[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5667 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5667
To provide for the conduct of a study on the effectiveness of firearms
microstamping technology and an evaluation of its effectiveness as a
law enforcement tool.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 1, 2010
Mr. Boren (for himself, Mr. Broun of Georgia, Mr. Bishop of Utah, Mr.
Ross, Ms. Herseth Sandlin, Mr. Altmire, Mr. Miller of Florida, and Mr.
Boozman) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for the conduct of a study on the effectiveness of firearms
microstamping technology and an evaluation of its effectiveness as a
law enforcement tool.
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 ``Firearms Microstamping Evaluation
and Study Act of 2010''.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are the following:
(1) To conduct a comprehensive study of firearms
microstamping technology that can be incorporated into a
firearm during the manufacturing process in order to determine
whether the technology is workable and could be a cost-
effective law enforcement tool for use in criminal
investigations.
(2) To determine the cost to manufacturers, firearm owners,
and State governments of mandating the incorporation of
microstamping technology into a firearm.
(3) To determine what happens to the reliability of
firearms microstamping if non-metallic materials are used to
manufacture cartridge cases.
SEC. 3. STUDY.
(a) In General.--Not later than 12 months after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall enter into an
arrangement with the National Research Council of the National Academy
of Sciences, which shall have sole responsibility for conducting under
the arrangement a study to examine:
(1) The design parameters for an effective and uniform
system of microstamping firearms and cartridge cases and how
this information will be stored and retrieved.
(2) To determine the cost to taxpayers of incorporating
microstamping technology into a firearm, including the cost of
any new or additional equipment for law enforcement, and
additional training forensic crime laboratories would need in
order to read the presence of a microstamp on ballistic crime
scene evidence.
(3) To identify whether there are domestic or international
patents applicable to any technology capable of being applied
in the manufacturing of a firearm, capable of placing a
microscopic array of characters that identify the make, model,
and serial number of the firearm, etched or otherwise imprinted
in two or more places on the interior surface or internal
working parts of a semiautomatic pistol firearm are transferred
by imprinting on each cartridge casing when the firearm is
discharged.
(4) To determine whether the normal operation of a firearm
over time and repeated firing adversely affects the quality,
reproducibility, and legibility of the firearms microstamping
impressions on a cartridge case, whether metallic or non-
metallic, fired in a microstamped firearm.
(5) To determine if, utilizing a broad and diverse spectrum
of pistols and handgun ammunition (both imported and
domestically produced) that is commercially available for sale
in the United States, a casing will be imprinted with a legible
microstamp.
(6) To determine the extra cost to manufacture firearms
incorporating firearms microstamping technology on a mass
production basis using manufacturing techniques and equipment
commonly in use in the firearms industry.
(7) The most effective method for casing recovery that can
be used to collect fired cases for entry into a microstamping
reading system and the cost of such recovery equipment.
(8) Which countries, if any, require the sale of
microstamped firearms and how effective microstamping has been
in investigating crimes committed with microstamped firearms.
(9) How many revolvers, manually operated handguns,
semiautomatic handguns, manually operated rifles, and
semiautomatic rifles are sold in the United States each year,
the percentage of crimes committed with revolvers, other
manually operated handguns, and manually operated rifles as
compared with semiautomatic handguns and semiautomatic rifles,
and the percentage of cases where spent shell casings are
recovered at a crime scene.
(10) Determine if, when implemented, microstamping would
encourage a shift to the use of firearms that do not
automatically eject spent casings, to neutralize microstamping
identification.
(11) A comprehensive list of environmental and
nonenvironmental factors, including modifications to a firearm
with common tools and interchangeable parts, that can remove or
change the identifying marks on a cartridge case so as to
preclude a scientifically reliable identification of a firearm
that has been microstamped, and whether these factors would
preclude the specimen from being admissible as evidence in a
court of law. This would also include leaving spent shell
casings from another firearm at a crime scene.
(12) The technical improvements in database management that
will be necessary to keep pace as the number of microstamped
firearms increases, and the estimated cost of any improvements.
(13) Legal issues that need to be addressed at the Federal
and State levels to obtain the type of information that would
be captured and stored as part of a national microstamping
identification program and the sharing of the information
between any State firearm identification systems and the
Federal firearm identification system.
