What This Bill Does
This bill removes rules that prevent the federal government from collecting and keeping information about guns and gun sales. The bill aims to repeal restrictions known as the Tiahrt Amendments that limit how the government can use gun records and require the destruction of background check documents.
Who It Affects
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (the federal agency that enforces gun laws), gun shop owners, law enforcement agencies, and researchers studying gun violence.
Key Provisions
• Removes restrictions on how the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives can use its database of gun information (Sec. 3)
• Eliminates a ban on the Freedom of Information Act requests (a law allowing people to request government documents) about gun traces, arson incidents, or explosives incidents (Sec. 4)
• Removes the requirement that background check records be destroyed within 24 hours (Sec. 7)
• Allows the Department of Justice to consolidate and centralize records that gun dealers must maintain about gun sales and transfers (Sec. 6)
• Removes restrictions preventing requirements that gun shop owners conduct physical checks of their gun inventory (Sec. 5)
What Changes
If this becomes law, the federal government will no longer be required to destroy most background check records within 24 hours. The government will be allowed to create centralized databases of gun shop records and to process public records requests about gun traces. Gun shop owners may be required to conduct physical counts of their inventory.
Important Definitions
None defined in bill text.
II
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
S. 598
To repeal certain impediments to the administration of the firearms laws.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH 1, 2023
Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. REED,
Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mrs. FEINSTEIN,
Mr. DURBIN, Ms. WARREN, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. MURPHY, and Ms.
DUCKWORTH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re-
ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To repeal certain impediments to the administration of the
firearms laws.
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 ‘‘Gun Records Restora-
4
tion and Preservation Act’’.
5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
6
Congress finds as follows:
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(1) The Tiahrt Amendments prevent the collec-
8
tion of valuable information, and the establishment
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of effective policies to prevent illegal guns from
1
being used in crimes.
2
(2) The Tiahrt Amendments impede enforce-
3
ment of the gun laws by requiring most background
4
check records to be destroyed within 24 hours, and
5
by barring the Federal Government from requiring
6
annual inventory audits by owners of gun shops.
7
(3) A 2012 study by researchers at Johns Hop-
8
kins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that
9
the Tiahrt Amendments dramatically increase gun
10
trafficking to the criminal market.
11
(4) A 2016 study from the University of Pitts-
12
burgh Graduate School of Public Health found that
13
in 2008, 79 percent of all guns recovered by police
14
from crime scenes belonged to someone other than
15
the perpetrator—30 percent had been stolen.
16
(5) A 2020 analysis from the RAND corpora-
17
tion concluded that the Tiahrt Amendments limit re-
18
searchers’ access to data that provide important in-
19
sights, such as—
20
(A) how guns flow from States with less
21
restrictive gun laws to States with more restric-
22
tive gun laws;
23
(B) how prohibited purchasers obtain their
24
firearms;
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(C) the characteristics of straw purchases;
1
and
2
(D) whether more restrictive gun laws cre-
3
ate a shortage of firearms for prohibited pur-
4
chases.
5
(6) Every year, more than 165,000 people are
6
shot in the United States.
7
(7) 2020 was one of the deadliest years on
8
record for the United States, with an estimated
9
21,000 people killed in firearm homicides or non-sui-
10
cide related shootings, which is a 33-percent increase
11
over 2019.
12
(8) In 2020, 62 percent of firearm homicide
13
victims were Black and 15 percent of firearm homi-
14
cide victims were Hispanic.
15
(9) In 2020, the National Tracing Center at
16
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Ex-
17
plosives processed 490,800 trace requests on fire-
18
arms from Federal, State, and local law enforcement
19
agencies.
20
(10) Having effective policies to prevent illegal
21
gun trafficking makes our families and communities
22
safer.
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(11) Repealing the Tiahrt Amendments would
24
support law enforcement efforts and give the public
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vital information needed to craft the most effective
1
policies against illegal guns.
2
SEC. 3. REPEAL OF CERTAIN LIMITATIONS ON THE USE OF
3
DATABASE INFORMATION OF THE BUREAU
4
OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS AND EX-
5
PLOSIVES.
6
(a) The matter under the heading ‘‘Bureau of Alco-
7
hol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—Salaries and Ex-
8
penses’’ in title II of division B of the Consolidated and
9
Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012 (18 U.S.C.
10
923 note; Public Law 112–55; 125 Stat. 609–610) is
11
amended by striking the sixth proviso.
