[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 397 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]


        S.397

                       One Hundred Ninth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
            the fourth day of January, two thousand and five


                                 An Act


 
  To prohibit civil liability actions from being brought or continued 
 against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms 
or ammunition for damages, injunctive or other relief resulting from the 
                   misuse of their products by others.

    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 ``Protection of Lawful Commerce in 
Arms Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
        (1) The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution 
    provides that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall 
    not be infringed.
        (2) The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution 
    protects the rights of individuals, including those who are not 
    members of a militia or engaged in military service or training, to 
    keep and bear arms.
        (3) Lawsuits have been commenced against manufacturers, 
    distributors, dealers, and importers of firearms that operate as 
    designed and intended, which seek money damages and other relief 
    for the harm caused by the misuse of firearms by third parties, 
    including criminals.
        (4) The manufacture, importation, possession, sale, and use of 
    firearms and ammunition in the United States are heavily regulated 
    by Federal, State, and local laws. Such Federal laws include the 
    Gun Control Act of 1968, the National Firearms Act, and the Arms 
    Export Control Act.
        (5) Businesses in the United States that are engaged in 
    interstate and foreign commerce through the lawful design, 
    manufacture, marketing, distribution, importation, or sale to the 
    public of firearms or ammunition products that have been shipped or 
    transported in interstate or foreign commerce are not, and should 
    not, be liable for the harm caused by those who criminally or 
    unlawfully misuse firearm products or ammunition products that 
    function as designed and intended.
        (6) The possibility of imposing liability on an entire industry 
    for harm that is solely caused by others is an abuse of the legal 
    system, erodes public confidence in our Nation's laws, threatens 
    the diminution of a basic constitutional right and civil liberty, 
    invites the disassembly and destabilization of other industries and 
    economic sectors lawfully competing in the free enterprise system 
    of the United States, and constitutes an unreasonable burden on 
    interstate and foreign commerce of the United States.
        (7) The liability actions commenced or contemplated by the 
    Federal Government, States, municipalities, and private interest 
    groups and others are based on theories without foundation in 
    hundreds of years of the common law and jurisprudence of the United 
    States and do not represent a bona fide expansion of the common 
    law. The possible sustaining of these actions by a maverick 
    judicial officer or petit jury would expand civil liability in a 
    manner never contemplated by the framers of the Constitution, by 
    Congress, or by the legislatures of the several States. Such an 
    expansion of liability would constitute a deprivation of the 
    rights, privileges, and immunities guaranteed to a citizen of the 
    United States under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States 
    Constitution.
        (8) The liability actions commenced or contemplated by the 
    Federal Government, States, municipalities, private interest groups 
    and others attempt to use the judicial branch to circumvent the 
    Legislative branch of government to regulate interstate and foreign 
    commerce through judgments and judicial decrees thereby threatening 
    the Separation of Powers doctrine and weakening and undermining 
    important principles of federalism, State sovereignty and comity 
    between the sister States.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are as follows:
        (1) To prohibit causes of action against manufacturers, 
    distributors, dealers, and importers of firearms or ammunition 
    products, and their trade associations, for the harm solely caused 
    by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm products or 
    ammunition products by others when the product functioned as 
    designed and intended.
        (2) To preserve a citizen's access to a supply of firearms and 
    ammunition for all lawful purposes, including hunting, self-
    defense, collecting, and competitive or recreational shooting.
        (3) To guarantee a citizen's rights, privileges, and 
    immunities, as applied to the States, under the Fourteenth 
    Amendment to the United States Constitution, pursuant to section 5 
    of that Amendment.
        (4) To prevent the use of such lawsuits to impose unreasonable 
    burdens on interstate and foreign commerce.
        (5) To protect the right, under the First Amendment to the 
    Constitution, of manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and 
    importers of firearms or ammunition products, and trade 
    associations, to speak freely, to assemble peaceably, and to 
    petition the Government for a redress of their grievances.
        (6) To preserve and protect the Separation of Powers doctrine 
    and important principles of federalism, State sovereignty and 
    comity between sister States.
        (7) To exercise congressional power under article IV, section 1 
    (the Full Faith and Credit Clause) of the United States 
    Constitution.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON BRINGING OF QUALIFIED CIVIL LIABILITY ACTIONS IN 
              FEDERAL OR STATE COURT.

