“To prevent the illegal sale of firearms, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section directs the Attorney General to promulgate, within 12 months of enactment, final regulations requiring each firearm manufactured in the United States on or after the regulation's effective date to be marked with an additional serial number located inside the receiver or visible only in infrared light, beyond the serial number otherwise required by law. (As background, federal law generally requires licensed manufacturers to serialize firearms for law enforcement tracing.) The section also amends 18 U.S.C. §921(a) by (1) expanding the definition of "firearm" to expressly include an unfinished frame or receiver and any combination of parts designed or intended to convert a device into a readily assemblable firearm; (2) expanding the definition of "manufacturer" (and "manufacturing firearms") to include assembling a functional firearm from an unfinished frame or receiver or via molding, machining, or 3D printing a frame or receiver (while excluding making or fitting special barrels, stocks, or trigger mechanisms); and (3) adding a definition of "unfinished frame or receiver" as any forging, casting, printing, extrusion, machined body, or similar article that has reached a stage of manufacture where it may readily be completed into a functional firearm's frame or receiver, or that is marketed or sold for such purpose. (Thus, the serialization requirement applies to "ghost guns" assembled from unfinished frames or receivers.)
This section revises national instant criminal background check system (NICS) requirements to preserve records of approved firearm transfer background checks for 180 days (from not more than 24 hours) before destruction when the system provides an immediate determination of no prohibition. (As background, NICS, operated by the FBI under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, conducts instant checks of prospective firearm transferees against federal and state prohibiting records.) It also (1) makes conforming amendments to repeal related provisions of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012 (34 U.S.C. 40901 note), and (2) directs the Attorney General to prescribe implementing regulations within 180 days of enactment.
This section requires each federal firearms licensee to conduct a physical check of their firearms business inventory, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Attorney General (new 18 U.S.C. §923(g)(8)). It strikes a proviso in the FY2013 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act prohibiting the use of funds for such requirements (18 U.S.C. §923 note) and directs the Attorney General to prescribe implementing regulations within 180 days of enactment.
This section eliminates certain prior limitations on Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) funding by amending appropriations acts and resolutions from FY2003 through FY2012 (i.e., Public Laws 108-7, 108-199, 108-447, 109-108, 110-161, 111-8, 111-117, and 112-55) as follows: (1) striking the 1st, 6th, or 7th provisos under the ATF—Salaries and Expenses heading, which restricted inspections of federal firearms licensees (FFLs) and disclosure of firearms trace data; (2) limiting the 6th proviso to the fiscal year of enactment (e.g., from "beginning in fiscal year 2010 and thereafter" to "in fiscal year 2010"); and (3) striking additional language extending restrictions across fiscal years or acts (e.g., "or any other Act with respect to any fiscal year"). (As background, FFLs must be licensed under 18 U.S.C. §923 to engage in firearms businesses, and these provisos historically limited ATF to inspecting FFL records once every 12 months absent probable cause, consent, or compliance issues.) It further revises specified general provisions (e.g., former sections 511, 512, 611, 615, 617) to state that none of the funds appropriated pursuant to the act or any other provision of law may be used for any tax or fee in connection with implementing background checks under 18 U.S.C. §922(t). (Thus, the inspection and trace data restrictions no longer apply after the specified fiscal years, while the prohibition on background check fees is standardized.)