General.--The Attorney General of the 
United States shall--
            (1) create a national, computerized list of prohibited 
        persons;
            (2) incorporate State criminal history records into the 
        Federal criminal records system maintained by the Federal 
        Bureau of Investigation;
            (3) develop hardware and software systems to link State 
        lists referred to in subsection (a)(4) with the national list 
        referred to in paragraph (1) of this subsection; and
            (4) provide any responsible State agency with access to the 
        national list, upon request.
    (c) Procedures for Correcting Erroneous Records.--
            (1) Request for information.--Any person identified as a 
        prohibited person in records maintained under this section may 
        request the Attorney General of the United States to notify the 
        person of the reasons therefor.
            (2) Compliance with request.--Within 5 days after receipt 
        of a request under paragraph (1), the Attorney General shall 
        comply with the request.
            (3) Submission of additional information.--Any person 
        described in paragraph (1) may submit to the Attorney General 
        information to correct, clarify, or supplement records 
        maintained under this section with respect to the person.
            (4) Consideration and use of additional information.--
        Within 5 days after receipt of such information, the Attorney 
        General shall consider the information, investigate the matter 
        further, correct any and all erroneous Federal records relating 
        to such person, and notify any Federal department or agency or 
        any State that was the source of the erroneous records of the 
        errors.
    (d) Judicial Review.--Any person erroneously identified as a 
prohibited person in records maintained pursuant to this section may 
bring an action in any United States district court against the United 
States, or any State or political subdivision thereof which is the 
source of the erroneous information, for damages (including 
consequential damages), injunctive relief, and such other relief as the 
court deems appropriate. If the person prevails in the action, the 
court shall allow the person a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the 
costs.
    (e) Definitions.--As used in this section:
            (1) License.--The term ``license'' means a license or 
        permit to operate a motor vehicle on the roads and highways of 
        the State, and any identification document issued by a State 
        transportation agency solely for purposes of identification.
            (2) Prohibited person.--The term ``prohibited person'' 
        means a person who--
                    (A) has been convicted of a crime punishable under 
                Federal or State law by imprisonment for a term 
                exceeding 1 year; or
                    (B)(i) has been adjudicated mentally incompetent; 
                and
                    (ii)(I) has not been restored to capacity by court 
                order; or
                    (II) has been so restored to capacity for less than 
                5 years.
            (3) State transportation agency.--The term ``State 
        transportation agency'' means the State agency responsible for 
        issuing a license, permit, or identification document described 
        in paragraph (1).
    (f) Justice Assistance Funds Withheld From Certain States Unless 
Certain Laws and Procedures are in Effect.--2 years after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau of Justice 
Assistance shall reduce by 25 percent the annual allocation to a State 
for a fiscal year under title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 if the State has in effect, as of such date of 
enactment, a waiting period, or a system for identifying felons, before 
the purchase of a handgun, and the State does not, by the end of such 
2-year period, have in effect all of the laws and procedures of the 
type described in subsection (a). If, at any time after such 2-year 
period, any State has in effect a waiting period before the purchase of 
a handgun, or a system for identifying felons or persons adjudicated 
mentally incompetent other than as provided pursuant to laws and 
procedures of the type described in subsection (a), the Director of the 
Bureau of Justice Assistance shall reduce by 25 percent the annual 
allocation to the State for a fiscal year under title I of the Omnibus 
Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968.

SEC. 4. LICENSED FIREARMS DEALERS REQUIRED TO CHECK MAGNETIC STRIP ON 
              DRIVER'S LICENSE OF ANY PERSON ATTEMPTING TO PURCHASE A 
              HANDGUN.

    (a) Prohibition.--Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(s)(1) It shall be unlawful for any licensed dealer knowingly 
to--
            ``(A) sell a handgun to any person not licensed under 
        section 923, unless the licensed dealer has used an electronic 
        device described in section 3(a)(1)(B)(ii) of Felon 
        Identification and Police Safety Act of 1993 to read the 
        magnetic strip affixed to an identification document issued to 
        the person by the transportation agency of the State in which 
        the premises of the licensed dealer is located; or
            ``(B) fail to notify local law enforcement authorities, 
        within 72 hours, of any person attempting to purchase a handgun 
        who is identified as a prohibited person through the use of 
        such a device.
    ``(2) As used in paragraph (1):
                    ``(A) The term `handgun' means a firearm which has 
                a short stock and is designed to be held and fired by 
                the use of a single hand.
                    ``(B) The term `identification document' means a 
                license or permit to operate a motor vehicle, and any 
                identification document issued solely for purposes of 
                identification.
                    ``(C) The term `transportation agency' means the 
                agency responsible for issuing commercial or 
                noncommercial identification documents.
    ``(3) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in any State that does not have 
in effect the laws and procedures required by section 3(a) of the Felon 
Identification and Police Safety Act of 1993.''.
    (b) Penalty.--Section 924(a) of such title is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``paragraph (2) or (3) 
        of''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(5) Any licensed dealer who violates section 922(s) shall be 
imprisoned not more than 1 year, fined not more than $1,000, or 
both.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section apply to 
conduct engaged in after the 2-year period that begins with the date of 
the enactment of this Act.

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