[House Document 104-72]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]





                                     

        104th Congress, 1st Session - - - - - - - - - - - - - House 
Document 104-72


 
 PROPOSED LEGISLATION: ``THE GUN-FREE SCHOOL ZONES AMENDMENTS ACT OF 1995''

                               __________

                                MESSAGE

                                  from

                   THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

A DRAFT OF PROPOSED LEGISLATION TO AMEND THE GUN-FREE SCHOOL ZONES ACT 
    OF 1990 TO PROVIDE THE NECESSARY NEXUS WITH INTERSTATE COMMERCE






   Message and accompanying papers referred to the Committee on the 
                  Judiciary and ordered to be printed
To the Congress of the United States:
    Today I am transmitting for your immediate consideration 
and passage the ``Gun-Free School Zones Amendments Act of 
1995.'' This Act will provide the jurisdictional element for 
the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 required by the Supreme 
Court's recent decision in United States v. Lopez.
    In a 5-4 decision, the Court in Lopez held that the 
Congress had exceeded its authority under the Commerce Clause 
by enacting the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, codified at 
18 U.S.C. 992(q). The Court found that this Act did not contain 
the jurisdictional element that would ensure that the firearms 
possession in question has the requisite nexus with interstate 
commerce.
    In the wake of that decision, I directed Attorney General 
Reno to present to me an analysis of Lopez and to recommend a 
legislative solution to the problem identified by that 
decision. Her legislative recommendation is presented in this 
proposal.
    The legislative proposal would amend the Gun-Free School 
Zones Act by adding the requirement that the Government prove 
that the firearm has ``moved in or the possession of such 
firearm otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce.''
    The addition of this jurisdictional element would limit the 
Act's ``reach to a discrete set of firearm possessions that 
additionally have an explicit connection with or effect on 
interstate commence,'' as the Court stated in Lopez, and 
thereby bring it within the Congress' Commerce Clause 
authority.
    The Attorney General reported to me that this proposal 
would have little, if any, impact on the ability of prosecutors 
to charge this offense, for the vast majority of firearms have 
``moved in * * * commerce'' before reaching their eventual 
possessor.
    Furthermore, by also including the possibility of proving 
the offense by showing that the possession of the firearm 
``otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce,'' this 
proposal would leave open the possibility of showing, under the 
facts of a particular case, that although the firearm itself 
may not have ``moved in * * * interstate or foreign commerce,'' 
its possession nonetheless has a sufficient nexus to commerce.
    The Attorney General has advised that this proposal does 
not require the Government to prove that a defendant had 
knowledge that the firearm ``has moved in or the possession of 
such firearm otherwise affects interstate or foreign 
commerce.'' The defendant must know only that he or she 
possesses the firearm.
    I am committed to doing everything in my power to make 
schools places where young people can be secure, where they can 
learn, and where parents can be confident that discipline is 
enforced.
    I pledge that the Administration will do our part to help 
make our schools safe and the neighborhoods around them safe. 
We are prepared to work immediately with the Congress to enact 
this legislation. I urge the prompt and favorable consideration 
of this legislative proposal by the Congress.

                                                William J. Clinton.
    The White House, May 10, 1995.
 A BILL To amend the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 to provide the 
               necessary nexus with interstate commerce.

    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 ``Gun-Free School Zones 
Amendments Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. INTERSTATE NEXUS.

    Section 922(q)(2)(A) of title 18, United States code, is 
amended by inserting after ``zone'' the following: ``, if that 
firearm has moved in or the possession of such firearm 
otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce''.