[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 18050-18052]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      EXTENSION OF UNDETECTABLE FIREARMS ACT OF 1988 FOR 10 YEARS

  Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 3626) to extend the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988 for 10 
years.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3626

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. EXTENSION OF UNDETECTABLE FIREARMS ACT OF 1988 FOR 
                   10 YEARS.

       Section 2(f)(2) of the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988 
     (18 U.S.C. 922 note) is amended by striking ``25'' and 
     inserting ``35''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Coble) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina.
  Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 3626, a bill to extend 
the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988 for 10 years. In 1988, Congress 
passed the original law that makes it illegal to manufacture, import, 
sell, ship, deliver, possess, transfer, or receive any firearm that is 
not detectable by walk-through metal detection, or any firearm with 
major components that do not generate an accurate image before standard 
airport imaging technology.
  The original act passed in 1988, Mr. Speaker, and had a 10-year 
sunset clause which expired November 10, 1998. Congress renewed the law 
for 5 years in 1998 and for 10 years in 2003. The law will sunset on 
December 9, 2013, if it is not reauthorized again.
  The original law received overwhelming bipartisan support, and so did 
each subsequent renewal.
  I urge my colleagues to support this extension, and I reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3626, which will extend by 10 
years the authorization of the Undetectable Firearms Act, a statute 
which is in effect through December 9 of this year.
  The Undetectable Firearms Act prohibits the import, manufacture, 
sale, transport, or possession of firearms that are undetectable by 
metal detectors or x ray machines. Signed into law by President Reagan 
in 1988, this statute remains critical to public safety.

                              {time}  1315

  The law helps protect us from firearms that are undetectable by some 
of the most conventional means of firearms detection. The law prevents 
the commercial production and proliferation of such weapons that could 
be used either by individuals or organized terrorist groups seeking to 
commit crimes in secure areas, such as courthouses or airplanes. 
Unfortunately, the need for such protection has grown in recent years.
  This statute was originally authorized for 10 years, and subsequently 
reauthorized for periods of 5 and then another 10 years. The 
authorization of

[[Page 18051]]

this prohibition has been incremental because Congress recognized that 
technology would evolve, and that we may need to update the statute to 
maintain its effectiveness. In fact, this is what has transpired.
  The current law has a critical loophole that may enable and encourage 
the production of firearms that may escape detection. Under the 
statute, someone may produce a plastic firearm which is detectable only 
because it has as metal component--which is not essential for the 
operation of the firearm--but is easily removable by a firearm user 
seeking to avoid detection.
  In fact, some designs made available on the Internet to assist the 
manufacture of such guns using 3-D printers include just such a 
feature. We need to strengthen the law to address this obvious problem, 
and we should adopt the Undetectable Firearms Act modernization 
proposal sponsored by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Israel).
  He is proposing that the statute be updated to require that the metal 
which makes a firearm detectable be included in the essential 
components of the firearm so that, if removed, the gun would not 
operate. This is a simple and effective means of addressing the 
problem.
  While I support the reauthorization of the Undetectable Firearms Act 
for 10 years, a 10-year extension should not be interpreted as an 
agreement that the statute should remain unchanged for that entire 
term. We need to work quickly to update the law, but it does not appear 
that we will be able to do that in the time left before the statute's 
expiration. However, we cannot allow the law to expire and the 
existing--even if imperfect--protections to lapse.
  Finally, with the continued toll of gun violence on our communities, 
Congress must act immediately on other measures to strengthen our gun 
laws. We are nearing the first anniversary of the killing of 20 
students and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, 
Connecticut. While such tragic mass shootings bring increased attention 
to the problem of gun violence, we must recognize that the scope of the 
problem is much greater; an average of over 30 people a day are 
murdered with firearms in America.
  However, during this Congress, the House has taken no steps to 
address the problem. The Judiciary Committee has held no hearings, and 
has not even considered any of the other measures which have been 
proposed to make us safer from gun violence. For example, we must make 
a priority of extending the Brady Act to keep firearms out of the hands 
of criminals, and we should take action on H.R. 1565, the Public Safety 
and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act, which would expand the 
Brady background check requirement to firearms sold at gun shows and 
through commercial advertisements.
  We should also consider bills such as H.R. 1318, the Youth PROMISE 
Act, designed to promote proven crime prevention strategies. With 
respect to the bill before us today, I commend the gentleman from North 
Carolina (Mr. Coble) for introducing the measure to extend the term of 
the current statute. The Undetectable Firearms Act continues to help 
protect public safety, and we should reauthorize it while also working 
to update and improve it without delay. I, therefore, urge my 
colleagues to support H.R. 3626.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for speakers, and 
I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Israel).
  Mr. ISRAEL. I thank the gentleman from Virginia, who serves ably as 
ranking member of the Subcommittee on Crime. I also want to thank my 
friend, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Coble), who truly is a 
gentleman and who will be missed, for his bipartisan work on this bill. 
We have worked well together, and I am deeply grateful to the gentleman 
for that partnership.
  Mr. Speaker, in 1988 when we passed the Undetectable Firearms Act, 
the notion of a 3-D printed plastic firearm slipped through metal 
detectors and onto our planes and into secure environments was a matter 
of science fiction. The problem is that today it is a reality, and in 
only 6 days the law banning the Undetectable Firearms Act expires, and 
so we have to act now.
  This law was enacted under President Reagan in 1988. It was 
reauthorized under President Clinton, and it was reauthorized again in 
2003 under President Bush. When Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton and 
George Bush agree on something, so should we. This has always been a 
matter of bipartisanship, and so we should continue that bipartisanship 
and pass this bill today. It is bipartisanship because it is a matter 
of common sense that we don't want to make it easy for terrorists and 
criminals to bring guns past metal detectors onto our planes and into 
secure environments.
  As the gentleman from Virginia stated, in our view this bill is not 
perfect. I would have preferred to modernize the Undetectable Firearms 
Act to eliminate some loopholes in the law by requiring that certain 
metal components be permanent or not easily removed. I would have liked 
to close that loophole. But, frankly, I believe that even a loophole in 
a law is better than no law at all. A loophole can be closed down the 
line; that is a preferred scenario to no law at all.
  So I am not going to oppose this first step because we can't get all 
of our steps. We will step forward and continue to support the 
modernization of the Undetectable Firearms Act. This for now is a very 
good step. It is a step that all of our colleagues should support. I 
again thank the gentleman from North Carolina for his bipartisan 
leadership, and I thank the gentleman from Virginia.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman 
from New York for his comments and for his legislation. I urge my 
colleagues to support the legislation.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Israel) for his generous words, and I appreciate them.


