33 U.S.C. § 3 — Regulations to prevent injuries from target practice

submitted 108 years ago by ch. 143 to r/title-33-NAVIGATION-AND-NAVIGABLE-WATERS · 589 words · no verdicts yet

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The Secretary of the Army can set rules to protect navigable U.S. waters from harm during military target practice, weapons testing, and related activities, while still allowing food fishing under permits. Willfully breaking these rules is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500 and up to six months in prison for an individual.

[Authority to adopt regulations.] For national defense and to better protect life and property on the United States' navigable waters, the Secretary of the Army may set whatever regulations are needed for using and navigating any part of those waters that could be endangered by artillery fire during target practice, by government ordnance-testing grounds (such as the one at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, or others created later), or by underwater mines, minefields, submarine cables, or coastal-defense equipment, or by any plant or facility doing river and harbor improvement work. The Secretary has the same power to regulate transporting explosives on those waters. However, this authority must be used so it does not unreasonably interfere with the food-fishing industry, and the regulations must let food fishermen use those waters under permits granted by the Department of the Army. [Detail of vessels to enforce regulations.] To enforce these regulations, the Secretary of the Army may assign any public vessel belonging to the Department of the Army. At the Secretary's request, another federal department may also enforce the regulations using its own public vessels. [Posting and violation of regulations.] The Secretary of the Army must post these regulations in visible, appropriate places for the public to see. Anyone — a person or a corporation — who willfully violates one of these regulations is guilty of a misdemeanor. On conviction in a court with proper jurisdiction, the punishment is a fine of up to $500, and, for an individual, up to six months in prison. [Venue and jurisdiction of offenses; procedure.] If a violation of this section happens in a territory or other U.S.-controlled place that has no court with general jurisdiction over federal crimes, the case can be tried in any local court that normally handles criminal cases there, with the same right to appeal as in other cases carrying up to six months in prison. If the violation happens outside the reach of any court that has jurisdiction over it, the case is treated as if it happened wherever the offender is found or first brought, and is tried by whatever court has jurisdiction there.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

[Authority to adopt regulations.] In the interest of the national defense, and for the better protection of life and property on the navigable waters of the United States, the Secretary of the Army is authorized and empowered to prescribe such regulations as he may deem best for the use and navigation of any portion or area of the navigable waters of the United States or waters under the jurisdiction of the United States endangered or likely to be endangered by Artillery fire in target practice or otherwise, or by the proving operations of the Government ordnance proving grounds at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, or at any Government ordnance proving ground that may be established elsewhere on or near such waters, and of any portion or area of said waters occupied by submarine mines, mine fields, submarine cables, or other material and accessories pertaining to seacoast fortifications, or by any plant or facility engaged in the execution of any public project of river and harbor improvement; and the said Secretary shall have like power to regulate the transportation of explosives upon any of said waters: Provided, That the authority conferred shall be so exercised as not unreasonably to interfere with or restrict the food fishing industry, and the regulations prescribed in pursuance hereof shall provide for the use of such waters by food fishermen operating under permits granted by the Department of the Army.

[Detail of vessels to enforce regulations.] To enforce the regulations prescribed pursuant to this section, the Secretary of the Army, may detail any public vessel in the service of the Department of the Army, or, upon the request of the Secretary of the Army, the head of any other department may enforce, and the head of any such department is authorized to enforce, such regulations by means of any public vessel of such department.

[Posting and violation of regulations.] The regulations made by the Secretary of the Army pursuant to this section shall be posted in conspicuous and appropriate places, designated by him, for the information of the public; and every person who and every corporation which shall willfully violate any regulations made by the said Secretary pursuant to this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500, or by imprisonment (in the case of a natural person) not exceeding six months, in the discretion of the court.

[Venue and jurisdiction of offenses; procedure.] Offenses against the provisions of this section, or any regulation made pursuant thereto, committed in any Territory or other place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States where there is no court having general jurisdiction of crimes against the United States, shall be cognizable in any court of such place or Territory having original jurisdiction of criminal cases in the place or Territory in which the offense has been committed, with the same right of appeal in all cases as is given in other criminal cases where imprisonment not exceeding six months forms a part of the penalty, and jurisdiction is conferred upon such courts and such courts shall exercise the same for such purposes; and in case any such offense be committed beyond the territorial jurisdiction of any court having jurisdiction thereof, the offense shall be deemed and held to have been committed within the jurisdiction in which the offender may be found or into which he is first brought, and shall be tried by the court having jurisdiction thereof.

Source credit: (July 9, 1918, ch. 143, subch. XIX, §§ 1–4, 40 Stat. 892, 893; July 26, 1947, ch. 343, title II, § 205(a), 61 Stat. 501.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1918Enacted · Act of July 9, 1918, ch. 143 · 40 Stat. 892, 893
1947Amended · Act of July 26, 1947, ch. 343 · 61 Stat. 501

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 143 on 1918-07-09.

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