Second Amendment Restoration Act of 1997 (Introduced in the House)

                      105th CONGRESS
                        1st Session
                         H. R. 1147

To repeal the prohibitions relating to semiautomatic firearms and large
capacity ammunition feeding devices. 

            IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                      March 20, 1997

Mr.  PAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary


                           A BILL

To repeal the prohibitions relating to semiautomatic firearms and large
capacity ammunition feeding devices. 

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 `Second Amendment Restoration Act of 1997'. 

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds the following: 

(1) The Second Amendment protects the rights of individual persons to
keep and bear arms, including semi-automatic firearms. 

(2) Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution grants
Congress no authority to enact gun control legislation.  For example, in
United States v.  Lopez (1995), the Supreme Court struck down a gun
control law on the grounds that the Congress did not have authority
under the Commerce Clause to enact such legislation. 

(3) The United States Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution reported
in 1982 that, `In the Militia Act of 1792, the second Congress defined
`militia of the United States' to include almost every free adult male
in the United States.  These persons were obligated by law to possess a
(military-style) firearm and a minimum supply of ammunition and military
equipment.  .  .  .  There can be little doubt from this that when the
Congress and the people spoke of the a `militia,' they had reference to
the traditional concept of the entire populace capable of bearing arms,
and not to any formal group such as what is today called the National
Guard.'

(4) The Supreme Court stated in United States v.  Miller (1939) that,
`The Militia comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert
for the common defense .  .  .  (and) when called for service, these men
were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and the kind
in common use at the time.'

(5) High capacity semi-automatic firearms are excellent for
self-defense.  These firearms are the very guns which Korean merchants
used to defend themselves during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.  These
firearms provided to be extremely useful to the Koreans, as their stores
were left standing while other stores around them were burned to the
ground. 

(6) Semi-automatic weapons are not the guns most frequently used in
crime.  The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported in 1993 that violent
criminals only carry or use a `military-type gun' in about one percent
of the crimes nationwide. 

(7) Tracing is not a reliable indicator of which guns are used in crime,
and is thus a poor indicator of how often so-called semi-automatic
weapons are misused.  The Congressional Research Service reported in
1993 that, `Firearms selected for tracing do not constitute a random
sample and cannot be considered representative of the larger universe of
all firearms used by criminals.'

(8) Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) have
themselves stated that, `BATF does not always know if a firearm being
traced has been used in a crime.' For example in 1989 in Los Angeles,
`assault rifles' represented approximately only 3 percent of guns
seized, but 19 percent of gun traces. 

(9) The National Association of Chiefs of Police found in its 1992 poll
that 66.7 percent of law enforcement agency heads agree that
`law-abiding citizens should have the right to purchase any type of
firearm (including semi-automatic weapons) for sport or self-defense
under state laws that now exist.' Moreover, the same poll found that
89.6 percent of the respondents did not believe that `banning
(military-style) weapons would reduce criminals from obtaining them.'

SEC.  3.  REPEAL OF THE PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO SEMI-AUTOMATIC ASSAULT
WEAPONS AND LARGE CAPACITY AMMUNITION FEEDING DEVICES. 

(a) Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking
subsections (v) and (w) and by striking the appendix. 

(b) Section 921(a) of such title is amended by striking paragraphs (31)
and (32). 

(c) Section 923(i) of such title is amended by striking the last 2
sentences. 

(d) Section 924(a)(1)(B) of such title is amended by striking `(r), (v),
or (w)' and inserting `or (r)'. 

(e) Section 924(c)(1) of such title is amended by striking
`short-barreled shotgun, or semiautomatic assault weapon,' and inserting
`or short-barreled shotgun'. 

(f) Title XI of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of
1994 is hereby repealed.