    (a) In General.--A qualified civil liability action may not be 
brought in any Federal or State court.
    (b) Dismissal of Pending Actions.--A qualified civil liability 
action that is pending on the date of enactment of this Act shall be 
immediately dismissed by the court in which the action was brought or 
is currently pending.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
        (1) Engaged in the business.--The term ``engaged in the 
    business'' has the meaning given that term in section 921(a)(21) of 
    title 18, United States Code, and, as applied to a seller of 
    ammunition, means a person who devotes time, attention, and labor 
    to the sale of ammunition as a regular course of trade or business 
    with the principal objective of livelihood and profit through the 
    sale or distribution of ammunition.
        (2) Manufacturer.--The term ``manufacturer'' means, with 
    respect to a qualified product, a person who is engaged in the 
    business of manufacturing the product in interstate or foreign 
    commerce and who is licensed to engage in business as such a 
    manufacturer under chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code.
        (3) Person.--The term ``person'' means any individual, 
    corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, society, 
    joint stock company, or any other entity, including any 
    governmental entity.
        (4) Qualified product.--The term ``qualified product'' means a 
    firearm (as defined in subparagraph (A) or (B) of section 921(a)(3) 
    of title 18, United States Code), including any antique firearm (as 
    defined in section 921(a)(16) of such title), or ammunition (as 
    defined in section 921(a)(17)(A) of such title), or a component 
    part of a firearm or ammunition, that has been shipped or 
    transported in interstate or foreign commerce.
        (5) Qualified civil liability action.--
            (A) In general.--The term ``qualified civil liability 
        action'' means a civil action or proceeding or an 
        administrative proceeding brought by any person against a 
        manufacturer or seller of a qualified product, or a trade 
        association, for damages, punitive damages, injunctive or 
        declaratory relief, abatement, restitution, fines, or 
        penalties, or other relief, resulting from the criminal or 
        unlawful misuse of a qualified product by the person or a third 
        party, but shall not include--
                (i) an action brought against a transferor convicted 
            under section 924(h) of title 18, United States Code, or a 
            comparable or identical State felony law, by a party 
            directly harmed by the conduct of which the transferee is 
            so convicted;
                (ii) an action brought against a seller for negligent 
            entrustment or negligence per se;
                (iii) an action in which a manufacturer or seller of a 
            qualified product knowingly violated a State or Federal 
            statute applicable to the sale or marketing of the product, 
            and the violation was a proximate cause of the harm for 
            which relief is sought, including--

                    (I) any case in which the manufacturer or seller 
                knowingly made any false entry in, or failed to make 
                appropriate entry in, any record required to be kept 
                under Federal or State law with respect to the 
                qualified product, or aided, abetted, or conspired with 
                any person in making any false or fictitious oral or 
                written statement with respect to any fact material to 
                the lawfulness of the sale or other disposition of a 
                qualified product; or
                    (II) any case in which the manufacturer or seller 
                aided, abetted, or conspired with any other person to 
                sell or otherwise dispose of a qualified product, 
                knowing, or having reasonable cause to believe, that 
                the actual buyer of the qualified product was 
                prohibited from possessing or receiving a firearm or 
                ammunition under subsection (g) or (n) of section 922 
                of title 18, United States Code;

                (iv) an action for breach of contract or warranty in 
            connection with the purchase of the product;
                (v) an action for death, physical injuries or property 
            damage resulting directly from a defect in design or 
            manufacture of the product, when used as intended or in a 
            reasonably foreseeable manner, except that where the 
            discharge of the product was caused by a volitional act 
            that constituted a criminal offense, then such act shall be 
            considered the sole proximate cause of any resulting death, 
            personal injuries or property damage; or
                (vi) an action or proceeding commenced by the Attorney 
            General to enforce the provisions of chapter 44 of title 18 
            or chapter 53 of title 26, United States Code.
            (B) Negligent entrustment.--As used in subparagraph 
        (A)(ii), the term ``negligent entrustment'' means the supplying 
        of a qualified product by a seller for use by another person 
        when the seller knows, or reasonably should know, the person to 
        whom the product is supplied is likely to, and does, use the 
        product in a manner involving unreasonable risk of physical 
        injury to the person or others.
            (C) Rule of construction.--The exceptions enumerated under 
        clauses (i) through (v) of subparagraph (A) shall be construed 
        so as not to be in conflict, and no provision of this Act shall 
        be construed to create a public or private cause of action or 
        remedy.
            (D) Minor child exception.--Nothing in this Act shall be 
        construed to limit the right of a person under 17 years of age 
        to recover damages authorized under Federal or State law in a 
        civil action that meets 1 of the requirements under clauses (i) 
        through (v) of subparagraph (A).
        (6) Seller.--The term ``seller'' means, with respect to a 
    qualified product--
            (A) an importer (as defined in section 921(a)(9) of title 
        18, United States Code) who is engaged in the business as such 
        an importer in interstate or foreign commerce and who is 
        licensed to engage in business as such an importer under 
        chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code;
            (B) a dealer (as defined in section 921(a)(11) of title 18, 
        United States Code) who is engaged in the business as such a 
        dealer in interstate or foreign commerce and who is licensed to 
        engage in business as such a dealer under chapter 44 of title 
        18, United States Code; or
            (C) a person engaged in the business of selling ammunition 
        (as defined in section 921(a)(17)(A) of title 18, United States 
        Code) in interstate or foreign commerce at the wholesale or 
        retail level.
        (7) State.--The term ``State'' includes each of the several 
    States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the 
    Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American 
    Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and 
    any other territory or possession of the United States, and any 
    political subdivision of any such place.
        (8) Trade association.--The term ``trade association'' means--
            (A) any corporation, unincorporated association, 
        federation, business league, professional or business 
        organization not organized or operated for profit and no part 
        of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any 
        private shareholder or individual;
            (B) that is an organization described in section 501(c)(6) 
        of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under 
        section 501(a) of such Code; and
            (C) 2 or more members of which are manufacturers or sellers 
        of a qualified product.
        (9) Unlawful misuse.--The term ``unlawful misuse'' means 
    conduct that violates a statute, ordinance, or regulation as it 
    relates to the use of a qualified product.

