[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 17, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5809-S5810]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LAUTENBERG:
  S. 922. A bill to require the Secretary of the Treasury, acting 
through the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, to 
issue minimum safety and security standards for dealers of firearms; to 
the Committee on the Judiciary.


                      GUN SHOP SAFETY ACT OF 1997

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation, 
the Gun Shop Safety Act of 1997, to require the Bureau of Alcohol, 
Tobacco and Firearms to issue minimum safety and security standards for 
federally licensed firearms dealers.
  Mr. President, incredible as it may seem, there are no Federal 
minimum standards for security of premises and merchandise at gun 
shops. In fact, a gun dealer must meet only minimal qualifications to 
obtain a gun dealers' license. An applicant need only be 21 years of 
age, not be prohibited by law from possessing or transporting firearms, 
and maintain a business premises in compliance with any State law. Once 
a dealer gets a license, the only Federal requirements are that dealers 
keep accurate records of purchases and sales, and have the books 
available for yearly inspection by the ATF. Basically, that is it. No 
safety or security requirements, no safety inspections.
  This is simply not good enough. Guns are being stolen from licensed 
gun dealers at an alarming rate. These guns pose an increasingly 
significant public safety problem. Clearly, by definition stolen guns 
are available to criminals. In fact, studies have found that between 10 
and 32 percent of guns used in the commission of a crime are obtained 
as a direct result of theft, while an approximately equal number of 
guns used during a criminal act were stolen before being used in a 
crime.
  Mr. President, stolen guns from gun shops are a significant source of 
guns used in violent street crimes. For example, everywhere we see the 
growing problem of the so-called ``smash and grab'' burglaries from 
retail gun outlets, where thieves either drive through or otherwise 
smash the windows of gun shops and steal large quantities of firearms 
in a matter of minutes.
  During the 1992 Los Angeles riots, 19 gun stores were looted and 
robbed of about 4,000 guns. One pawnshop lost 970 guns, while another 
outlet was robbed of 1,150 guns. An ATF report reveals that these guns 
continue to be recovered on the street.
  Mr. President, guns are not stolen from licensed gun dealers only 
during a riot. Recently, it has been reported that thieves stole 75 
firearms from a store in Washington State after killing the owner, and 
then sold about 40 of the stolen guns on the streets of Seattle that 
night.
  In my own State of New Jersey, we also recently witnessed a sickening

[[Page S5810]]

murder committed with a gun stolen from a gun shop. This past April, 
24-year-old Jeremy Giordano and 24-year-old Georgio Gallara of Sussex 
County, NJ were shot down in cold blood by two young thugs. No robbery 
was involved, no motive discovered, just murder for the sake of murder. 
And these killings were only possible because the murderers were able 
to steal two high-powered handguns from a local shop. They simply 
smashed the store's front window and smashed the locked glass display 
case where the guns were stored overnight. The theft was over in a few 
brief minutes, the criminals long gone by the time the police arrived 
at the gun shop.
  Mr. President, there must be a better way. It is time that our laws 
recognize that guns are not ordinary merchandise--they are deadly 
weapons. It is just common sense that criminals should be denied easy 
access to an arsenal of weapons.
  Mr. President, this country is already awash in a sea of gun 
violence. Every 2 minutes, someone in the United States is shot. Every 
14 minutes, someone dies from a gunshot wound. In 1994 alone, over 
15,000 people in our country were killed by handguns. Compare that to 
countries like Canada, where 90 people were killed by handguns that 
year, or Great Britain, which had 68 handgun fatalities.
  Mr. President, the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
estimate that by the year 2003, gunfire will have surpassed auto 
accidents as the leading cause of injury-related deaths in the United 
States. In fact, this is already the case in seven States.
  Mr. President, given the severity of our Nation's gun violence 
problem, we need to find new ways to reduce the number of guns on our 
streets. Although we cannot totally end gun theft, there is much we can 
and should do. We can prevent predators from getting guns so freely and 
frequently through theft.
  So, Mr. President, this bill will require the ATF to use its 
expertise to craft reasonable and needed regulations to ensure that gun 
shops better secure the weapons and ammunition they sell from theft.
  I hope this proposal will receive strong, bipartisan support, even 
from those hostile to any gun-related legislation. This bill will help 
keep guns out of the hands of criminals. This is a goal I believe all 
of us share. And this legislation is the least we can do.
  I hope my colleagues will support the bill, and ask unanimous consent 
that a copy of the legislation be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 922

