II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 173
To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to require the safe
storage of firearms, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY31, 2023
Mr. B
LUMENTHAL(for himself, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. CASEY, Mr. PADILLA, Mr.
C
OONS, Mr. WYDEN, Ms. WARREN, Mr. REED, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr.
M
ARKEY, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. SANDERS,
Ms. D
UCKWORTH, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. KAINE, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BOOK-
ER, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. KING, Ms. STABENOW, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr.
B
ROWN, Mr. KELLY, Mr. LUJA´N, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr.
W
ELCH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL
To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to
require the safe storage of firearms, 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 ‘‘Ethan’s Law’’. 4
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 5
Congress find the following: 6
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(1) An estimated 4,600,000 minors in the 1
United States live in homes with at least 1 unse-2
cured firearm. 3
(2) Seventy-three percent of children under the 4
age of 10 living in homes with firearms reported 5
knowing the location of their parents’ firearms. 6
Thirty-six percent of those children reported han-7
dling their parents’ unsecured firearms. 8
(3) The presence of unsecured firearms in the 9
home increases the risk of unintentional and inten-10
tional shootings. Over 75 percent of firearms used in 11
youth suicide attempts and unintentional firearm in-12
juries were stored in the residence of the victim, a 13
relative, or a friend. 14
(4) The United States Secret Service and the 15
Department of Education report that in 65 percent 16
of deadly school shootings, the attacker obtained the 17
firearm from his or her own home or that of a rel-18
ative. 19
(5) In the last decade, nearly 2,000,000 fire-20
arms have been reported stolen. In 2016 alone, 21
238,000 firearms were reported stolen in the United 22
States. Between 2010 and 2016, police recovered 23
more than 23,000 stolen firearms across jurisdic-24
tions that were used to commit kidnappings, armed 25
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robberies, sexual assaults, murders, and other vio-1
lent crimes. 2
(6) Higher levels of neighborhood gun violence 3
drive depopulation, discourage commercial activity, 4
and decrease property values, resulting in fewer 5
business establishments, fewer jobs, lower home val-6
ues, and lower home ownership rates. 7
(7) The negative economic impact of gun vio-8
lence in communities is tied directly to the national 9
economy and interstate commerce. 10
(8) Congress has the power under the interstate 11
commerce clause and other provisions of the Con-12
stitution of the United States to enact measures en-13
suring firearms are securely stored. 14
SEC. 3. SECURE GUN STORAGE OR SAFETY DEVICE. 15
Section 922(z) of title 18, United States Code, is 16
amended by adding at the end the following: 17
‘‘(4) S
ECURE GUN STORAGE BY OWNERS .— 18
‘‘(A) O
FFENSE.— 19
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Except as pro-20
vided in clause (ii), it shall be unlawful for 21
a person to store or keep any firearm that 22
has moved in, or that has otherwise af-23
fected, interstate or foreign commerce on 24
the premises of a residence under the con-25
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trol of the person if the person knows, or 1
reasonably should know, that— 2
‘‘(I) a minor is likely to gain ac-3
cess to the firearm without the per-4
mission of the parent or guardian of 5
the minor; or 6
‘‘(II) a resident of the residence 7
is ineligible to possess a firearm under 8
Federal, State, or local law. 9
‘‘(ii) E
XCEPTION.—Clause (i) shall 10
not apply to a person if the person— 11
‘‘(I) keeps the firearm— 12
‘‘(aa) secure using a secure 13
gun storage or safety device; or 14
‘‘(bb) in a location that a 15
reasonable person would believe 16
to be secure; or 17
‘‘(II) carries the firearm on his 18
or her person or within such close 19
proximity thereto that the person can 20
readily retrieve and use the firearm as 21
if the person carried the firearm on 22
his or her person. 23
‘‘(B) P
ENALTY.— 24
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‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Any person who 1
violates subparagraph (A) shall be fined 2
$500 per violation. 3
‘‘(ii) E
NHANCED PENALTY .—If a per-4
son violates subparagraph (A) and a minor 5
or a resident who is ineligible to possess a 6
firearm under Federal, State, or local law 7
obtains the firearm and causes injury or 8
death to such minor or resident, or to any 9
other individual, the person shall be fined 10
under this title, imprisoned for not more 11
than 5 years, or both. 12
‘‘(iii) F
ORFEITURE OF IMPROPERLY 13
