[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5667 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5667

To provide for the conduct of a study on the effectiveness of firearms 
 microstamping technology and an evaluation of its effectiveness as a 
                         law enforcement tool.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 1, 2010

 Mr. Boren (for himself, Mr. Broun of Georgia, Mr. Bishop of Utah, Mr. 
Ross, Ms. Herseth Sandlin, Mr. Altmire, Mr. Miller of Florida, and Mr. 
   Boozman) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the conduct of a study on the effectiveness of firearms 
 microstamping technology and an evaluation of its effectiveness as a 
                         law enforcement tool.

    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 ``Firearms Microstamping Evaluation 
and Study Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are the following:
            (1) To conduct a comprehensive study of firearms 
        microstamping technology that can be incorporated into a 
        firearm during the manufacturing process in order to determine 
        whether the technology is workable and could be a cost-
        effective law enforcement tool for use in criminal 
        investigations.
            (2) To determine the cost to manufacturers, firearm owners, 
        and State governments of mandating the incorporation of 
        microstamping technology into a firearm.
            (3) To determine what happens to the reliability of 
        firearms microstamping if non-metallic materials are used to 
        manufacture cartridge cases.

SEC. 3. STUDY.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 12 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall enter into an 
arrangement with the National Research Council of the National Academy 
of Sciences, which shall have sole responsibility for conducting under 
the arrangement a study to examine:
            (1) The design parameters for an effective and uniform 
        system of microstamping firearms and cartridge cases and how 
        this information will be stored and retrieved.
            (2) To determine the cost to taxpayers of incorporating 
        microstamping technology into a firearm, including the cost of 
        any new or additional equipment for law enforcement, and 
        additional training forensic crime laboratories would need in 
        order to read the presence of a microstamp on ballistic crime 
        scene evidence.
            (3) To identify whether there are domestic or international 
        patents applicable to any technology capable of being applied 
        in the manufacturing of a firearm, capable of placing a 
        microscopic array of characters that identify the make, model, 
        and serial number of the firearm, etched or otherwise imprinted 
        in two or more places on the interior surface or internal 
        working parts of a semiautomatic pistol firearm are transferred 
        by imprinting on each cartridge casing when the firearm is 
        discharged.
            (4) To determine whether the normal operation of a firearm 
        over time and repeated firing adversely affects the quality, 
        reproducibility, and legibility of the firearms microstamping 
        impressions on a cartridge case, whether metallic or non-
        metallic, fired in a microstamped firearm.
            (5) To determine if, utilizing a broad and diverse spectrum 
        of pistols and handgun ammunition (both imported and 
        domestically produced) that is commercially available for sale 
        in the United States, a casing will be imprinted with a legible 
        microstamp.
            (6) To determine the extra cost to manufacture firearms 
        incorporating firearms microstamping technology on a mass 
        production basis using manufacturing techniques and equipment 
        commonly in use in the firearms industry.
            (7) The most effective method for casing recovery that can 
        be used to collect fired cases for entry into a microstamping 
        reading system and the cost of such recovery equipment.
            (8) Which countries, if any, require the sale of 
        microstamped firearms and how effective microstamping has been 
        in investigating crimes committed with microstamped firearms.
            (9) How many revolvers, manually operated handguns, 
        semiautomatic handguns, manually operated rifles, and 
        semiautomatic rifles are sold in the United States each year, 
        the percentage of crimes committed with revolvers, other 
        manually operated handguns, and manually operated rifles as 
        compared with semiautomatic handguns and semiautomatic rifles, 
        and the percentage of cases where spent shell casings are 
        recovered at a crime scene.
            (10) Determine if, when implemented, microstamping would 
        encourage a shift to the use of firearms that do not 
        automatically eject spent casings, to neutralize microstamping 
        identification.
            (11) A comprehensive list of environmental and 
        nonenvironmental factors, including modifications to a firearm 
        with common tools and interchangeable parts, that can remove or 
        change the identifying marks on a cartridge case so as to 
        preclude a scientifically reliable identification of a firearm 
        that has been microstamped, and whether these factors would 
        preclude the specimen from being admissible as evidence in a 
        court of law. This would also include leaving spent shell 
        casings from another firearm at a crime scene.
            (12) The technical improvements in database management that 
        will be necessary to keep pace as the number of microstamped 
        firearms increases, and the estimated cost of any improvements.
            (13) Legal issues that need to be addressed at the Federal 
        and State levels to obtain the type of information that would 
        be captured and stored as part of a national microstamping 
        identification program and the sharing of the information 
        between any State firearm identification systems and the 
        Federal firearm identification system.
            (14) What storage and retrieval procedures guarantee the 
        integrity of information concerning a microstamped firearm for 
        an indefinite period of time and ensure proper chain of custody 
        and admissibility of microstamped evidence or images in a court 
        of law.
            (15) The time, cost, and resources necessary to enter 
        microstamping information into a database listing all new 
        handguns sold in the United States and those possessed lawfully 
        by firearms owners.
            (16) The time, cost, and resources necessary to retrofit 
        all firearms in the United States with microstamped parts and 
        the cost of entering that information into a database.
            (17) The impediments to mandating the retrofitting of 
        firearms in private hands with microstamping technology, and 
        the potential cost to firearm owners of doing so.
            (18) The cost to Federal and State law enforcement of 
        retrofitting firearms in their possession with microstamping 
        technology.
            (19) Whether the cost of firearms microstamping technology 
        outweighs the investigative benefit to law enforcement.
            (20) Whether State-based microstamping systems, or a 
        combination of State and Federal microstamping systems can be 
        used to create a centralized list of firearms owners.
            (21) The cost-effectiveness of systems currently in use by 
        Federal and State law enforcement with regard to the forensic 
        identification of spent projectiles, and whether an approach 
        based on the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network 
        (NIBIN) supported by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, 
        and Explosives is superior to using State-based microstamping 
        initiatives.