       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 Shop Safety Act of 
     1997''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that--
       (1) crimes committed with firearms threaten the peace and 
     domestic tranquility of the United States and reduce the 
     security and general welfare of the Nation and its people;
       (2) crimes committed with firearms impose a substantial 
     burden on interstate commerce and lead to a reduction in 
     productivity and profitability for business around the Nation 
     whose workers, suppliers, and customers are adversely 
     affected by gun violence;
       (3) all stolen firearms are available to criminals by 
     definition;
       (4) licensed gun dealers have reported nearly 30,000 
     firearms stolen from their shops since 1994, when a Federal 
     law was enacted requiring the reporting of such thefts;
       (5) between 10 and 32 percent of firearms used in the 
     commission of a crime are obtained directly through theft, 
     while an approximately equal number of firearms used in the 
     commission of a crime have been stolen at some point before 
     ultimately being used in the commission a crime; and
       (6) all Americans have a right to be protected from crime 
     and violence from stolen firearms, regardless of their State 
     of residence.

     SEC. 3. MINIMUM SAFETY AND SECURITY STANDARDS FOR GUN SHOPS.

       (a) In General.--Section 923 of title 18, United States 
     Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(m) Safety and Security Standards for Gun Shops.--
       ``(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
     enactment of the Gun Shop Safety Act of 1997, the Secretary 
     of the Treasury, acting through the Director of the Bureau of 
     Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, shall issue final regulations 
     that establish minimum firearm safety and security standards 
     that shall apply to dealers who are issued a license under 
     this section.
       ``(2) Minimum standards.--The regulations issued under this 
     subsection shall include minimum safety and security 
     standards for--
       ``(A) a place of business in which a dealer covered by the 
     regulations conducts business or stores firearms;
       ``(B) windows, the front door, storage rooms, containers, 
     alarms, and other items of a place of business referred to in 
     subparagraph (A) that the Secretary of the Treasury, acting 
     through the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and 
     Firearms, determines to be appropriate; and
       ``(C) the storage and handling of the firearms contained in 
     a place of business referred to in subparagraph (A).''.
       (b) Inspections.--Section 923(g)(1) of title 18, United 
     States Code, is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (A)--
       (A) in clause (i), by striking ``, and'' and inserting a 
     semicolon;
       (B) in clause (ii), by striking the period at the end and 
     inserting ``; and''; and
       (C) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(iii) with respect the place of business of a licensed 
     dealer, the safety and security measures taken by the dealer 
     to ensure compliance with the regulations issued under 
     subsection (m).''; and
       (2) in subparagraph (B)--
       (A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting ``and 
     the place of business of a licensed dealer'' after ``licensed 
     dealer'';
       (B) in clause (ii), by striking ``or'' at the end;
       (C) in clause (iii), by striking the period at the end and 
     inserting ``; or''; and
       (D) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(iv) not more than once during any 12-month period, for 
     ensuring compliance by a licensed dealer with the regulations 
     issued under subsection (m).''.
       (c) Penalties.--Section 924(a)(1) of title 18, United 
     States Code, is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``or'' at the end;
       (2) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as subparagraph (E); 
     and
       (3) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the following:
       ``(D) being a licensed dealer, knowingly fails to comply 
     with any applicable regulation issued under section 923(m); 
     and''.
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