[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 96 (Thursday, June 30, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4293-S4294]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mrs. FEINSTEIN:
S. 1305. A bill to establish and clarify that Congress does not
authorize persons convicted of dangerous crimes in foreign courts to
freely possess firearms in the United States; to the Committee on the
Judiciary.
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today I am pleased to introduce the No
Firearms for Foreign Felons Act of 2011. This bill would close a
loophole in current law, by ensuring that people convicted of foreign
felonies and crimes involving domestic violence cannot possess
firearms. We must close this gap in our laws before it is exploited by
terrorists, drug gangs, and other dangerous criminals who threaten our
communities.
Under current Federal law, people who are convicted in the United
Sates of violent felonies like rape, murder and terrorism are
prohibited from possessing firearms. But, shockingly, Federal law does
not bar criminals convicted of these same violent crimes in foreign
courts from possessing guns. This outrageous loophole for foreign
convicts is the result of a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the
case of Small v. United States.
In that case, the Court analyzed the 1968 Gun Control Act, which
states that anyone who has been convicted of a felony ``in any court''
cannot possess firearms. The Court concluded that the phrase only
applied to American courts, despite the fact that the Gun Control Act
had been applied to foreign felonies since 1968, the year it took
effect.
At the time, the Supreme Court was very much aware that its ruling
could have serious consequences. As Justice Clarence Thomas noted in
his dissent, ``the majority's interpretation permits those convicted
overseas of murder, rape, assault, kidnapping, terrorism and other
dangerous crimes to possess firearms freely in the United States.'' But
whatever one may think of the Court's ruling, it is now the law of the
land.
We must make every effort to close this dangerous loophole and the
bill I am introducing today would do just that.
Under this bill, section 921 of Title 18 would be amended to state
that ``[t]he term `any court' includes any Federal, State, or foreign
court.'' Similar changes would be made in other sections of the Gun
Control Act. Where there are references to ``state offenses'' or
``offenses under state law,'' the bill would expand these terms to
include convictions of offenses under foreign law.
In other words, the bill would make it clear that if someone was
convicted in a foreign court of an offense that would have disqualified
him from possessing a gun in the U.S., then they
[[Page S4294]]
will be disqualified from gun possession under U.S. law. The only
exception will be if there is reason to think the conviction entered by
the foreign jurisdiction is somehow invalid.
Under the bill, a foreign conviction will not constitute a
``conviction'' under the Gun Control Act, if either: the foreign
conviction resulted from a denial of fundamental fairness that would
violate due process if committed in the United States, or the conduct
on which the foreign conviction was based would be legal if committed
in the United States.
I expect that these circumstances will be fairly rare, but the bill
does take them into account and will provide a complete defense to
anyone with an invalid foreign conviction. In any event, it is clear
that we should not keep in place a dangerous policy which essentially
treats every foreign conviction as invalid.
Particularly in these times, America cannot continue to give foreign-
convicted murderers, rapists and even terrorists the right to buy
firearms in the United States.
With each passing day, we run a risk that foreign felons are
exploiting this loophole in our law. This is unacceptable.
Criminals convicted in foreign courts should not be able to have guns
when U.S. law forbids those convicted of the same crimes on U.S. soil
from possessing guns. We should not wait for lives to be lost before we
act to close this loophole.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 1305
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 ``No Firearms for Foreign
Felons Act of 2011''.
SEC. 2. NO FIREARMS FOR FOREIGN FELONS.
(a) Definitions.--
(1) Courts.--Section 921(a) of title 18, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(36) The term `any court' includes any Federal, State, or
foreign court.''.
(2) Exclusion of certain felonies.--Section 921(a)(20) of
title 18, United States Code, is amended--
(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``any Federal or State
offenses'' and inserting ``any Federal, State, or foreign
offenses'';
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``any State offense
classified by the laws of the State'' and inserting ``any
State or foreign offense classified by the laws of that
jurisdiction''; and
(C) in the matter following subparagraph (B), in the first
sentence, by inserting before the period the following: ``,
except that a foreign conviction shall not constitute a
conviction of such a crime if the convicted person
establishes that the foreign conviction resulted from a
denial of fundamental fairness that would violate due process
if committed in the United States or from conduct that would
be legal if committed in the United States''.
(b) Domestic Violence Crimes.--Section 921(a)(33) of title
18, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``subparagraph (C)''
and inserting ``subparagraph (B)''; and
(2) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking ``if the
conviction has'' and inserting the following: ``if the
conviction--
``(I) occurred in a foreign jurisdiction and the convicted
person establishes that the foreign conviction resulted from
a denial of fundamental fairness that would violate due
process if committed in the United States or from conduct
that would be legal if committed in the United States; or
``(II) has''.
(c) Penalties.--Section 924(e)(2)(A)(ii) of title 18,
United States Code, is amended--
(1) by striking ``an offense under State law'' and
inserting ``an offense under State or foreign law''; and
(2) by inserting before the semicolon the following: ``,
except that a foreign conviction shall not constitute a
conviction of such a crime if the convicted person
establishes that the foreign conviction resulted from a
denial of fundamental fairness that would violate due process
if committed in the United States or from conduct that would
be legal if committed in the United States''.
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