[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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