Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act
111TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
Mr. RUSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
A BILL
To provide for the implementation of a system of licensing for purchasers of certain firearms and for a record of sale system
for those firearms, and for other purposes.
- Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
Section 1. Short Title; Table of Contents.
[edit]- (a) Short Title.—
- This Act may be cited as the ``Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009´´.
- (b) Table of Contents.—
- The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Sec. 2. Findings and Purposes.
[edit]- (a) Findings- Congress finds that--
- (1) the manufacture, distribution, and importation of firearms is inherently commercial in nature;
- (2) firearms regularly move in interstate commerce;
- (3) to the extent that firearms trafficking is intrastate in nature, it arises out of and is substantially connected with a commercial transaction, which, when viewed in the aggregate, substantially affects interstate commerce;
- (4) because the intrastate and interstate trafficking of firearms are so commingled, full regulation of interstate commerce requires the incidental regulation of intrastate commerce;
- (5) gun violence in the United States is associated with the majority of homicides, over half the suicides, and two-thirds of non-fatal violent injuries; and
- (6) on the afternoon of May 10, 2007, Blair Holt, a junior at Julian High School in Chicago, was killed on a public bus riding home from school when he used his body to shield a girl who was in the line of fire after a young man boarded the bus and started shooting.
- (b) Sense of the Congress- It is the sense of the Congress that--
- (1) firearms trafficking is prevalent and widespread in and among the States, and it is usually impossible to distinguish between intrastate trafficking and interstate trafficking; and
- (2) it is in the national interest and within the role of the Federal Government to ensure that the regulation of firearms is uniform among the States, that law enforcement can quickly and effectively trace firearms used in crime, and that firearms owners know how to use and safely store their firearms.
- (c) Purposes- The purposes of this Act and the amendments made by this Act are--
- (1) to protect the public against the unreasonable risk of injury and death associated with the unrecorded sale or transfer of qualifying firearms to criminals and youth;
- (2) to ensure that owners of qualifying firearms are knowledgeable in the safe use, handling, and storage of those firearms;
- (3) to restrict the availability of qualifying firearms to criminals, youth, and other persons prohibited by Federal law from receiving firearms; and
- (4) to facilitate the tracing of qualifying firearms used in crime by Federal and State law enforcement agencies.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
[edit]- (a) In General- In this Act:
- (1) FIREARM; LICENSED DEALER; LICENSED MANUFACTURER; STATE- The terms `firearm', `licensed dealer', `licensed manufacturer', and `State' have the meanings given those terms in section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code.
- (2) QUALIFYING FIREARM- The term `qualifying firearm' has the meaning given the term in section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, as amended by subsection (b) of this section.
- (b) Amendment to Title 18, United States Code- Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
- `(36) The term `qualifying firearm'--
- `(A) means--
- `(i) any handgun; or
- `(ii) any semiautomatic firearm that can accept any detachable ammunition feeding device; and
- `(B) does not include any antique.'.
- `(A) means--
- `(36) The term `qualifying firearm'--