SEC. 5. CHILD SAFETY LOCKS.

    (a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the ``Child Safety 
Lock Act of 2005''.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are--
        (1) to promote the safe storage and use of handguns by 
    consumers;
        (2) to prevent unauthorized persons from gaining access to or 
    use of a handgun, including children who may not be in possession 
    of a handgun; and
        (3) to avoid hindering industry from supplying firearms to law 
    abiding citizens for all lawful purposes, including hunting, self-
    defense, collecting, and competitive or recreational shooting.
    (c) Firearms Safety.--
        (1) Mandatory transfer of secure gun storage or safety 
    device.--Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
    inserting at the end the following:
    ``(z) Secure Gun Storage or Safety Device.--
        ``(1) In general.--Except as provided under paragraph (2), it 
    shall be unlawful for any licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, 
    or licensed dealer to sell, deliver, or transfer any handgun to any 
    person other than any person licensed under this chapter, unless 
    the transferee is provided with a secure gun storage or safety 
    device (as defined in section 921(a)(34)) for that handgun.
        ``(2) Exceptions.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply to--
            ``(A)(i) the manufacture for, transfer to, or possession 
        by, the United States, a department or agency of the United 
        States, a State, or a department, agency, or political 
        subdivision of a State, of a handgun; or
            ``(ii) the transfer to, or possession by, a law enforcement 
        officer employed by an entity referred to in clause (i) of a 
        handgun for law enforcement purposes (whether on or off duty); 
        or
            ``(B) the transfer to, or possession by, a rail police 
        officer employed by a rail carrier and certified or 
        commissioned as a police officer under the laws of a State of a 
        handgun for purposes of law enforcement (whether on or off 
        duty);
            ``(C) the transfer to any person of a handgun listed as a 
        curio or relic by the Secretary pursuant to section 921(a)(13); 
        or
            ``(D) the transfer to any person of a handgun for which a 
        secure gun storage or safety device is temporarily unavailable 
        for the reasons described in the exceptions stated in section 
        923(e), if the licensed manufacturer, licensed importer, or 
        licensed dealer delivers to the transferee within 10 calendar 
        days from the date of the delivery of the handgun to the 
        transferee a secure gun storage or safety device for the 
        handgun.
        ``(3) Liability for use.--
            ``(A) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law, a person who has lawful possession and control of a 
        handgun, and who uses a secure gun storage or safety device 
        with the handgun, shall be entitled to immunity from a 
        qualified civil liability action.
            ``(B) Prospective actions.--A qualified civil liability 
        action may not be brought in any Federal or State court.
            ``(C) Defined term.--As used in this paragraph, the term 
        `qualified civil liability action'--
                ``(i) means a civil action brought by any person 
            against a person described in subparagraph (A) for damages 
            resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse of the 
            handgun by a third party, if--

                    ``(I) the handgun was accessed by another person 
                who did not have the permission or authorization of the 
                person having lawful possession and control of the 
                handgun to have access to it; and
                    ``(II) at the time access was gained by the person 
                not so authorized, the handgun had been made inoperable 
                by use of a secure gun storage or safety device; and