SEC. 4. CONSULTATION.

    In carrying out this Act, the National Research Council of the 
National Academy of Sciences shall consult with--
            (1) Federal, State, and local officials with expertise in 
        budgeting, administering, and using a ballistic imaging system, 
        including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and 
        Explosives, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
            (2) law enforcement officials who use ballistic imaging 
        systems;
            (3) entities affected by the actual and proposed uses of 
        microstamping technology, including manufacturers, 
        distributors, importers, and retailers of firearms and 
        ammunition, firearms purchasers and owners and their organized 
        representatives, the Sporting Arms and Ammunition 
        Manufacturers' Institute, Inc., the National Shooting Sports 
        Foundation, Inc., and National Rifle Association; and
            (4) experts in ballistics imaging, microstamping, and 
        related fields, such as the Association of Firearm and Tool 
        Mark Examiners, projectile recovery system manufacturers, and 
        universities that have conducted studies on microstamping 
        including the University of California at Davis.

SEC. 5. REPORT.

    Not later than 30 days after the National Research Council of the 
National Academy of Sciences completes the study conducted under 
section 3, the National Research Council shall submit to the Attorney 
General a report on the results of the study, and the Attorney General 
shall submit to the Congress a report, which shall be made public, that 
contains the results of the study.

SEC. 6. SUSPENSION OF USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS FOR MICROSTAMPING 
              TECHNOLOGY.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a 
State shall not use Federal funds for microstamping technology until 
the report referred to in section 5 is completed and transmitted to the 
Congress.
    (b) Waiver Authority.--On request of a State, the Attorney General 
may waive the application of subsection (a) to a use of Federal funds 
upon a showing that the use would be in the national interest.

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) The term ``microstamping technology'' means the process 
        or technology of etching, engraving or otherwise imprinting on 
        the interior surface or internal working parts of a firearm in 
        a microscopic array of alpha numeric characters, bar, gear, or 
        other code or symbol, that identifies the make, model, and 
        serial number of the firearm or other unique distinguishing 
        identification mark, code, or number associated with the 
        firearm, that is intended to be transferred by imprinting or 
        embossing on to the primer or other part of a cartridge case 
        from a cartridge discharged in that firearm.
            (2) The term ``handgun'' has the meaning given the term in 
        section 921(a)(29) of title 18, United States Code.
            (3) The term ``rifle'' has the meaning given the term in 
        section 921(a)(7) of title 18, United States Code.
            (4) The term ``cartridge case'' means the main body of a 
        single round of ammunition into which other components are 
        inserted to form a cartridge.
            (5) The terms ``manually operated handgun'' and ``manually 
        operated rifle'' mean any handgun or rifle, as the case may be, 
        in which all loading, unloading, and reloading of the firing 
        chamber is accomplished through manipulation by the user.
            (6) The term ``semiautomatic handgun'' means any repeating 
        handgun which utilizes a portion of the energy of a firing 
        cartridge to extract the fired cartridge case and chamber the 
        next round, which requires a separate pull of the trigger to 
        fire each cartridge.
            (7) The term ``semiautomatic rifle'' has the meaning given 
        the term in section 921(a)(28) of title 18, United States Code.
            (8) The term ``projectile'' means that part of ammunition 
        that is, by means of an explosive, expelled through the barrel 
        of a firearm.
            (9) The term ``revolver'' means a firearm with a cylinder 
        having several chambers so arranged as to rotate around an axis 
        and be discharged successively by the same firing mechanism 
        through a common barrel.
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