                             General Leave

  Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on H.R. 3626, currently under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from North Carolina?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3626, which would 
reauthorize the Undetectable Firearms Act for 10 years. This statute's 
current authorization lasts only through December 9, and we must--at a 
minimum--extend the current protections.
  It is critical that we maintain the prohibition against the 
manufacture and possession of firearms that would escape detection by 
metal detectors or x-ray machines.
  We must take necessary steps to help protect ourselves from violent 
criminals and terrorists who may plan to target secure facilities such 
as airports, courthouses, government buildings, stadiums, schools, and 
hospitals, which use firearms detection equipment.
  While we must ensure the protections of the Undetectable Firearms Act 
do not lapse, we must also take up legislation as soon as possible to 
address a critical shortcoming in the statute. The law, as it currently 
exists, would allow the production of firearms whose detectability is 
provided by metal parts which may be easily removed without 
compromising the ability to fire.
  I support the efforts of Representative Steve Israel to modernize the 
statute to address this problem, and I urge consideration of his 
proposal as soon as possible.
  Because of the crisis of gun violence in our country, we must 
consider other important bills designed to protect public safety. We 
urgently need to expand the Brady background check system to guns sold 
at gun shows and through commercial advertisements. To do this, I call 
upon the House to pass H.R. 1565, the ``Public Safety and Second 
Amendment Rights Protection Act.'' We should do that at a minimum, but 
we also need to consider other bills such as those to help curb illegal 
gun trafficking and ban the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines.
  We should also consider bills such as H.R. 1318, the Youth PROMISE 
Act, designed to

[[Page 18052]]

promote proven crime prevention strategies. Instead, this House has 
ignored the daily toll of gun violence and refused to take action on 
this issue.
  While I urge my colleagues to vote today to extend the Undetectable 
Firearms Act, I also urge the House to not shrink from its 
responsibility to take on the other issues related to gun violence 
prevention.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, as a Senior Member of the Judiciary 
Committee and the sponsor of numerous legislative proposals to reduce 
gun violence, I rise in strong support of extending H.R. 3626, the 
``Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988'', which bans guns that can pass 
unnoticed through a metal detector. I support this legislation because 
it will help reduce gun violence and keep dangerous weapons out of the 
hands of terrorists. Gun violence has affected many of our districts 
and continues to be a pernicious problem on the national stage to which 
we have to address.
  Every day 45 people are shot or killed because of an accident with a 
gun. When firearms are in the home they are 22 times more likely to be 
used in homicides, suicides, and accidents than in instances of self-
defense. Even though 34 percent of American children live in a home 
with a gun, fewer than half of those homes store firearms in a way that 
denies access to children, meaning that guns are locked, unloaded, and 
separated from ammunition.
  Mr. Speaker, the ``Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988'' was originally 
passed in 1988 and signed into law by President Reagan. It was 
reauthorized in 1998 and 2003. Unless reauthorized, the ban on 
undetectable firearms expires this week, on December 9, 2013. It is 
therefore imperative that we act now to extend the ban so we can reduce 
gun violence and enhance the safety of our first responders.
  While we cannot stop every instance of gun violence, we can help 
reduce their prevalence. By acting now with this legislation, we can 
institute common-sense standards that are focused on protecting our 
nation from violence by those who would do us harm, without infringing 
on Americans' Second Amendment rights.
  H.R. 2665 and H.R. 3626 can go a long way towards making our homes, 
schools, and streets safer for families across this country. We may not 
be able to prevent every gun-related tragedy from occurring in the 
future, but we have a responsibility to implement reasonable, common-
sense standards so that innocent lives will not continue to be lost.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Coble) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3626.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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