I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 3079
To protect law enforcement officers, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY5, 2023
Mr. B
ACON(for himself, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. CARL, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr.
L
ATTA, Mr. BARR, Mr. AMODEI, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. JOHN-
SONof Ohio, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. MEUSER, Mr. JACKSONof Texas, Mr.
D’E
SPOSITO, Mr. LAWLER, Mr. LALOTA, and Mr. HUDSON) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To protect law enforcement officers, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Back the Blue Act 4
of 2023’’. 5
SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS. 6
(a) K
ILLING OFLAWENFORCEMENTOFFICERS.— 7
(1) O
FFENSE.—Chapter 51 of title 18, United 8
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 9
following: 10
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‘‘§ 1123. Killing of law enforcement officers 1
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section— 2
‘‘(1) the terms ‘Federal law enforcement officer’ 3
and ‘United States judge’ have the meanings given 4
those terms in section 115; 5
‘‘(2) the term ‘federally funded public safety of-6
ficer’ means a public safety officer or judicial officer 7
for a public agency that— 8
‘‘(A) receives Federal financial assistance; 9
and 10
‘‘(B) is an agency of an entity that is a 11
State of the United States, the District of Co-12
lumbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 13
Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the 14
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is-15
lands, or any territory or possession of the 16
United States, an Indian tribe, or a unit of 17
local government of that entity; 18
‘‘(3) the term ‘firefighter’ includes an individual 19
serving as an official recognized or designated mem-20
ber of a legally organized volunteer fire department 21
and an officially recognized or designated public em-22
ployee member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew; 23
‘‘(4) the term ‘judicial officer’ means a judge or 24
other officer or employee of a court, including pros-25
ecutors, court security, pretrial services officers, 26
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court reporters, and corrections, probation, and pa-1
role officers; 2
‘‘(5) the term ‘law enforcement officer’ means 3
an individual, with statutory arrest powers, involved 4
in crime or juvenile delinquency control or reduction 5
or enforcement of the laws; 6
‘‘(6) the term ‘public agency’ includes a court 7
system, the National Guard of a State to the extent 8
the personnel of that National Guard are not in 9
Federal service, and the defense forces of a State 10
authorized by section 109 of title 32; and 11
‘‘(7) the term ‘public safety officer’ means an 12
individual serving a public agency in an official ca-13
pacity, as a law enforcement officer, as a firefighter, 14
as a chaplain, or as a member of a rescue squad or 15
ambulance crew. 16
‘‘(b) O
FFENSE.—It shall be unlawful for any person 17
to— 18
‘‘(1) commit, or attempt to or conspire to com-19
mit, murder (within the meaning of section 1111(a)) 20
or manslaughter (within the meaning of section 21
1112(a)) against— 22
‘‘(A) a United States judge; 23
‘‘(B) a Federal law enforcement officer; or 24
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‘‘(C) a federally funded public safety offi-1
cer while that officer is engaged in official du-2
ties, or on account of the performance of offi-3
cial duties; or 4
‘‘(2) commit, or attempt to or conspire to com-5
mit, murder (within the meaning of section 1111(a)) 6
or manslaughter (within the meaning of section 7
1112(a)) against a former United States judge, Fed-8
eral law enforcement officer, or federally funded 9
public safety officer on account of the past perform-10
ance of official duties. 11
‘‘(c) P
ENALTY.—Any person that violates subsection 12
(b) shall be fined under this title and imprisoned for not 13
less than 10 years or for life, or, if death results, shall 14
be sentenced to not less than 30 years and not more than 15
life, or may be punished by death.’’. 16
(2) T
ABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections 17
for chapter 51 of title 18, United States Code, is 18
amended by adding at the end the following: 19
‘‘1123. Killing of law enforcement officers.’’.
