The Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act

Firearms are exempt from federal health and safety requirements, unlike virtually all other products�from toys to jumbo jets. The Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act would subject the gun industry to the same safety standards as virtually all other products sold in America. The bill would:

• Expand the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to regulate the design, manufacture, and distribution of firearms and ammunition. The Secretary would be empowered to take the steps necessary to protect the public from unreasonable risk of injury resulting from the use of firearms or firearm products.

• Expand Treasury's jurisdiction to include firearm-related products (such as laser sights and trigger activators) and non-powder firearms.

• Extend Treasury's authority to include the ability to set safety standards, issue recalls of defective firearms, and mandate warnings.

• Authorize Treasury to prohibit the manufacture and transfer of specific firearms, but only if the agency determines that the exercise of other authority granted the agency would be insufficient to prevent exposure of the public to unreasonable risk of injury.

• Allow emergency action to protect the public from "imminently hazardous" firearm products.

• Require manufacturers to test firearms and firearm products to guarantee compliance with relevant standards issued by the Treasury Department. All firearms and firearm products must be labeled with the name and address of the manufacturer to ensure that defective guns can be identified and traced.

• Require manufacturers to notify the Treasury Department of the intent to manufacture new types of firearms.

• Set penalties of up to $5,000 per violation for civil violations of the Act. Criminal penalties may include imprisonment for not more than two years and fines under the existing criminal statute.

• Create a Firearms Violence Information and Research Clearinghouse to collect, analyze, and make available to the public data regarding the firearms industry as well as firearm-related death and injury.

• Establish a private right of action for persons harmed by violations of the Act and allow for private enforcement of the provisions of the Act.