The Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act (S. 330 and H.R. 671) would subject guns to the same health and safety regulation as virtually all other products sold in America. The bill would give the Department of the Treasury consumer protection authority to regulate the design, manufacture, and distribution of firearms and ammunition including the ability to: set minimum safety standards for guns; issue recalls and warnings for defective guns; collect data on gun-related death and injury; and ban products when no other remedy is sufficient.

Actions the Department of the Treasury could take under the Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act, include:

Issue recalls and order repairs.

Many firearms now in the hands of consumers contain safety-related defects that make the guns prone to unintentional discharge. For example, the Sturm, Ruger Old Model single action revolver has caused more than 600 serious injuries or deaths because of a design defect that causes the gun to discharge with a mild blow to the hammer. Other firearm models suffer from similar defects, including one of America’s most popular hunting rifles—the Remington Model 700. Manufacturers could be required to recall or repair defective guns.

Set minimum safety standards.

 There are simple design changes that could reduce the number of gun-related deaths and injuries. For example, manufacturers could be required to make guns child resistant through the addition of safety locks. Another important safety device is a magazine disconnect, which prevents a gun from firing once the ammunition magazine has been removed. People often believe a gun is unloaded although many guns are designed so that a bullet remains in the chamber—ready to be fired—even after the magazine has been removed. Load indicators ensure that people will always know when a gun is loaded.

All of these standards would be tested for effectiveness. Such safety standards can help reduce the number of unintentional shootings and also prevent some deaths that result when a shooter intentionally pulls the trigger believing the gun to be unloaded.

[Return to top]

Set minimum size standards.  

One characteristic that greatly enhances a gun’s utility in crime is concealability. Concealability makes a gun more portable and allows someone bent on homicide to hide the weapon until the moment it is used. Workplace homicides and school shootings often involve highly concealable handguns. Such guns are small enough for even very young children to carry and conceal. This was the case in the recent elementary school shooting in Michigan in which six- year-old shot his classmate.

Recognizing that concealability makes a gun prone to use in crime, Congress has banned the importation of handguns that do not meet minimum size requirements of a combined height and length requirement of 10 inches for pistols or a minimum length of 4 1/2 inches for revolvers. These requirements do not, however, apply to domestically manufactured handguns. All guns could be required to meet minimum size standards.

Keep new non-sporting firearms off the civilian market.  

The newest trend in the gun market is the 50-caliber sniper rifle. These guns can pierce armor and are capable of shooting down aircraft. The guns were designed for combat and were used by U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf War. The guns are quickly becoming cheap and plentiful. One police officer has already been killed in Colorado with such a gun by a shooter who went by the nickname "50 cal Al." Under H.R. 671 and S. 330, the Treasury Department would be empowered to review such new types of guns before they are made available to civilians.

Close loopholes in the assault weapon ban.  

Congress passed legislation to ban the manufacture of assault weapons in 1994. The legislation unfortunately contains many loopholes that the gun industry has exploited. Today there are many new makes and models of assault weapons available despite Congress’ efforts.

The problems with the assault weapons ban illustrate the futility of a piecemeal approach to product regulation. H.R. 671 and S. 330 would allow the Treasury department to close these loopholes through administrative procedures.

Ban specific models or classes of firearm or firearm products.

 The Treasury Department would be given banning authority, similar to that of other federal agencies for other consumer products, to ban firearms or firearms products that are demonstrated to present an unreasonable risk to the public. Such authority could only be exercised when no other remedy would adequately reduce the risk.

Under this provision, for example, the agency could take action against such firearm products as trigger activators that allow semi-automatic firearms to mimic the fully automatic fire of a machine gun. The agency could also restrict access to specific firearms proven to be disproportionately associated with homicide, suicide or involved in unintentional injuries.