(b) ASSAULT OFLAWENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.— 20
(1) O
FFENSE.—Chapter 7 of title 18, United 21
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 22
following: 23
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‘‘§ 120. Assaults of law enforcement officers 1
‘‘(a) D
EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘feder-2
ally funded State or local law enforcement officer’ means 3
an individual involved in crime and juvenile delinquency 4
control or reduction, or enforcement of the laws (including 5
a police, corrections, probation, or parole officer) who 6
works for a public agency (that receives Federal financial 7
assistance) of a State of the United States or the District 8
of Columbia. 9
‘‘(b) O
FFENSE.—It shall be unlawful to assault a fed-10
erally funded State or local law enforcement officer while 11
engaged in or on account of the performance of official 12
duties, or assaults any person who formerly served as a 13
federally funded State or local law enforcement officer on 14
account of the performance of such person’s official duties 15
during such service, or because of the actual or perceived 16
status of the person as a federally funded State or local 17
law enforcement officer. 18
‘‘(c) P
ENALTY.—Any person that violates subsection 19
(b) shall be subject to a fine under this title and— 20
‘‘(1) if the assault resulted in bodily injury (as 21
defined in section 1365), shall be imprisoned not less 22
than 2 years and not more than 10 years; 23
‘‘(2) if the assault resulted in substantial bodily 24
injury (as defined in section 113), shall be impris-25
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oned not less than 5 years and not more than 20 1
years; 2
‘‘(3) if the assault resulted in serious bodily in-3
jury (as defined in section 1365), shall be impris-4
oned for not less than 10 years; 5
‘‘(4) if a deadly or dangerous weapon was used 6
during and in relation to the assault, shall be im-7
prisoned for not less than 20 years; and 8
‘‘(5) shall be imprisoned for not more than 1 9
year in any other case. 10
‘‘(d) C
ERTIFICATIONREQUIREMENT.— 11
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—No prosecution of any of-12
fense described in this section may be undertaken by 13
the United States, except under the certification in 14
writing of the Attorney General, or a designee, 15
that— 16
‘‘(A) the State does not have jurisdiction; 17
‘‘(B) the State has requested that the Fed-18
eral Government assume jurisdiction; 19
‘‘(C) the verdict or sentence obtained pur-20
suant to State charges left demonstratively 21
unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating 22
bias-motivated violence; or 23
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‘‘(D) a prosecution by the United States is 1
in the public interest and necessary to secure 2
substantial justice. 3
‘‘(2) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in 4
this subsection shall be construed to limit the au-5
thority of Federal officers, or a Federal grand jury, 6
to investigate possible violations of this section. 7
‘‘(e) S
TATUTE OFLIMITATIONS.— 8
‘‘(1) O
FFENSES NOT RESULTING IN DEATH .— 9
Except as provided in paragraph (2), no person shall 10
be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any offense 11
under this section unless the indictment for such of-12
fense is found, or the information for such offense 13
is instituted, not later than 7 years after the date 14
on which the offense was committed. 15
‘‘(2) O
FFENSES RESULTING IN DEATH .—An in-16
dictment or information alleging that an offense 17
under this section resulted in death may be found or 18
instituted at any time without limitation.’’. 19
(2) T
ABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections 20
for chapter 7 of title 18, United States Code, is 21
amended by adding at the end the following: 22
‘‘120. Assualts of law enforcement officers.’’.
(c) FLIGHTTOAVOIDPROSECUTION FOR KILLING 23
L
AWENFORCEMENTOFFICIALS.— 24
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(1) OFFENSE.—Chapter 49 of title 18, United 1
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 2
following: 3
‘‘§ 1075. Flight to avoid prosecution for killing law 4
enforcement officials 5
‘‘(a) O
FFENSE.—It shall be unlawful for any person 6
to move or travel in interstate or foreign commerce with 7
intent to avoid prosecution, or custody or confinement 8
after conviction, under the laws of the place from which 9
the person flees or under section 1114 or 1123, for a crime 10
consisting of the killing, an attempted killing, or a con-11
spiracy to kill a Federal judge or Federal law enforcement 12
officer (as those terms are defined in section 115), or a 13
federally funded public safety officer (as that term is de-14
fined in section 1123). 15
‘‘(b) P
ENALTY.—Any person that violates subsection 16
(a) shall be fined under this title and imprisoned for not 17
less than 10 years, in addition to any other term of impris-18
onment for any other offense relating to the conduct de-19
scribed in subsection (a).’’. 20
(2) T
ABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections 21
for chapter 49 of title 18, United States Code, is 22
amended by adding at the end the following: 23
‘‘1075. Flight to avoid prosecution for killing law enforcement officials.’’.
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SEC. 3. SPECIFIC AGGRAVATING FACTOR FOR FEDERAL 1
DEATH PENALTY KILLING OF LAW ENFORCE-2
MENT OFFICER. 3
(a) A
GGRAVATINGFACTORS FORHOMICIDE.—Sec-4
tion 3592(c) of title 18, United States Code, is amended 5
by inserting after paragraph (16) the following: 6
‘‘(17) K
ILLING OF A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFI -7
CER, PROSECUTOR, JUDGE, OR FIRST RESPONDER.— 8
The defendant killed or attempted to kill a person 9
who is authorized by law— 10
‘‘(A) to engage in or supervise the preven-11
tion, detention, or investigation of any criminal 12
violation of law; 13
‘‘(B) to arrest, prosecute, or adjudicate an 14
individual for any criminal violation of law; or 15
‘‘(C) to be a firefighter or other first re-16
sponder.’’. 17
SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON FEDERAL HABEAS RELIEF FOR 18
MURDERS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS. 19
(a) J
USTICE FORLAWENFORCEMENT OFFICERS 20
ANDTHEIRFAMILIES.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 2254 of title 28, 22
United States Code, is amended by adding at the 23
end the following: 24
‘‘(j)(1) For an application for a writ of habeas corpus 25
on behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment 26
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of a State court for a crime that involved the killing of 1
a public safety officer (as that term is defined in section 2
1204 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 3
Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796b)) or judge, while 4
the public safety officer or judge was engaged in the per-5
formance of official duties, or on account of the perform-6
ance of official duties by or status as a public safety officer 7
or judge of the public safety officer or judge— 8
‘‘(A) the application shall be subject to the time 9
limitations and other requirements under sections 10
2263, 2264, and 2266; and 11
‘‘(B) the court shall not consider claims relating 12
to sentencing that were adjudicated in a State court. 13
‘‘(2) Sections 2251, 2262, and 2101 are the exclusive 14
sources of authority for Federal courts to stay a sentence 15
of death entered by a State court in a case described in 16
paragraph (1).’’. 17
(2) R
ULES.—Rule 11 of the Rules Governing 18
Section 2254 Cases in the United States District 19
Courts is amended by adding at the end the fol-20
lowing: ‘‘Rule 60(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil 21
Procedure shall not apply to a proceeding under 22
these rules in a case that is described in section 23
2254(j) of title 28, United States Code.’’. 24
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(3) FINALITY OF DETERMINATION .—Section 1
2244(b)(3)(E) of title 28, United States Code, is 2
amended by striking ‘‘the subject of a petition’’ and 3
all that follows and inserting: ‘‘reheard in the court 4
of appeals or reviewed by writ of certiorari.’’. 5
(4) E
FFECTIVE DATE AND APPLICABILITY .— 6
(A) I
N GENERAL.—This paragraph and the 7
amendments made by this paragraph shall 8
apply to any case pending on or after the date 9
of enactment of this Act. 10
(B) T
IME LIMITS.—In a case pending on 11
the date of enactment of this Act, if the amend-12
ments made by this paragraph impose a time 13
limit for taking certain action, the period of 14
which began before the date of enactment of 15
this Act, the period of such time limit shall 16
begin on the date of enactment of this Act. 17
(C) E
XCEPTION.—The amendments made 18
by this paragraph shall not bar consideration 19
under section 2266(b)(3)(B) of title 28, United 20
States Code, of an amendment to an application 21
for a writ of habeas corpus that is pending on 22
the date of enactment of this Act, if the amend-23
ment to the petition was adjudicated by the 24
court prior to the date of enactment of this Act. 25
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SEC. 5. SELF-DEFENSE RIGHTS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT 1
OFFICERS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 203 of title 18, United 3
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 3053 4
the following: 5
‘‘§ 3054. Authority of law enforcement officers to 6
carry firearms 7
‘‘Any sworn officer, agent, or employee of the United 8
States, a State, or a political subdivision thereof, who is 9
authorized by law to engage in or supervise the prevention, 10
detection, investigation, or prosecution of any violation of 11
law, or to supervise or secure the safety of incarcerated 12
inmates, may carry firearms if authorized by law to do 13
so. Such authority to carry firearms, with respect to the 14
lawful performance of the official duties of a sworn officer, 15
agent, or employee of a State or a political subdivision 16
thereof, shall include possession incident to depositing a 17
firearm within a secure firearms storage area for use by 18
all persons who are authorized to carry a firearm within 19
any building or structure classified as a Federal facility 20
or Federal court facility, as those terms are defined under 21
section 930, and any grounds appurtenant to such a facil-22
ity.’’. 23
(b) C
ARRYING OFCONCEALEDFIREARMS BYQUALI-24
FIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.—Section 25
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926B(e)(2) of title 18, United States Code, is amended 1
by inserting ‘‘any magazine and’’ after ‘‘includes’’. 2
(c) C
ARRYING OFCONCEALEDFIREARMS BYQUALI-3
FIEDRETIREDLAWENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.—Section 4
926C(e)(1)(B) of title 18, United States Code, is amended 5
by inserting ‘‘any magazine and’’ after ‘‘includes’’. 6
(d) S
CHOOLZONES.—Section 922(q)(2)(B)(vi) of 7
title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘or 8
a qualified law enforcement officer (as defined in section 9
926B(c))’’ before the semicolon. 10
(e) R
EGULATIONSREQUIRED.—Not later than 60 11
days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney 12
General shall promulgate regulations allowing persons de-13
scribed in section 3054 of title 18, United States Code, 14
to possess firearms in a manner described by that section. 15
With respect to Federal justices, judges, bankruptcy 16
judges, and magistrate judges, such regulations shall be 17
prescribed after consultation with the Judicial Conference 18
of the United States. 19
(f) T
ABLE OFSECTIONS.—The table of sections for 20
chapter 203 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 21
by inserting after the item relating to section 3053 the 22
following: 23
‘‘3054. Authority of law enforcement officers to carry firearms.’’.
(g) FURTHERAMENDMENT.—Section 930 of title 18, 24
United States Code, is amended— 25
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(1) in subsection (d)— 1
(A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 2
the end; 3
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe-4
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘or’’; and 5
(C) by adding at the end the following: 6
‘‘(4) the possession of a firearm or ammunition 7
in a Facility Security Level I or II civilian public ac-8
cess facility by a qualified law enforcement officer 9
(as defined in section 926B(c)) or a qualified retired 10
law enforcement officer (as defined in section 11
926C(c)).’’; and 12
(2) in subsection (g), by adding at the end the 13
following: 14
‘‘(4) The term ‘Facility Security Level’ means 15
a security risk assessment level assigned to a Fed-16
eral facility by the security agency of the facility in 17
accordance with the biannually issued Interagency 18
Security Committee Standard. 19
‘‘(5) The term ‘civilian public access facility’ 20
means a facility open to the general public.’’. 21
Æ
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