                ``(ii) shall not include an action brought against the 
            person having lawful possession and control of the handgun 
            for negligent entrustment or negligence per se.''.
        (2) Civil penalties.--Section 924 of title 18, United States 
    Code, is amended--
            (A) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ``or (f)'' and 
        inserting ``(f), or (p)''; and
            (B) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(p) Penalties Relating To Secure Gun Storage or Safety Device.--
        ``(1) In general.--
            ``(A) Suspension or revocation of license; civil 
        penalties.--With respect to each violation of section 922(z)(1) 
        by a licensed manufacturer, licensed importer, or licensed 
        dealer, the Secretary may, after notice and opportunity for 
        hearing--
                ``(i) suspend for not more than 6 months, or revoke, 
            the license issued to the licensee under this chapter that 
            was used to conduct the firearms transfer; or
                ``(ii) subject the licensee to a civil penalty in an 
            amount equal to not more than $2,500.
            ``(B) Review.--An action of the Secretary under this 
        paragraph may be reviewed only as provided under section 
        923(f).
        ``(2) Administrative remedies.--The suspension or revocation of 
    a license or the imposition of a civil penalty under paragraph (1) 
    shall not preclude any administrative remedy that is otherwise 
    available to the Secretary.''.
        (3) Liability; evidence.--
            (A) Liability.--Nothing in this section shall be construed 
        to--
                (i) create a cause of action against any Federal 
            firearms licensee or any other person for any civil 
            liability; or
                (ii) establish any standard of care.
            (B) Evidence.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
        evidence regarding compliance or noncompliance with the 
        amendments made by this section shall not be admissible as 
        evidence in any proceeding of any court, agency, board, or 
        other entity, except with respect to an action relating to 
        section 922(z) of title 18, United States Code, as added by 
        this subsection.
            (C) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this paragraph shall 
        be construed to bar a governmental action to impose a penalty 
        under section 924(p) of title 18, United States Code, for a 
        failure to comply with section 922(z) of that title.
    (d) Effective Date.--This section and the amendments made by this 
section shall take effect 180 days after the date of enactment of this 
Act.

SEC. 6. ARMOR PIERCING AMMUNITION.

    (a) Unlawful Acts.--Section 922(a) of title 18, United States Code, 
is amended by striking paragraphs (7) and (8) and inserting the 
following:
        ``(7) for any person to manufacture or import armor piercing 
    ammunition, unless--
            ``(A) the manufacture of such ammunition is for the use of 
        the United States, any department or agency of the United 
        States, any State, or any department, agency, or political 
        subdivision of a State;
            ``(B) the manufacture of such ammunition is for the purpose 
        of exportation; or
            ``(C) the manufacture or importation of such ammunition is 
        for the purpose of testing or experimentation and has been 
        authorized by the Attorney General;
        ``(8) for any manufacturer or importer to sell or deliver armor 
    piercing ammunition, unless such sale or delivery--
            ``(A) is for the use of the United States, any department 
        or agency of the United States, any State, or any department, 
        agency, or political subdivision of a State;
            ``(B) is for the purpose of exportation; or
            ``(C) is for the purpose of testing or experimentation and 
        has been authorized by the Attorney General;''.
    (b) Penalties.--Section 924(c) of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(5) Except to the extent that a greater minimum sentence is 
otherwise provided under this subsection, or by any other provision of 
law, any person who, during and in relation to any crime of violence or 
drug trafficking crime (including a crime of violence or drug 
trafficking crime that provides for an enhanced punishment if committed 
by the use of a deadly or dangerous weapon or device) for which the 
person may be prosecuted in a court of the United States, uses or 
carries armor piercing ammunition, or who, in furtherance of any such 
crime, possesses armor piercing ammunition, shall, in addition to the 
punishment provided for such crime of violence or drug trafficking 
crime or conviction under this section--
        ``(A) be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 
    15 years; and
        ``(B) if death results from the use of such ammunition--
            ``(i) if the killing is murder (as defined in section 
        1111), be punished by death or sentenced to a term of 
        imprisonment for any term of years or for life; and
            ``(ii) if the killing is manslaughter (as defined in 
        section 1112), be punished as provided in section 1112.''.
    (c) Study and Report.--
        (1) Study.--The Attorney General shall conduct a study to 
    determine whether a uniform standard for the testing of projectiles 
    against Body Armor is feasible.
        (2) Issues to be studied.--The study conducted under paragraph 
    (1) shall include--
            (A) variations in performance that are related to the 
        length of the barrel of the handgun or center-fire rifle from 
        which the projectile is fired; and
            (B) the amount of powder used to propel the projectile.
        (3) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 
    of this Act, the Attorney General shall submit a report containing 
    the results of the study conducted under this subsection to--
            (A) the chairman and ranking member of the Committee on the 
        Judiciary of the Senate; and
            (B) the chairman and ranking member of the Committee on the 
        Judiciary of the House of Representatives.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.