H.R. 2911 — Introduced in House

I 116th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 2911 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 22, 2019Mr. Cook (for himself, Mrs. Murphy, Ms. Norton, Mr. Castro of Texas, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Ms. Judy Chu of California, Mr. Takano, Mr. Kelly of Mississippi, Mr. Calvert, and Ms. Stefanik) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for penalties for the sale of any Purple Heart awarded to a member of the Armed Forces. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Private Corrado Piccoli Purple Heart Preservation Act. 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) The Purple Heart medal solemnly recognizes the great and sometimes ultimate sacrifice of American servicemembers like Private Corrado Piccoli. (2) The Purple Heart medal holds a place of honor as the national symbol of this sacrifice and deserves special protections. 3. Penalty for sale of Purple Hearts awarded to members of the Armed Forces Section 704 of title 18, United States Code, is amended— (1) in subsection (a), by striking Whoever and inserting Except as provided in subsection (e), whoever; and (2) by adding at the end the following: (e) Purple heart (1) Penalty Whoever willfully purchases, attempts to purchase, solicits for purchase, mails, ships, imports, exports, produces blank certificates of receipt for, manufactures, sells, attempts to sell, advertises for sale, trades, barters, or exchanges for anything of value any Purple Heart awarded to a member of the armed forces or former member of the armed forces by the Secretary of the military department concerned, except when authorized under regulations made pursuant to law, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both. (2) Limitation on regulations Regulations described in paragraph (1) may not authorize the sale of any Purple Heart awarded to a member of the armed forces or former member of the armed forces by the Secretary of the military department concerned, unless the sale is conducted by the member or former member to whom the Purple Heart was awarded. (3) Definition In this subsection, the term willfully means the voluntary, intentional violation of a known legal duty. .