12
(b) The sixth proviso under the heading ‘‘Bureau of
13
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—Salaries and
14
Expenses’’ in title II of division B of the Consolidated Ap-
15
propriations Act, 2010 (18 U.S.C. 923 note; Public Law
16
111–117; 123 Stat. 3128–3129) is amended by striking
17
‘‘beginning in fiscal year 2010 and thereafter’’ and insert-
18
ing ‘‘in fiscal year 2010’’.
19
(c) The sixth proviso under the heading ‘‘Bureau of
20
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—Salaries and
21
Expenses’’ in title II of division B of the Omnibus Appro-
22
priations Act, 2009 (18 U.S.C. 923 note; Public Law 111–
23
8; 123 Stat. 574–576) is amended by striking ‘‘beginning
24
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in fiscal year 2009 and thereafter’’ and inserting ‘‘in fiscal
1
year 2009’’.
2
(d) The sixth proviso under the heading ‘‘Bureau of
3
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—Salaries and
4
Expenses’’ in title II of division B of the Consolidated Ap-
5
propriations Act, 2008 (18 U.S.C. 923 note; Public Law
6
110–161; 121 Stat. 1903–1904) is amended by striking
7
‘‘beginning in fiscal year 2008 and thereafter’’ and insert-
8
ing ‘‘in fiscal year 2008’’.
9
(e) The sixth proviso under the heading ‘‘Bureau of
10
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—Salaries and
11
Expenses’’ in title I of the Science, State, Justice, Com-
12
merce, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006
13
(18 U.S.C. 923 note; Public Law 109–108; 119 Stat.
14
2295–2296) is amended by striking ‘‘with respect to any
15
fiscal year’’.
16
(f) The sixth proviso under the heading ‘‘Bureau of
17
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—Salaries and
18
Expenses’’ in title I of division B of the Consolidated Ap-
19
propriations Act, 2005 (18 U.S.C. 923 note; Public Law
20
108–447; 118 Stat. 2859–2860) is amended by striking
21
‘‘with respect to any fiscal year’’.
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SEC. 4. ELIMINATION OF PROHIBITION ON PROCESSING OF
1
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUESTS
2
ABOUT ARSON OR EXPLOSIVES INCIDENTS
3
OR FIREARM TRACES.
4
Section 644 of division J of the Consolidated Appro-
5
priations Resolution, 2003 (5 U.S.C. 552 note; Public
6
Law 108–7; 117 Stat. 473) is repealed.
7
SEC. 5. REPEAL OF LIMITATIONS ON IMPOSITION OF RE-
8
QUIREMENT THAT FIREARMS DEALERS CON-
9
DUCT PHYSICAL CHECK OF FIREARMS IN-
10
VENTORY.
11
The fifth proviso under the heading ‘‘Bureau of Alco-
12
hol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—Salaries and Ex-
13
penses’’ in title II of division B of the Consolidated and
14
Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 (18 U.S.C.
15
923 note; Public Law 113–6; 127 Stat. 248) is amended
16
by striking ‘‘and any fiscal year thereafter’’.
17
SEC. 6. ELIMINATION OF PROHIBITION ON CONSOLIDA-
18
TION OR CENTRALIZATION IN THE DEPART-
19
MENT OF JUSTICE OF FIREARMS ACQUISI-
20
TION
AND
DISPOSITION
RECORDS
MAIN-
21
TAINED BY FEDERAL FIREARMS LICENSEES.
22
The matter under the heading ‘‘Bureau of Alcohol,
23
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—Salaries and Ex-
24
penses’’ in title II of division B of the Consolidated and
25
Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012 (18 U.S.C.
26
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923 note; Public Law 112–55; 125 Stat. 609) is amend-
1
ed—
2
(1) by striking the first proviso; and
3
(2) in the second proviso, by striking ‘‘further’’.
4
SEC. 7. REPEAL OF REQUIREMENT TO DESTROY INSTANT
5
CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK RECORDS
6
WITHIN 24 HOURS.
7
Section 511 of the Consolidated and Further Con-
8
tinuing Appropriations Act, 2012 (34 U.S.C. 40901 note;
9
Public Law 112–55; 125 Stat. 632) is amended—
10
(1) by striking ‘‘—’’ and all that follows
11
through ‘‘(1)’’; and
12
(2) by striking the semicolon and all that fol-
13
lows and inserting a period.
14
Æ
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