HR 1784: Bill to ban and confiscate most handguns

[penguins4me]

"To protect the Nation's law enforcement officers by banning the Five-seveN Pistol"  :O~

This thread reminded me of this bill, which although is advertized as a ban on the eeeevil Five-seveN with its already banned standard steel-core ammunition, would actually ban any handgun which fires any projectile capable of defeating body armor meeting "minimum standards for the protection of law enforcement officers" - which essentially means level IIa body armor.

By definition, level IIa body armor only protects against some .40 S&W, 9mm projectiles, and others with less energy and/or sectional density.

While the whole bill is a revolting affair, the critical problem is this:

`(1) IN GENERAL- It shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture, import, market, sell, ship, deliver, possess, transfer, or receive--
[...]
`(C) any other handgun that uses armor piercing ammunition.

Note "uses". For example, many modern 9mm firearms are capable of using a 9mm "+P" or "+P+" cartridge loaded to higher energy levels than standard 9mm - which is often capable of defeating level IIa body armor.

Suffice to say, this is a thinly disguised sweeping handgun ban.

HR 1784 IH

110th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 1784

To protect the Nation's law enforcement officers by banning the Five-seveN Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm SS190 and SS192 cartridges, testing handguns and ammunition for capability to penetrate body armor, and prohibiting the manufacture, importation, sale, or purchase of such handguns or ammunition by civilians.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

March 29, 2007

Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. FARR, Ms. WATSON, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. SHERMAN, Mrs. LOWEY, Ms. WOOLSEY, and Mr. MORAN of Virginia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To protect the Nation's law enforcement officers by banning the Five-seveN Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm SS190 and SS192 cartridges, testing handguns and ammunition for capability to penetrate body armor, and prohibiting the manufacture, importation, sale, or purchase of such handguns or ammunition by civilians.

      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 `Protect Law Enforcement Armor Act' or the `PLEA Act'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

      (a) Findings- Congress finds the following:

            (1) Law enforcement is facing a new threat from handguns and accompanying ammunition, which are designed to penetrate police body armor, being marketed and sold to civilians.

            (2) A Five-seveN Pistol and accompanying ammunition, manufactured by FN Herstal of Belgium as the `5.7 x 28 mm System', has recently been recovered by law enforcement on the streets. The Five-seveN Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm SS192 cartridges are legally available for purchase by civilians under current law.

            (3) The Five-seveN Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm SS192 cartridges are capable of penetrating level IIA armor. The manufacturer advertises that ammunition fired from the Five-seveN will perforate 48 layers of Kevlar up to 200 meters and that the ammunition travels at 2100 feet per second.

            (4) The Five-seveN Pistol, and similar handguns designed to use ammunition capable of penetrating body armor, pose a devastating threat to law enforcement.

      (b) Purpose- The purpose of this Act is to protect the Nation's law enforcement officers by--

            (1) testing handguns and ammunition for capability to penetrate body armor; and

            (2) prohibiting the manufacture, importation, sale, or purchase by civilians of the Five-seveN Pistol, ammunition for such pistol, or any other handgun that uses ammunition found to be capable of penetrating body armor.

SEC. 3. ARMOR PIERCING AMMUNITION.

      (a) Expansion of Definition of Armor Piercing Ammunition- Section 921(a)(17)(B) of title 18, United States Code, is amended--

            (1) in clause (i), by striking `or' at the end;

            (2) in clause (ii), by striking the period at the end and inserting `; and'; and

            (3) by adding at the end the following:

                  `(iii) a projectile that--

                        `(I) may be used in a handgun; and

                        `(II) the Attorney General determines, pursuant to section 926(d), to be capable of penetrating body armor.'.

      (b) Determination of Capability of Projectiles To Penetrate Body Armor- Section 926 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

      `(d)(1) Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Attorney General shall promulgate standards for the uniform testing of projectiles against Body Armor Exemplar.

      `(2) The standards promulgated pursuant to paragraph (1) shall take into account, among other factors, variations in performance that are related to the type of handgun used, the length of the barrel of the handgun, the amount and kind of powder used to propel the projectile, and the design of the projectile.

      `(3) As used in paragraph (1), the term `Body Armor Exemplar' means body armor that the Attorney General determines meets minimum standards for the protection of law enforcement officers.'.

SEC. 4. ARMOR PIERCING HANDGUNS AND AMMUNITION.

      (a) In General- Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

      `(aa) Five-SeveN Pistol-

            `(1) IN GENERAL- It shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture, import, market, sell, ship, deliver, possess, transfer, or receive--

                  `(A) the Fabrique Nationale Herstal Five-SeveN Pistol;

                  `(B) 5.7 x 28mm SS190 and SS192 cartridges; or

                  `(C) any other handgun that uses armor piercing ammunition.

            `(2) EXCEPTIONS- This subsection shall not apply to--

                  `(A) any firearm or armor piercing ammunition manufactured for, and sold exclusively to, military, law enforcement, or intelligence agencies of the United States; and

                  `(B) the manufacture, possession, transfer, receipt, shipment, or delivery of a firearm or armor piercing ammunition by a licensed manufacturer, or any person acting pursuant to a contract with a licensed manufacturer, for the purpose of examining and testing such firearm or ammunition to determine whether paragraph (1) applies to such firearm.'.

      (b) Penalties- Section 924(a)(1)(B) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking `or (q)' and inserting `(q), or (aa)'.

[error]

Yes, it is. And while it has virtually no chance of passing in this Congress, it's got all the usual suspects signed on to it: the members of Congress who want you dead. It'll be back, unless they get thrown out next year.

[wolf]

Tales from the dark side (Peoples Republic of Pennsylvania)

This bill was introduced by some Philadelphia city slicker control freak legislators. It is the most draconian gun registration proposal i have ever heard of. Pennsylvania is a largely rural state where just about everyone in the rural areas is a law abiding gun owner. How could these assholes even thing this bill has a prayer of passage. If this somehow becomes law this hiibillie is gone.

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2007&sessInd=0&billBody=H&billTyp=B&billnbr=0760&pn=0881

[burnthebeautiful]

Instead of banning guns capable of piercing body armor, why not make the body armor better?

Just about every time I see a law proposal, I see both a free market solution and a government-intervention solution that's better than the one being proposed. In this case the free market solution is to just let private companies protect people and let the free market come up with better body armor. The government intervention solution that's better is buying better armor for the cops, instead of banning the guns that can pierce the armor currently being used.

[error]

Almost any handgun larger than 9mm, and virtually every rifle I can think of, can be loaded with cartridges capable of piercing body armor.

This would be more restrictive than Canada!