Armor-Piercing Bullets Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 952 To enact into law a framework for deciding whether certain projectiles are ‘‘primarily intended for sporting purposes’’ for purposes of determining whether the projectiles are armor piercing ammunition. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 4, 2019 Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. COHEN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. HAS- TINGS, and Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To enact into law a framework for deciding whether certain projectiles are ‘‘primarily intended for sporting purposes’’ for purposes of determining whether the projectiles are armor piercing ammunition. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Armor-Piercing Bullets 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:44 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H952.IH H952 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 952 IH SEC. 2. FRAMEWORK FOR DECIDING WHETHER CERTAIN 1 PROJECTILES ARE ‘‘PRIMARILY INTENDED 2 FOR SPORTING PURPOSES’’ FOR PURPOSES 3 OF DETERMINING WHETHER THE PROJEC- 4 TILES ARE ARMOR PIERCING AMMUNITION. 5 Section 921(a)(17) of title 18, United States Code, 6 is amended by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(D)(i) For purposes of subparagraph (C), a .22 cal- 8 iber projectile that otherwise would be armor piercing am- 9 munition shall be considered to be primarily intended to 10 be used for sporting purposes if the projectile weighs 40 11 grains or less and is loaded into a rimfire cartridge. 12 ‘‘(ii)(I)(aa) Except as provided in clause (i), a projec- 13 tile that otherwise would be armor piercing ammunition 14 shall, for purposes of subparagraph (C), be considered to 15 be primarily intended to be used for sporting purpose if 16 the projectile is loaded into a cartridge for which the only 17 handgun that is readily available in the ordinary channels 18 of commercial trade is a single shot handgun, subject to 19 subclause (II). 20 ‘‘(bb) In subclause (aa), the term ‘single shot hand- 21 gun’ means a break-open or bolt action handgun that can 22 accept only a single cartridge manually, and does not ac- 23 cept or use a magazine or other ammunition feeding de- 24 vice, but does not include a pocket pistol or derringer-type 25 firearm. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:44 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H952.IH H952 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 952 IH ‘‘(II) For purposes of subparagraph (C), the Attorney 1 General may treat a projectile as not primarily intended 2 to be used for sporting purposes if substantial evidence 3 exists that the projectile is not primarily intended to be 4 used for sporting purposes.’’. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:44 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H952.IH H952 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS