1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Private Corrado Piccoli Purple Heart Preservation Act”.
Private Corrado Piccoli Purple Heart Preservation Act
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.
2. Findings
Congress finds the following:
The Purple Heart medal solemnly recognizes the great and sometimes ultimate sacrifice of American servicemembers like Private Corrado Piccoli.
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—
in subsection (a), by striking “Whoever” and inserting “Except as provided in subsection (e), whoever”; and
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.”