[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 7 (Monday, January 22, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S408-S409]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN:
  S. 134. A bill to ban the importation of large capacity ammunition 
feeding devices; to the Committee on the Judiciary.


       large capacity ammunition magazine import ban act of 2001

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise to re-introduce the same ban on 
importing large capacity ammunition magazines that passed both Houses 
of Congress in 1999 during the Juvenile Justice debate.
  That amendment passed the Senate by voice vote after a Motion to 
Table failed 59-39.
  The same provision, offered by then-Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde on 
the House floor, passed by voice vote as an amendment to the House 
Juvenile Justice Gun Bill.
  Nevertheless, these clips continue to flood into the country, because 
the Juvenile Justice bill became stalled in Conference, and never got 
to the President's desk.
  It is time to take care of this once and for all--outside of 
politics, and outside of partisan bickering over other provisions. We 
simply cannot stand by and watch millions of these killer clips flood 
our shores.
  Large-capacity ammunition clips are ammunition feeding devices, such 
as clips, magazines, drums and belts, which hold more than ten rounds 
of ammunition.
  The 1994 assault weapons ban prohibited the domestic manufacture of 
these devices, but foreign companies are still sending them to our 
shores by the hundreds of thousands.
  As the author of the 1994 provision, I can assure you that this was 
not our intent. We intended to ban the future manufacture of all high 
capacity clips, leaving only a narrow clause allowing for the 
importation of clips already on their way to this country.
  Instead, due to the grandfather clause inserted into the 1994 
legislation, BATF has allowed millions of foreign clips into this 
country, with no true method of determining date of manufacture. 
Between March 1998 and March 1999, BATF approved more than 11.4 million 
large-capacity clips for importation into America.
  By voting for the amendment to the Juvenile Justice bill in 1999, a 
significant majority of this body has already agreed that it is both 
illogical and irresponsible to permit foreign companies to sell items 
to the American public--particularly items that are so often used for 
deadly purposes--that U.S. companies are prohibited from selling.
  Supporting this legislation once again will simply finish what we 
already started during the juvenile justice debate, and bring foreign 
companies into greater compliance with the original intent of the 1994 
law.
  Opposing this bill would effectively allow foreign companies to 
continue to flout our laws, while domestic companies remain in 
compliance.
  Let me just outline a bit of the history behind this issue.
  Because of strong NRA opposition to the 1994 assault weapons ban and 
fears that businesses with inventories of the newly illegal products 
would be adversely impacted, we carved out a clause during negotiations 
to allow pre-existing guns and clips to remain on the shelves of stores 
across this country.
  This so-called ``grandfather clause'' was also meant to allow guns 
and clips already on their way to this country to get here. Some 
Senators did not want to penalize companies that already had shipments 
in transit.
  But it has now been more than six years, and these companies have had 
more than enough time to ship their pre-existing supplies of clips to 
the United States. Without question, many of these clips now flooding 
this country were made after the 1994 ban took effect. But because the 
ATF cannot tell when the clips were made, they must allow their import.
  In 1998, President Clinton stopped the importation of most copycat 
assault weapons to this country with an Executive Order. However, the 
Justice Department advised us that the President does not have the 
authority to ban importation of big clips. As a result, millions of 
high capacity ammunition magazines continue to flow onto our shores and 
into the hands of criminals and, indeed, our children.
  These clips come from at least 17 different countries, from Austria 
to Zimbabwe.
  They come in sizes ranging from 15 rounds per clip to 30, 75, 90, or 
even 250 rounds per clip. In one recent one-year period:

       20,000 clips of 250-rounds came from England;
       Two million 15-round magazines came from Italy;
       5,000 clips of 70-rounds came from the Czech Republic.

  And the list goes on, and on, and on.
  Mr. President, 75, 90 and even 250-round clips have no sporting 
purpose. They are not used for self defense. They have only one use--
the purposeful killing of other men, women and children.
  The legislation I re-introduce today will stop the flow of these 
clips into this country. I know that we cannot eliminate these clips 
from existence. But we can make them harder to obtain and, over time, 
dry up their supply.
  These big clips allow disgruntled workers, angry children and 
psychopathic killers to exponentially increase the damage of their 
crimes. Let me give you just two examples.
  In the now famous Springfield, Oregon shooting, a 15 year-old gunman 
with a 30-round clip killed two people and injured 22 more. Two dead, 
22 wounded, all from one ammunition clip. It was only when his clip was 
finally empty and he had to pause to change clips that a fellow student 
was able to tackle and subdue him. Just imagine if the clip had held 75 
rounds. Or 90. Or 250.
  In the Jonesboro, Arkansas shooting, the two boys were armed with ten 
guns, one of which was a Universal carbine equipped with a 15-round 
killer clip. All 15 of the bullets in the killer clip were fired--more 
rounds than in all of the other nine guns combined. Five people were 
killed, ten other wounded.
  Mr. President, in passing this legislation, we will not put an end to 
all incidents of gun violence now or in the near future. But we will 
begin to limit the destructive power of that violence. It will not stop 
every troubled child or adult who decides to commit an act of violence 
from doing so, but we can limit the tools used to carry out that act.
  Passing this bill will not infringe on the legitimate rights of any 
adult gun owner or prevent a son or daughter from protecting the family 
from harm. It will not create a new category of banned guns.
  But it will save some lives. It is just that simple. So let us do our 
best to ensure that the next time a troubled or vengeful child decides 
to strike out at his classmates, he cannot so easily find a gun that 
fires a hundred rounds a minute, or holds dozens of armor-piercing 
bullets.
  Mr. President, I urge any of my colleagues who remain skeptical to 
look beyond the opposition rhetoric and into the heart of this 
legislation. And I urge them to look into their own hearts, and to 
realize that there are some things we can do to keep future Littletons 
from happening. This legislation is one of them.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record following the statement.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 134

       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 ``Large Capacity Ammunition 
     Magazine Import Ban Act of 2001''.

     SEC. 2. BAN ON IMPORTING LARGE CAPACITY AMMUNITION FEEDING 
                   DEVICES.

       Section 922(w) of title 18, United States Code, is 
     amended--
       (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``(1) Except as provided 
     in paragraph (2)'' and inserting ``(1)(A) Except as provided 
     in subparagraph (B)'';
       (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ``(2) Paragraph (1)'' and 
     inserting ``(B) Subparagraph (A)'';

[[Page S409]]

       (3) by inserting before paragraph (3) the following new 
     paragraph:
       ``(2) It shall be unlawful for any person to import a large 
     capacity ammunition feeding device.''; and
       (4) in paragraph (4)--
       (A) by striking ``(1)'' each place it appears and inserting 
     ``(1)(A)''; and
       (B) by striking ``(2)'' and inserting ``(1)(B)''.

     SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENT.

       Section 921(a)(31) of title 18, United States Code, is 
     amended by striking ``manufactured after the date of 
     enactment of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement 
     Act of 1994''.
                                 ______