No Guns for Abusers Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1441 To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to States and units of local government to implement statutes, rules, policies, or procedures to authorize courts to issue relinquishment orders with respect to individ- uals charged with or convicted of a crime of domestic violence, or subject to a domestic violence protective order, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 26, 2021 Mr. SWALWELL (for himself, Mr. CICILLINE, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. BROWN, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CASTEN, Mr. COOPER, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. HASTINGS, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. HIMES, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. LEE of California, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALO- NEY of New York, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. NORTON, Ms. PINGREE, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. SHERRILL, Mr. SUOZZI, Mrs. TRAHAN, and Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to States and units of local government to implement statutes, rules, policies, or procedures to authorize courts to issue relinquishment orders with respect to individuals charged with or convicted of a crime of domestic violence, or subject to a domestic violence protective order, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:07 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H1441.IH H1441 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1441 IH 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 the ‘‘No Guns for Abusers 4 Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR STATE IMPLEMENTATION OF RELIN- 6 QUISHMENT STATUTES. 7 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General is au- 8 thorized to make grants to States, Tribes, or units of local 9 government that have in place a statute, rule, policy, or 10 practice that is the same as or substantially similar to the 11 best practices published by the Attorney General under 12 this Act, for the purpose of implementing such statute, 13 administrative rule, policy, or practice. 14 (b) APPLICATION.—A jurisdiction seeking a grant 15 under this section shall submit to the Attorney General 16 an application at such time, in such manner, and con- 17 taining such information as the Attorney General may rea- 18 sonably require, and including the applicable statute, rule, 19 policy, or practice that the jurisdiction has enacted. 20 SEC. 3. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 22 date of the enactment of this Act, Attorney General, act- 23 ing through the Director of the National Institute of Jus- 24 tice, shall prepare and submit a report to Congress on best 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:07 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1441.IH H1441 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1441 IH practices for statutes, rules, policies, and practices, which 1 provide a process by which individuals who are charged 2 with or convicted of a crime of domestic violence, or who 3 are subject to, or in violation of a domestic violence protec- 4 tive order, may be subject to relinquishment. Such report 5 shall include an analysis of the effect of reducing firearm 6 access for the individuals described in the previous sen- 7 tence on reducing domestic violence and homicide. 8 (b) BEST PRACTICES.—In preparing the report 9 under subsection (a), the Director shall examine and de- 10 termine the best practices for each of the following: 11 (1) The types of offenses or court orders for 12 which relinquishment may be authorized. 13 (2) The level of discretion of a court in entering 14 a relinquishment order. 15 (3) The process courts use in determining 16 whether relinquishment is appropriate for a par- 17 ticular party. 18 (4) The process courts and law enforcement 19 agencies use to determine whether an individual is in 20 possession or control of firearms. 21 (5) The guidance provided to parties subject to 22 relinquishment orders and the victims of the parties 23 subject to the relinquishment orders, as well as the 24 manner of providing guidance. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:07 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1441.IH H1441 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1441 IH (6) The persons or entities to which firearms 1 may be relinquished, including whether any entity 2 other than a law enforcement officer or licensed 3 dealer under section 923 of title 18, United States 4 Code, may receive firearms. 5 (7) The person or entity which may store relin- 6 quished firearms, including any criteria such a per- 7 son or entity must meet, which may include a back- 8 ground check. 9 (8) The period of time provided for an indi- 10 vidual subject to a relinquishment order to comply 11 with the order. 12 (9) The manner of proof required to show a re- 13 linquishment order is fulfilled. 14 (10) The power granted to a court or law en- 15 forcement agency to compel compliance with a relin- 16 quishment order. 17 (11) The manner in which relinquished firearms 18 may be safely and securely stored. 19 (12) The duration of a relinquishment order. 20 (13) Fees that may be charged by persons or 21 entities storing relinquished firearms to persons sub- 22 ject to relinquishment orders. 23 (14) Considerations for returning, disposing of, 24 or selling relinquished firearms. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:07 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1441.IH H1441 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1441 IH (15) Criteria for returning a firearm to an indi- 1 vidual subject to a relinquishment order. 2 (16) The extent to which victims of offenses 3 committed by the individual subject to the relin- 4 quishment order, or individuals who are protected 5 from an individual subject to a domestic violence 6 protective order, should be notified when a firearm 7 is returned to the individual subject to the relin- 8 quishment order. 9 (17) Precautions taken to ensure victim safety 10 as a court gathers information necessary to issue a 11 relinquishment order and a law enforcement officer 12 executes the order. 13 (18) Procedural protections that are required to 14 ensure that individuals who may be subject to a re- 15 linquishment order are provided due process at each 16 stage of the process. 17 (19) The involvement of victim and community 18 advocates. 