STORED FIREARM.—Any firearm stored in 14
violation of subparagraph (A) shall be sub-15
ject to seizure and forfeiture in accordance 16
with the procedures described in section 17
924(d). 18
‘‘(C) M
INOR DEFINED.—In this paragraph, 19
the term ‘minor’ means an individual who is 20
less than 18 years of age.’’. 21
SEC. 4. FIREARM SAFE STORAGE PROGRAM. 22
Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 23
Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.) is amended 24
by adding at the end the following: 25
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‘‘PART PP—FIREARM SAFE STORAGE PROGRAM 1
‘‘SEC. 3061. FIREARM SAFE STORAGE PROGRAM. 2
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Assistant Attorney General 3
shall make grants to an eligible State or Indian Tribe to 4
assist the State or Indian Tribe in carrying out the provi-5
sions of any State or Tribal law that is functionally iden-6
tical to section 922(z)(4) of title 18, United States Code. 7
‘‘(b) E
LIGIBLESTATE ORINDIANTRIBE.— 8
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-9
graph (2), a State or Indian Tribe shall be eligible 10
to receive grants under this section on and after the 11
earliest date as of which— 12
‘‘(A) the State or Indian Tribe has enacted 13
a law that is functionally identical to section 14
922(z)(4) of title 18, United States Code; and 15
‘‘(B) the attorney general of the State (or 16
comparable Tribal official) has submitted a 17
written certification to the Assistant Attorney 18
General stating that the law of the State or In-19
dian Tribe reflects the sense of Congress in sec-20
tion 922(z)(4)(D) of such title 18. 21
‘‘(2) F
IRST YEAR ELIGIBILITY EXCEPTION .— 22
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—A covered State or In-23
dian Tribe shall be eligible to receive a grant 24
under this section during the 1-year period be-25
ginning on the date of enactment of this part. 26
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‘‘(B) COVERED STATE OR INDIAN TRIBE .— 1
In this paragraph, the term ‘covered State or 2
Indian Tribe’ means a State or Indian Tribe 3
that, before the date of enactment of this part, 4
enacted a law— 5
‘‘(i) that is functionally identical to 6
section 922(z)(4) of title 18, United States 7
Code; and 8
‘‘(ii) for which the attorney general of 9
the State (or comparable Tribal official) 10
submits a written certification to the As-11
sistant Attorney General stating that the 12
law of the State or Indian Tribe reflects 13
the sense of Congress in section 14
922(z)(4)(D) of such title 18. 15
‘‘(c) U
SE OFFUNDS.—Funds awarded under this 16
section may be used by a State or Indian Tribe to assist 17
law enforcement agencies or the courts of the State or In-18
dian Tribe in enforcing and otherwise facilitating compli-19
ance with any State or Tribal law functionally identical 20
to section 922(z)(4) of title 18, United States Code. 21
‘‘(d) A
PPLICATION.—An eligible State or Indian 22
Tribe desiring a grant under this section shall submit to 23
the Assistant Attorney General an application at such 24
time, in such manner, and containing or accompanied by 25
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such information, as the Assistant Attorney General may 1
reasonably require. 2
‘‘(e) I
NCENTIVES.—For each of fiscal years 2023 3
through 2027, the Attorney General shall give affirmative 4
preference to all Bureau of Justice Assistance discre-5
tionary grant applications of a State or Indian Tribe that 6
has enacted a law— 7
‘‘(1) functionally identical to section 922(z)(4) 8
of title 18, United States Code; and 9
‘‘(2) for which the attorney general of the State 10
(or comparable Tribal official) submits a written cer-11
tification to the Assistant Attorney General stating 12
that the law of the State or Indian Tribe reflects the 13
sense of Congress in section 922(z)(4)(D) of such 14
title 18.’’. 15
SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 16
Paragraph (4) of section 922(z) of title 18, United 17
States Code, as added by section 3, is amended by adding 18
at the end the following: 19
‘‘(D) S
ENSE OF CONGRESS RELATING TO 20
LIABILITY.—It is the sense of Congress that— 21
‘‘(i) failure to comply with subpara-22
graph (A) constitutes negligence under any 23
relevant statute or common law rule; and 24
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‘‘(ii) when a violation of subparagraph 1
(A) is the but-for cause of a harm caused 2
by the discharge of a firearm, such viola-3
tion should be deemed to be the legal or 4
proximate cause of such harm, regardless 5
of whether such harm was also the result 6
of an intentional tort.’’. 7
SEC. 6. SEVERABILITY. 8
If any provision of this Act, or an amendment made 9
by this Act, or the application of such provision to any 10
person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remain-11
der of this Act, or an amendment made by this Act, or 12
the application of such provision to other persons or cir-13
cumstances, shall not be affected. 14
Æ
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