[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 407 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 407

 To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for reciprocity in 
regard to the manner in which nonresidents of a State may carry certain 
                   concealed firearms in that State.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 19, 1999

   Mr. Paul introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for reciprocity in 
regard to the manner in which nonresidents of a State may carry certain 
                   concealed firearms in that State.

    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 ``Second Amendment Restoration Act of 
1999''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Law-abiding citizens use guns to defend themselves 
        against criminals as many as 2.5 million times every year--or 
        6,850 times a day. This means that each year, firearms are used 
        60 times more often to protect the lives of honest citizens 
        than to take lives.
            (2) Of the 2.5 million self-defense cases, more than 
        200,000 are by women defending themselves against sexual abuse. 
        And as many as one-half million times every year, somebody 
        carrying a gun away from home defends himself or herself.
            (3) Citizens shoot and kill over 1,500 criminals a year, 
        which is more than twice as many as police kill.
            (4) Of the 2.5 million times citizens use their guns to 
        defend themselves every year, the overwhelming majority merely 
        brandish their gun or fire a warning shot to scare off their 
        attackers. Less than 8 percent of the time, a citizen will kill 
        or wound his/her attacker.
            (5) Handguns are the weapon of choice for self-defense. 
        Citizens use handguns to protect themselves over 1.9 million 
        times a year.
            (6) Police cannot possibly protect every individual 
        citizen. Currently, there are about 150,000 police officers on 
        duty at any one time to protect a population of more than 250 
        million Americans--or almost 1,700 citizens per officer.
            (7) The second amendment to the Constitution of the United 
        States protects the right of Americans to carry firearms in 
        defense of themselves and others.

SEC. 3. RECIPROCITY FOR THE CARRYING OF CERTAIN CONCEALED FIREARMS.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after section 926A the following:

      ``reciprocity for the carrying of certain concealed firearms

    ``Sec. 926B. (a) Notwithstanding any provision of the law of any 
State or political subdivision thereof, a person who is not prohibited 
by Federal law from possessing, transporting, shipping, or receiving a 
firearm and--
            ``(1) who is carrying a valid license or permit which is 
        issued pursuant to the law of any State and which permits the 
        person to carry a concealed firearm; or
            ``(2) who is otherwise entitled to carry a concealed 
        firearm in and pursuant to the law of the State of a person's 
        residence--
may carry in any State a concealed firearm in accordance with the terms 
of the license or with the laws of the State of the person's residence, 
subject to the laws of the State in which the firearm is carried 
concerning locations in which firearms may not be carried.''.
    (b) Severability.--If any provision of this Act, or the application 
thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity 
does not affect other provisions or applications of the Act which can 
be given effect without the invalid provisions or applications, and to 
this end the provisions of this Act are severable.
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 44 of 
title 18 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
926A the following:

``926B. Reciprocity for the carrying of certain concealed firearms.''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The provisions of this Act shall take effect 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act.
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