[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1540 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1540

     To ensure greater accountability by licensed firearms dealers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 1, 2003

   Mr. Langevin (for himself, Mr. Abercrombie, Ms. Corrine Brown of 
  Florida, Mr. Case, Mr. Clay, Mr. Conyers, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Frank of 
   Massachusetts, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Ms. 
Lofgren, Mrs. McCarthy of New York, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Meehan, Mr. Moran 
of Virginia, Ms. Norton, Mr. Pascrell, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Serrano, Mr. 
    Lantos, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Wexler, and Ms. Woolsey) introduced the 
  following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To ensure greater accountability by licensed firearms dealers.

    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 ``Crackdown on Deadbeat Dealers Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) a small number of licensed firearms dealers account for 
        a large proportion of the firearms traced from crimes;
            (2) in 1998, 1.2 percent of licensed firearms dealers--
        1,020 of the approximately 83,200 licensed retail firearms 
        dealers and pawnbrokers--accounted for over 57 percent of the 
        crime guns traced to licensed firearms dealers; and
            (3) in 1998, just over 450 licensed firearms dealers had 
        traced to them 10 or more guns that were used in crimes within 
        3 years after they sold the guns.

SEC. 3. INCREASING THE NUMBER OF ALLOWED COMPLIANCE INSPECTIONS OF 
              FIREARMS DEALERS.

    Section 923(g)(1)(B)(ii)(I) of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by striking ``once'' and inserting ``3 times''.

SEC. 4. INCREASING PENALTIES ON FIREARMS LICENSEES.

    Section 924(a)(3) of title 18, United States Code is amended by 
striking ``one year'' and inserting ``5 years''.

SEC. 5. SERIOUS RECORDKEEPING OFFENSES THAT AID GUN TRAFFICKING.

    Section 924(a)(3) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
striking the period and inserting ``; but if the violation is in 
relation to an offense under subsection (a)(6) or (d) of section 922, 
shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or 
both.''.

SEC. 6. SUSPENSION OF FIREARMS DEALER'S LICENSE AND CIVIL PENALTIES FOR 
              VIOLATIONS OF THE GUN CONTROL ACT.

    Subsections (e) and (f) of section 923 of title 18, United States 
Code, are amended to read as follows:
    ``(e) The Attorney General may, after notice and opportunity for 
hearing, suspend or revoke any license issued under this section, or 
may subject the licensee to a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 
per violation, if the holder of the license has willfully violated any 
provision of this chapter or any rule or regulation prescribed by the 
Attorney General under this chapter or fails to have secure gun storage 
or safety devices available at any place in which firearms are sold 
under the license to persons who are not licensees (except that in any 
case in which a secure gun storage or safety device is temporarily 
unavailable because of theft, casualty loss, consumer sales, backorders 
from a manufacturer, or any other similar reason beyond the control of 
the licensee, the dealer shall not be considered to be in violation of 
the requirement to make available such a device). The Attorney General 
may, after notice and opportunity for hearing, suspend or revoke the 
license of, or assess a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 on, a 
dealer who willfully transfers armor piercing ammunition. The Attorney 
General may at any time compromise, mitigate, or remit the liability 
with respect to any willful violation of this chapter or any rule or 
regulation prescribed by the Attorney General under this chapter. The 
Attorney General's actions under this subsection may be reviewed only 
as provided in subsection (f).
    ``(f)(1) Any person whose application for a license is denied and 
any holder of a license which is suspended or revoked or who is 
assessed a civil penalty shall receive a written notice from the 
Attorney General stating specifically the grounds upon which the 
application was denied or upon which the license was suspended or 
revoked or the civil penalty assessed. Any notice of a suspension or 
revocation of a license shall be given to the holder of the license 
before the effective date of the suspension or revocation.
    ``(2) If the Attorney General denies an application for a license, 
or suspends or revokes a license, or assesses a civil penalty, the 
Attorney General shall, upon request by the aggrieved party, promptly 
hold a hearing to review the denial, suspension, revocation, or 
assessment. In the case of a suspension or revocation of a license, the 
Attorney General shall, on the request of the holder of the license, 
stay the effective date of the suspension or revocation. A hearing 
under this paragraph shall be held at a location convenient to the 
aggrieved party.
    ``(3) If after a hearing held under paragraph (2) the Attorney 
General decides not to reverse the decision to deny an application or 
suspend or revoke a license or assess a civil penalty, the Attorney 
General shall give notice of the decision to the aggrieved party. The 
aggrieved party may at any time within 60 days after the date notice is 
given under this paragraph file a petition with the United States 
district court for the district in which party resides or in which the 
party's principal place of business is located for a de novo judicial 
review of the denial, suspension, revocation, or assessment. In a 
proceeding conducted under this subsection, the court may consider any 
evidence submitted by the parties to the proceeding whether or not such 
evidence was considered at the hearing held under paragraph (2). If the 
court decides that the Attorney General was not authorized to deny the 
application or to suspend or revoke the license or to assess the civil 
penalty, the court shall order the Attorney General to take such action 
as may be necessary to comply with the judgment of the court.''.

SEC. 7. TERMINATION OF FIREARMS DEALER'S LICENSE UPON FELONY 
              CONVICTION.

    Section 925(b) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
striking ``until any conviction pursuant to the indictment becomes 
final'' and inserting ``until the date of any conviction pursuant to 
the indictment''.

SEC. 8. HIRING AND TRAINING OF ADDITIONAL INSPECTORS FOR THE BUREAU OF 
              ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS, AND EXPLOSIVES.

    (a) Limitations on Authorization of Appropriations.--For the hiring 
and training of 500 additional inspectors for the Bureau of Alcohol, 
Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives of the Department of Justice, there 
are authorized to be appropriated--
            (1) not more than $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2004; and
            (2) not more than $55,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 
        through 2008.
    (b) Availability of Appropriations.--Amounts appropriated under 
subsection (a) are authorized to remain available until expended.
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