[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 527 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 527

 To protect the Nation's law enforcement officers by banning the Five-
    seveN Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm SS190 and SS192 cartridges, testing 
  handguns and ammunition for capability to penetrate body armor, and 
  prohibiting the manufacture, importation, sale, or purchase of such 
                  handguns or ammunition by civilians.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 3, 2005

    Mr. Lautenberg (for himself, Mr. Corzine, Mr. Schumer, and Mrs. 
   Clinton) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To protect the Nation's law enforcement officers by banning the Five-
    seveN Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm SS190 and SS192 cartridges, testing 
  handguns and ammunition for capability to penetrate body armor, and 
  prohibiting the manufacture, importation, sale, or purchase of such 
                  handguns or ammunition by civilians.

    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 ``Protect Law Enforcement Armor Act'' 
or the ``PLEA Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Law enforcement is facing a new threat from handguns 
        and accompanying ammunition, which are designed to penetrate 
        police body armor, being marketed and sold to civilians.
            (2) A Five-seveN Pistol and accompanying ammunition, 
        manufactured by FN Herstal of Belgium as the ``5.7 x 28 mm 
        System,'' has recently been recovered by law enforcement on the 
        streets. The Five-seveN Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm SS192 cartridges 
        are legally available for purchase by civilians under current 
        law.
            (3) The Five-seveN Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm SS192 cartridges 
        are capable of penetrating level IIA armor. The manufacturer 
        advertises that ammunition fired from the Five-seveN will 
        perforate 48 layers of Kevlar up to 200 meters and that the 
        ammunition travels at 2100 feet per second.
            (4) The Five-seveN Pistol, and similar handguns designed to 
        use ammunition capable of penetrating body armor, pose a 
        devastating threat to law enforcement.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to protect the Nation's 
law enforcement officers by--
            (1) testing handguns and ammunition for capability to 
        penetrate body armor; and
            (2) prohibiting the manufacture, importation, sale, or 
        purchase by civilians of the Five-seveN Pistol, ammunition for 
        such pistol, or any other handgun that uses ammunition found to 
        be capable of penetrating body armor.

SEC. 3. ARMOR PIERCING AMMUNITION.

    (a) Expansion of Definition of Armor Piercing Ammunition.--Section 
921(a)(17)(B) of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in clause (i), by striking ``or'' at the end;
            (2) in clause (ii), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(iii) a projectile that--
                            ``(I) may be used in a handgun; and
                            ``(II) the Attorney General determines, 
                        pursuant to section 926(d), to be capable of 
                        penetrating body armor.''.
    (b) Determination of Capability of Projectiles to Penetrate Body 
Armor.--Section 926 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(d)(1) Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 
subsection, the Attorney General shall promulgate standards for the 
uniform testing of projectiles against Body Armor Exemplar.
    ``(2) The standards promulgated pursuant to paragraph (1) shall 
take into account, among other factors, variations in performance that 
are related to the type of handgun used, the length of the barrel of 
the handgun, the amount and kind of powder used to propel the 
projectile, and the design of the projectile.
    ``(3) As used in paragraph (1), the term `Body Armor Exemplar' 
means body armor that the Attorney General determines meets minimum 
standards for the protection of law enforcement officers.''

SEC. 4. ARMOR PIERCING HANDGUNS AND AMMUNITION.

    (a) In General.--Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding after subsection (y):
    ``(z) Five-seveN Pistol.--
            ``(1) In general.--It shall be unlawful for any person to 
        manufacture, import, market, sell, ship, deliver, possess, 
        transfer, or receive--
                    ``(A) the Fabrique Nationale Herstal Five-SeveN 
                Pistol;
                    ``(B) 5.7 x 28mm SS190 and SS192 cartridges; or
                    ``(C) any other handgun that uses armor piercing 
                ammunition.
            ``(2) Exceptions.--This subsection shall not apply to--
                    ``(A) any firearm or armor piercing ammunition 
                manufactured for, and sold exclusively to, military, 
                law enforcement, or intelligence agencies of the United 
                States; and
                    ``(B) the manufacture, possession, transfer, 
                receipt, shipment, or delivery of a firearm or armor 
                piercing ammunition by a licensed manufacturer, or any 
                person acting pursuant to a contract with a licensed 
                manufacturer, for the purpose of examining and testing 
                such firearm or ammunition to determine whether 
                paragraph (1) applies to such firearm.''.
    (b) Penalties.--Section 924(a)(1)(B) of title 18, United States 
Code, is amended by striking ``or (q)'' and inserting ``(q), or (z)''.
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