1.This Act may be cited as the
Firearms Microstamping Evaluation and
Study Act of 2010
.
2.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.
3.
(a)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.
4.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.
5.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.
6.Suspension of use
of Federal funds for microstamping technology
(a)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)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.
7.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.