19 (20) The cultural sensitivity of the relinquish- 20 ment process. 21 (21) The services and safety planning provided 22 to the victims before, during, and after firearms are 23 relinquished or recovered and when they are re- 24 turned. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:07 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1441.IH H1441 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1441 IH (c) REVIEW AND CONSULTATION.—In preparing the 1 report required under this section, the Director shall, at 2 a minimum— 3 (1) review Federal, State, Tribal, and local stat- 4 utes, rules, policies, and practices that provide au- 5 thority for courts to enter relinquishment orders in 6 effect on the date of the enactment of this Act; 7 (2) review academic studies, including studies 8 analyzing the effectiveness of statutes, rules, poli- 9 cies, and practices described in paragraph (1); and 10 (3) meet with, and consider any facts and anal- 11 yses offered by, prosecutors, defense attorneys, fam- 12 ily attorneys, judges, nonprofit organizations, victims 13 service providers, culturally specific organizations, 14 Federal, State, Tribal, and local courts, Federal, 15 State, Tribal, and local law enforcement agencies, 16 the National Domestic Violence and Firearms Re- 17 source Center, and individuals with academic exper- 18 tise in relinquishment. 19 (d) IDENTIFICATION OF ITEMS FOR FURTHER 20 STUDY.—In the report under this section, the Director 21 shall identify items for further study, relating to the effec- 22 tiveness of the best practices developed under subsection 23 (b). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:07 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1441.IH H1441 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1441 IH SEC. 4. FURTHER STUDIES. 1 The Attorney General, acting through the Director 2 of the National Institute of Justice, shall enter into con- 3 tracts with nongovernmental entities to conduct studies 4 comparing statutes, administrative rules, policies and 5 practices to determine the relative effectiveness of such 6 statutes, rules, policies, and procedures in effectively pro- 7 viding for relinquishment. Not later than the date that is 8 10 years after the submission of the report under section 9 3, the Director shall submit to Congress not less than one 10 report including updates to the best practices based on 11 the studies conducted under this section. 12 SEC. 5. FEDERAL ADOPTION. 13 (a) STATUTE.—The Attorney General shall prepare 14 and submit to Congress recommendations for Federal leg- 15 islation in accordance with section 3. 16 (b) RULES; POLICIES AND PRACTICES.—To the ex- 17 tent authorized by law, the Attorney General shall make 18 rules, policies, and practices in accordance with the best 19 practices described in section 3. 20 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 21 In this Act, terms used have the meanings given such 22 terms in section 901 of the Omnibus Crime Control and 23 Safe Streets Act of 1968, except as follows: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:07 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1441.IH H1441 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1441 IH (1) The term ‘‘intimate partner’’ has the mean- 1 ing given that term in section 921 of title 18, United 2 States Code. 3 (2) The term ‘‘dating partner’’ has the meaning 4 given that term in section 2266 of title 18, United 5 States Code. 6 (3) The term ‘‘covered offense’’ means— 7 (A) stalking; or 8 (B) an offense that has, as an element, the 9 use or attempted use of physical force, or the 10 threatened use of a deadly weapon. 11 (4) The term ‘‘covered person’’ means, with re- 12 gard to a targeted person or a protected person— 13 (A) the current or former— 14 (i) spouse; 15 (ii) intimate partner; 16 (iii) dating partner; 17 (iv) parent; or 18 (v) guardian, 19 of the targeted person or protected person; 20 (B) a person with whom the targeted per- 21 son or protected person shares a child in com- 22 mon; 23 (C) a person who is cohabiting with or has 24 cohabited with the targeted person or protected 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:07 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1441.IH H1441 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1441 IH person as a spouse, intimate partner, dating 1 partner, parent, or guardian; 2 (D) a person similarly situated to a spouse, 3 intimate partner, dating partner, parent, or 4 guardian of the targeted person or protected 5 person; or 6 (E) a person who has or had a relationship 7 with the targeted person or protected person 8 such that the targeted person or protected per- 9 son is otherwise protected by the domestic or 10 family violence laws of the State, tribal, or mu- 11 nicipal jurisdiction in which the targeted person 12 or protected person resides, or, if an offense has 13 occurred, against that targeted or protected 14 person. 15 (5) The term ‘‘crime of domestic violence’’ 16 means a covered offense committed by a covered per- 17 son against the targeted person. 18 (6) The term ‘‘domestic violence protective 19 order’’ means a court order that restrains a covered 20 person described in subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), 21 (D), or (E) of paragraph (4) from harassing, stalk- 22 ing, or threatening a protected person, or engaging 23 in other conduct that would place an intimate part- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:07 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1441.IH H1441 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1441 IH ner or dating partner in reasonable fear of bodily in- 1 jury to the partner or child. 2 (7) The term ‘‘protected person’’ means, with 3 regard to a person, the intimate partner or dating 4 partner of that person, or the child of such intimate 5 partner, of such dating partner, or of that person. 6 (8) The term ‘‘relinquishment’’ means the re- 7 moval of a firearm (as such term is defined in sec- 8 tion 921 of title 18, United States Code) or ammu- 9 nition (as such term is defined in section 921 of title 10 18, United States Code) from a person’s possession 11 or control. 12 (9) The term ‘‘relinquishment order’’ means 13 any mandate from a court requiring a person to be 14 subject to relinquishment. 15 (10) The term ‘‘targeted person’’ means the 16 victim of a covered offense. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:07 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1441.IH H1441 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS