[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 723 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 723

 To increase the safety of the American people by preventing dangerous 
  military firearms in the control of foreign governments from being 
        imported into the United States, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 8, 1997

Mr. Lautenberg (for himself, Mrs. Boxer, and Mr. Kerry) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                           Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To increase the safety of the American people by preventing dangerous 
  military firearms in the control of foreign governments from being 
        imported into the United States, 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 ``Anti-Gun Invasion Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Since 1950, the United States Government has furnished 
        to foreign governments at least 2,500,000 military firearms 
        that are considered to be ``curios or relics'' under the Gun 
        Control Act of 1968.
            (2) These firearms include more than 1,200,000 M-1 Carbine 
        rifles and 250,000 M1911 pistols of United States manufacture 
        that have been furnished to foreign governments under United 
        States foreign military assistance grant, loan, or sales 
        programs.
            (4) Criminals tend to use low-cost firearms that are 
        concealable, capable of accepting large-capacity magazines, or 
        are capable of being easily converted to fully automatic fire.
            (5) An M-1 Carbine can be converted easily to a fully 
        automatic weapon by disassembling the weapon and reassembling 
        the weapon with a few additional parts.
            (6) An M1911 or M1911A pistol is easily concealable.
            (7) At least 9 police officers have been murdered in the 
        United States using M-1 Carbines or M1911 pistols in the past 7 
        years.
            (8) The importation of large numbers of ``curio or relic'' 
        weapons would lower their cost, make them more readily 
        available to criminals, and constitute a threat to public 
        safety and to law enforcement officers.
            (9) The importation of these ``curios or relics'' weapons 
        could result in a financial windfall for foreign governments.
            (10) In order to ensure that these weapons are never 
        permitted to be imported into the United States, a provision of 
        the Arms Export Control Act must be deleted.

SEC. 3. REMOVAL OF EXEMPTION FROM PROHIBITION ON IMPORTS OF CERTAIN 
              FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION.

    (a) Removal of Exemption.--Section 38(b)(1) of the Arms Export 
Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2778(b)(1)) is amended by striking subparagraph 
(B), as added by section 8142(a) of the Department of Defense 
Appropriations Act, 1988 (contained in Public Law 100-202).
    (b) Savings Provision.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
not affect any license issued before the date of the enactment of this 
Act.

SEC. 4. REPORT ON IMPORTS OF FOREIGN-MADE SURPLUS MILITARY FIREARMS 
              THAT ARE CURIOS OR RELICS.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of the Treasury, acting through the Bureau of Alcohol, 
Tobacco and Firearms, shall submit a report to Congress on the scope 
and effect of the importation of foreign-made surplus military firearms 
under section 925(e) of title 18, United States Code. The report shall 
contain the following:
            (1) Current importation.--A list of types and models of 
        military firearms currently being imported into the United 
        States as ``curios or relics'' under section 925(e) of title 
        18, United States Code, which would otherwise be barred from 
        importation as surplus military firearms under section 
        925(d)(3) of that title.
            (2) Importation during preceding 5 years.--A list of the 
        number of each type and model listed under paragraph (1) that 
        has been imported into the United States during the 5 years 
        preceding the date of submission of the report.
            (3) Ease of conversion.--A description of the ease with 
        which each type and model listed under paragraph (1) may be 
        converted to a semiautomatic assault weapon as defined in 
        section 921(a)(30)(B) of that title or to a fully automatic 
        weapon.
            (4) Involvement in criminal activities.--Statistics that 
        may be relevant to the use for criminal activities of each type 
        and model of weapons listed in paragraph (1), including--
                    (A) statistics involving the use of the weapons in 
                homicides of law enforcement officials; and
                    (B) the number of firearm traces by the Bureau of 
                Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that involved those 
                weapons.
            (5) Comprehensive evaluation.--A comprehensive evaluation 
        of the scope of imports under section 925(e) of that title and 
        the use of such weapons in crimes in the United States.
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