Proclamation 2163—Enumeration of Arms, Ammunition, and Implements of War

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

Whereas section 2 of a joint resolution of Congress, entitled "JOINT RESOLUTION Providing for the prohibition of the export of arms, ammunition, and implements of war to belligerent countries; the prohibition of the transportation of arms, ammunition, and implements of war by vessels of the United States for the use of belligerent states; for the registration and licensing of persons engaged in the business of manufacturing, exporting, or importing arms, ammunition, or implements of war; and restricting travel by American citizens on belligerent ships during war", approved August 31, 1935, provides in part as follows:

The President is hereby authorized to proclaim upon recommendation of the Board from time to time a list of articles which shall be considered arms, ammunition, and implements of war for the purposes of this section,

Now, Therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, acting under and by virtue of the authority conferred upon me by the said joint resolution of Congress, and pursuant to the recommendation of the National Munitions Control Board, declare and proclaim that the articles listed below shall, on and after June 1, 1936, be considered arms, ammunition, and implements of war for the purposes of section 2 of the said joint resolution of Congress:

Category I

(1) Rifles and carbines using ammunition in excess of caliber .22, and barrels for those weapons;

(2) Machine guns, automatic or autoloading rifles, and machine pistols using ammunition in excess of caliber .22, and barrels for those weapons;

(3) Guns, howitzers, and mortars of all calibers, their mountings and barrels;

(4) Ammunition in excess of caliber .22 for the arms enumerated under (1) and (2) above, and cartridge cases or bullets for such ammunition; filled and unfilled projectiles for the arms enumerated under (3) above; propellants with a web thickness of .015 inch or greater for the projectiles of the arms enumerated under (3) above;

(5) Grenades, bombs, torpedoes and mines, filled or unfilled, and apparatus for their use or discharge;

(6) Tanks, military armored vehicles, and armored trains.

Category II

Vessels of war of all kinds, including aircraft carriers and submarines.

Category III

(1) Aircraft, assembled or dismantled, both heavier and lighter than air, which are designed, adapted, and intended for aerial combat by the use of machine guns or of artillery or for the carrying and dropping of bombs, or which are equipped with, or which by reason of design or construction are prepared for, any of the appliances referred to in paragraph (2), below;

(2) Aerial gun mounts and frames, bomb racks, torpedo carriers, and bomb or torpedo release mechanisms.

Category IV

(1) Revolvers and automatic pistols using ammunition in excess of caliber .22;

(2) Ammunition in excess of caliber .22 for the arms enumerated under (1) above, and cartridge cases or bullets for such ammunition.

Category V

(1) Aircraft, assembled or dismantled, both heavier and lighter than air, other than those included in Category III;

(2) Propellers or air screws, fuselages, hulls, wings, tail units, and under-carriage units;

(3) Aircraft engines, assembled or unassembled.

Category VI

(1) Livens projectors and flame throwers;

(2) Mustard gas (dichlorethylsulphide), lewisite (chlorovinyldichlorarsine and dichlorodivinylchlorarsine), ethyldichlorarsine, methyldichlorarsine, ethyliodoacetate, brombenzylcyanide, diphenolchlorarsine, and dyphenolcyanoarsine.

This proclamation shall supersede the proclamation of September 25, 1935, entitled "Enumeration of Arms, Ammunition, and Implements of War", on June 1, 1936.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this tenth day of April in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and thirty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and sixtieth.

FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

By the President:
CORDELL HULL
Secretary of State.