(14) What storage and retrieval procedures guarantee the
integrity of information concerning a microstamped firearm for
an indefinite period of time and ensure proper chain of custody
and admissibility of microstamped evidence or images in a court
of law.
(15) The time, cost, and resources necessary to enter
microstamping information into a database listing all new
handguns sold in the United States and those possessed lawfully
by firearms owners.
(16) The time, cost, and resources necessary to retrofit
all firearms in the United States with microstamped parts and
the cost of entering that information into a database.
(17) The impediments to mandating the retrofitting of
firearms in private hands with microstamping technology, and
the potential cost to firearm owners of doing so.
(18) The cost to Federal and State law enforcement of
retrofitting firearms in their possession with microstamping
technology.
(19) Whether the cost of firearms microstamping technology
outweighs the investigative benefit to law enforcement.
(20) Whether State-based microstamping systems, or a
combination of State and Federal microstamping systems can be
used to create a centralized list of firearms owners.
(21) The cost-effectiveness of systems currently in use by
Federal and State law enforcement with regard to the forensic
identification of spent projectiles, and whether an approach
based on the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network
(NIBIN) supported by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms,
and Explosives is superior to using State-based microstamping
initiatives.
SEC. 4. CONSULTATION.
In carrying out this Act, the National Research Council of the
National Academy of Sciences shall consult with--
(1) Federal, State, and local officials with expertise in
budgeting, administering, and using a ballistic imaging system,
including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and
Explosives, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
(2) law enforcement officials who use ballistic imaging
systems;
(3) entities affected by the actual and proposed uses of
microstamping technology, including manufacturers,
distributors, importers, and retailers of firearms and
ammunition, firearms purchasers and owners and their organized
representatives, the Sporting Arms and Ammunition
Manufacturers' Institute, Inc., the National Shooting Sports
Foundation, Inc., and National Rifle Association; and
(4) experts in ballistics imaging, microstamping, and
related fields, such as the Association of Firearm and Tool
Mark Examiners, projectile recovery system manufacturers, and
universities that have conducted studies on microstamping
including the University of California at Davis.
SEC. 5. REPORT.
Not later than 30 days after the National Research Council of the
National Academy of Sciences completes the study conducted under
section 3, the National Research Council shall submit to the Attorney
General a report on the results of the study, and the Attorney General
shall submit to the Congress a report, which shall be made public, that
contains the results of the study.
SEC. 6. SUSPENSION OF USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS FOR MICROSTAMPING
TECHNOLOGY.
(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a
State shall not use Federal funds for microstamping technology until
the report referred to in section 5 is completed and transmitted to the
Congress.
(b) Waiver Authority.--On request of a State, the Attorney General
may waive the application of subsection (a) to a use of Federal funds
upon a showing that the use would be in the national interest.
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) The term ``microstamping technology'' means the process
or technology of etching, engraving or otherwise imprinting on
the interior surface or internal working parts of a firearm in
a microscopic array of alpha numeric characters, bar, gear, or
other code or symbol, that identifies the make, model, and
serial number of the firearm or other unique distinguishing
identification mark, code, or number associated with the
firearm, that is intended to be transferred by imprinting or
embossing on to the primer or other part of a cartridge case
from a cartridge discharged in that firearm.
(2) The term ``handgun'' has the meaning given the term in
section 921(a)(29) of title 18, United States Code.
(3) The term ``rifle'' has the meaning given the term in
section 921(a)(7) of title 18, United States Code.
(4) The term ``cartridge case'' means the main body of a
single round of ammunition into which other components are
inserted to form a cartridge.
(5) The terms ``manually operated handgun'' and ``manually
operated rifle'' mean any handgun or rifle, as the case may be,
in which all loading, unloading, and reloading of the firing
chamber is accomplished through manipulation by the user.
(6) The term ``semiautomatic handgun'' means any repeating
handgun which utilizes a portion of the energy of a firing
cartridge to extract the fired cartridge case and chamber the
next round, which requires a separate pull of the trigger to
fire each cartridge.
(7) The term ``semiautomatic rifle'' has the meaning given
the term in section 921(a)(28) of title 18, United States Code.
(8) The term ``projectile'' means that part of ammunition
that is, by means of an explosive, expelled through the barrel
of a firearm.
(9) The term ``revolver'' means a firearm with a cylinder
having several chambers so arranged as to rotate around an axis
and be discharged successively by the same firing mechanism
through a common barrel.
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