NICS Denial Notification Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1769 To provide for the reporting to State and local law enforcement authorities of cases in which the national instant criminal background check system indicates that a firearm has been sought to be acquired by a prohibited person, so that authorities may pursue criminal charges under State law, and to ensure that the Department of Justice reports to Congress on prosecutions secured against prohibited persons who attempt to ac- quire a firearm. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 10, 2021 Mr. QUIGLEY (for himself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. SWALWELL, and Mr. DIAZ- BALART) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on the Judiciary A BILL To provide for the reporting to State and local law enforce- ment authorities of cases in which the national instant criminal background check system indicates that a fire- arm has been sought to be acquired by a prohibited person, so that authorities may pursue criminal charges under State law, and to ensure that the Department of Justice reports to Congress on prosecutions secured against prohibited persons who attempt to acquire a fire- arm. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:43 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1769.IH H1769 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1769 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘NICS Denial Notifica- 2 tion Act of 2021’’. 3 SEC. 2. REPORTING OF BACKGROUND CHECK DENIALS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 44 of title 18, United 5 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 925A 6 the following: 7 ‘‘§ 925B. Reporting of background check denials to 8 State authorities 9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If the national instant criminal 10 background check system established under section 103 11 of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (18 U.S.C. 12 922 note) provides a notice pursuant to section 922(t) of 13 this title that the receipt of a firearm by a person would 14 violate subsection (g) or (n) of section 922 of this title 15 or State law, the Attorney General shall, in accordance 16 with subsection (b) of this section— 17 ‘‘(1) report to the law enforcement authorities 18 of the State where the person sought to acquire the 19 firearm and, if different, the law enforcement au- 20 thorities of the State of residence of the person— 21 ‘‘(A) that the notice was provided; 22 ‘‘(B) of the specific provision of law that 23 would have been violated; 24 ‘‘(C) of the date and time the notice was 25 provided; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:43 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1769.IH H1769 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1769 IH ‘‘(D) of the location where the firearm was 1 sought to be acquired; and 2 ‘‘(E) of the identity of the person; and 3 ‘‘(2) where practicable, report the incident to 4 local law enforcement authorities and State and local 5 prosecutors in the jurisdiction where the firearm was 6 sought and in the jurisdiction where the person re- 7 sides. 8 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR REPORT.—A report is 9 made in accordance with this subsection if the report is 10 made within 24 hours after the provision of the notice de- 11 scribed in subsection (a), except that the making of the 12 report may be delayed for so long as is necessary to avoid 13 compromising an ongoing investigation. 14 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in sub- 15 section (a) shall be construed to require a report with re- 16 spect to a person to be made to the same State authorities 17 that originally issued the notice with respect to the per- 18 son.’’. 19 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 20 for such chapter is amended by inserting after the item 21 relating to section 925A the following: 22 ‘‘925B. Reporting of background check denials to State authorities.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:43 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H1769.IH H1769 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1769 IH SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 44 of title 18, United 2 States Code, as amended by section 2(a) of this Act, is 3 amended by inserting after section 925B the following: 4 ‘‘§ 925C. Annual report to Congress 5 ‘‘Not later than 1 year after the date of the enact- 6 ment of this section, and annually thereafter, the Attorney 7 General shall submit to the Congress a report detailing 8 the following, broken down by Federal judicial district: 9 ‘‘(1) With respect to each category of persons 10 prohibited by section 922(g) from receiving or pos- 11 sessing a firearm who are so denied a firearm— 12 ‘‘(A) the number of cases referred to the 13 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Ex- 14 plosives; 15 ‘‘(B) the number of cases with respect to 16 which an investigation was opened by a field di- 17 vision of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire- 18 arms and Explosives; 19 ‘‘(C) the number of arrests made; and 20 ‘‘(D) the number of convictions obtained 21 by Federal authorities in connection with the 22 denial. 23 ‘‘(2) The number of background check notices 24 reported to State authorities pursuant to section 25 925B (including the number of the notices that 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 May 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1769.IH H1769 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1769 IH would have been so reported but for section 1 925B(c)).’’. 2 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 3 for such chapter, as amended by section 2(b) of this Act, 4 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 5 925B the following: 6 ‘‘925C. Annual report to Congress.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:43 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1769.IH H1769 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS