Personal Safety Firearms Act of 1983
Latest action. Referred to subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Crime.
Personal Safety Firearms Act of 1983 - Amends the Federal criminal code to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to determine which States or local governments have adopted adequate permit systems for the possession of handguns. Authorizes the Secretary to issue licenses to possess and receive handguns to individuals in States not having such systems. Prohibits any individual who is not licensed from possessing or receiving a handgun. Makes this prohibition inapplicable for 15 days after a person receives a handgun by operation of law. Authorizes the Secretary to issue registration certificates for handguns to individuals who are licensed or permitted to possess or receive handguns. Prohibits any individual from possessing, transferring, or receiving an unregistered handgun. Makes this prohibition inapplicable for 30 days after a person receives a handgun by operation of law. Exempts licensed importers, manufacturers, and dealers. Requires the transferor of a handgun to obtain a completed registration application from the transferee and to mail the application to the Secretary. Makes it unlawful for a possessor of a handgun to refuse to display the registration certificate upon demand of a Federal, State, or local governmental officer with arrest authority. Prohibits a licensed dealer from selling handgun ammunition without requiring the purchaser to exhibit a registration certificate. Directs the Secretary not to approve for sale or delivery by a licensed dealer, importer, manufacturer, or collector any handgun model unless samples of such model are evaluated and found to meet certain standards. Specifies standards for pistols and revolvers, including dimensions, frame construction, weight, caliber, and safety features. Directs the Secretary to compile and publish annually in the Federal Register a list of approved handgun models and to furnish such list to approved licensees. Sets forth procedures governing handgun models which are found not to comply with the relevant standards. Makes it unlawful for any person to reduce the length of a previously approved handgun if, as a result of such change, the handgun no longer meets the approved standard. Amends the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1970 to revise and increase the mandatory penalties for using or carrying a firearm during commission of a Federal felony. Defines such offense as using a firearm to commit a felony over which the district courts have exclusive jurisdiction or carrying a firearm during such a felony involving violence. Deletes the requirement that the firearm be carried "illegally." Increases the additional penalty imposed for such offense to five to ten years' imprisonment for a first offender (currently, one to ten years) and to ten years to life imprisonment for a second or subsequent offender (currently, two to 25 years). Extends to first offenders the stipulations, currently applicable only to second offenders, that the court not suspend any sentence, grant probation, or impose concurrent sentences.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on January 3, 1983. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on February 4, 1983: Referred to Subcommittee on Crime.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 98th Congress (1983-84), 623 of the 10,560 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 5.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
S. GREEN (R-NY) introduced it on January 3, 1983. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on January 3, 1983, 15956 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 15924 days ago, on February 4, 1983.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 98th Congress has not finished by January 3, 1985 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers