To expand the powers of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to regulate the manufacture, distribution, and sale of firearms and ammunition, and to expand the jurisdiction of the Bureau to include firearm products and non-powder firearms.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Title I: Regulation of Firearm Products
Title II: Prohibitions
Title III: Enforcement
Subtitle A: Civil Enforcement
Subtitle B: Criminal Enforcement
Title IV: Administrative Provisions
Title V: Relationship to Other Law
Title VI: Definitions
Title VII: Effective Date
Firearms Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 1997 - Title I: Regulation of Firearm Products - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe such regulations governing the design, manufacture, and performance of, and commerce in "firearm products" (defined as a firearm, firearm part, nonpowder firearm, and ammunition) as are reasonably necessary to reduce or prevent unreasonable risk of injury resulting from the use of such products.
Allows any person to petition the Secretary to: (1) issue, amend, or repeal such a regulation; or (2) require the recall, repair, or replacement of, or the issuance of refunds with respect to, a firearm product. Sets deadlines for taking action on petitions.
(Sec. 102) Authorizes the Secretary to issue orders: (1) prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or transfer of a firearm product which has been manufactured, imported, transferred, or distributed in violation of a regulation prescribed under this Act; (2) requiring the recall, repair, or replacement of, or refunds for, firearm products; and (3) prohibiting the manufacture, importation, transfer, distribution, or export of a firearm product if the exercise of other authority under this Act would not be sufficient to prevent the product from posing an unreasonable risk of injury to the public.
Authorizes the Secretary, in order to ascertain compliance with this Act, to enter and inspect: (1) any place in which firearm products are manufactured, stored, or held, for distribution in commerce; and (2) any conveyance being used to transport a firearm product.
Title II: Prohibitions - Sets forth prohibitions on the manufacture or transfer of firearm products for failure by: (1) a manufacturer to test and certify firearm products or to provide notice to the Secretary of new types of firearm products; (2) a manufacturer or dealer in firearms to label firearm products; and (3) an importer, manufacturer, or dealer to fail to maintain, or permit inspection of, records.
Prohibits: (1) the importation and exportation of uncertified firearm products; (2) the manufacturer, offer for sale, distribution in commerce, importation, or exportation of a firearm product in violation of this Act; and (3) the manufacture, purchase, or import of a firearm product at a rate that is significantly greater than that at which the person manufactured, purchased, or imported the product during a base period (prescribed by the Secretary) before the applicable regulation is prescribed under this Act.
Makes this title inapplicable to specified governmental authorities.
Title III: Enforcement - Subtitle A: Civil Enforcement - Directs the Secretary to impose a civil fine upon any person who violates title II. Prescribes a formula for setting fine amounts for five-year periods. Provides that each violation shall constitute a separate offense with respect to each firearm product involved, subject to specified limitations. Directs the Secretary to prescribe and publish in the Federal Register the schedule of maximum authorized penalties.
(Sec. 302) Authorizes the Attorney General, upon request of the Secretary, to bring an action: (1) to restrain any violation of title II in the U.S. district court for any district in which the violation has occurred or in which the defendant is found or transacts business; and (2) in rem for condemnation of a qualified firearm product in the district court for any district in which the Secretary has found and seized for confiscation the product.
(Sec. 303) Authorizes: (1) the Secretary to bring an action in district court to restrain a manufacturer or dealer from manufacturing, distributing, transferring, importing, or exporting; and (2) the court, in such an action, to grant such temporary or permanent relief as necessary to protect the public from the risks posed by such product.
(Sec. 304) Authorizes: (1) any person aggrieved by a violation of this Act or any interested person to bring an action against such other person in district court for damages; and (2) the court to award to a prevailing plaintiff a reasonable attorney's fee.
(Sec. 306) Specifies that: (1) compliance with this Act shall not relieve any person from liability to any person under common law or State statutory law; and (2) the failure of the Secretary to take any action authorized under this Act shall not be admissible in litigation relating to the product under common law or State statutory law.
Subtitle B: Criminal Enforcement - Subjects any person who has been notified of a violation of a provision of this Act and who knowingly violates such provision with respect to a firearms product, to a fine and up to two years' imprisonment.
Title IV: Administrative Provisions - Directs the Secretary to: (1) maintain a Firearms Violence Information Clearinghouse for information relating to the causes and prevention of death and injury associated with firearms; (2) conduct continuing studies and investigations of firearm-related deaths and injuries and the resulting economic costs and losses; (3) compile an annual report detailing each case of criminal misuse of machine guns registered under the National Firearms Act; (4) collect and maintain production and sales figures for registered manufacturers under the Gun Control Act; (5) conduct research on the safety of firearm products; (6) develop firearm safety testing methods and devices; and (7) make available to the public, at least annually, the results of such activities.
(Sec. 402) Sets forth reporting requirements.
Title V: Relationship to Other Law - Specifies that: (1) in the event of any conflict between this Act and any provision of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), the AECA provision shall control; and (2) this Act shall not be construed to preempt State or local law or to prevent a State from enacting any provision of law regulating or prohibiting conduct with respect to a firearm product, except to the extent of inconsistency with this Act.
Title VI: Definitions - Defines terms.
Title VII: Effective Date - Makes this Act effective on its enactment date.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime.
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