No Guns for Abusers Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1287 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 14, 2019 Mr. SWALWELL of California (for himself, Mr. COHEN, Ms. DEAN, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. CISNEROS, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CRIST, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. MENG, Mrs. NAPOLI- TANO, Ms. NORTON, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. RYAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SOTO, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, and Ms. WILSON of Florida) 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. 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 04:13 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1287.IH H1287 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1287 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Guns for Abusers 2 Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR STATE IMPLEMENTATION OF RELIN- 4 QUISHMENT STATUTES. 5 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General is au- 6 thorized to make grants to States or units of local govern- 7 ment that have in place a statute, rule, policy, or practice 8 that is the same as or substantially similar to the best 9 practices published by the Attorney General under this 10 Act, for the purpose of implementing such statute, admin- 11 istrative rule, policy, or practice. 12 (b) APPLICATION.—A jurisdiction seeking a grant 13 under this section shall submit to the Attorney General 14 an application at such time, in such manner, and con- 15 taining such information as the Attorney General may rea- 16 sonably require, and including the applicable statute, rule, 17 policy, or practice that the jurisdiction has enacted. 18 SEC. 3. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 20 date of the enactment of this Act, Attorney General, act- 21 ing through the Director of the National Institute of Jus- 22 tice, shall prepare and submit a report to Congress on best 23 practices for statutes, rules, policies, and practices, which 24 provide a process by which individuals who are charged 25 with or convicted of a crime of domestic violence, or who 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1287.IH H1287 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1287 IH are subject to, or in violation of a domestic violence protec- 1 tive order, may be subject to relinquishment. Such report 2 shall include an analysis of the effect of reducing firearm 3 access for the individuals described in the previous sen- 4 tence on reducing domestic violence and homicide. 5 (b) BEST PRACTICES.—In preparing the report 6 under subsection (a), the Director shall examine and de- 7 termine the best practices for each of the following: 8 (1) The types of offenses or court orders for 9 which relinquishment may be authorized. 10 (2) The level of discretion of a court in entering 11 a relinquishment order. 12 (3) The process courts use in determining 13 whether relinquishment is appropriate for a par- 14 ticular party. 15 (4) The process courts and law enforcement 16 agencies use to determine whether an individual is in 17 possession or control of firearms. 18 (5) The guidance provided to parties subject to 19 relinquishment orders, as well as the manner of pro- 20 viding guidance. 21 (6) The persons or entities to which firearms 22 may be relinquished, including whether any entity 23 other than a law enforcement officer or licensed 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1287.IH H1287 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1287 IH dealer under section 923 of title 18, United States 1 Code, may receive firearms. 2 (7) The person or entity which may store relin- 3 quished firearms, including any criteria such a per- 4 son or entity must meet, which may include a back- 5 ground check. 6 (8) The period of time provided for an indi- 7 vidual subject to a relinquishment order to comply 8 with the order. 9 (9) The manner of proof required to show a re- 10 linquishment order is fulfilled. 11 (10) The power granted to a court or law en- 12 forcement agency to compel compliance with a relin- 13 quishment order. 14 (11) The manner in which relinquished firearms 15 may be safely and securely stored. 16 (12) The duration of a relinquishment order. 17 (13) Fees that may be charged by persons or 18 entities storing relinquished firearms to persons sub- 19 ject to relinquishment orders. 20 (14) Considerations for returning, disposing of, 21 or selling relinquished firearms. 22 (15) Criteria for returning a firearm to an indi- 23 vidual subject to a relinquishment order. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1287.IH H1287 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1287 IH (16) The extent to which victims of offenses 1 committed by the individual subject to the relin- 2 quishment order, or individuals who are protected 3 from an individual subject to a domestic violence 4 protective order, should be notified when a firearm 5 is returned to the individual subject to the relin- 6 quishment order. 7 (17) Precautions taken to ensure victim safety 8 as a court gathers information necessary to issue a 9 relinquishment order and a law enforcement officer 10 executes the order. 11 (18) Procedural protections that are required to 12 ensure that individuals who may be subject to a re- 13 linquishment order are provided due process at each 14 stage of the process. 15 (c) REVIEW AND CONSULTATION.—In preparing the 16 report required under this section, the Director shall, at 17 a minimum— 18 (1) review Federal, State, and local statutes, 19 rules, policies, and practices that provide authority 20 for courts to enter relinquishment orders in effect on 21 the date of the enactment of this Act; 22 (2) review academic studies, including studies 23 analyzing the effectiveness of statutes, rules, poli- 24 cies, and practices described in paragraph (1); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1287.IH H1287 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1287 IH (3) meet with, and consider any facts and anal- 1 yses offered by, prosecutors, defense attorneys, 2 judges, nonprofit organizations, Federal, State, and 3 local courts, Federal, State, and local law enforce- 4 ment agencies, and individuals with academic exper- 5 tise in relinquishment. 6 (d) IDENTIFICATION OF ITEMS FOR FURTHER 7 STUDY.—In the report under this section, the Director 8 shall identify items for further study, relating to the effec- 9 tiveness of the best practices developed under subsection 10 (b). 11 SEC. 4. FURTHER STUDIES. 12 The Attorney General, acting through the Director 13 of the National Institute of Justice, shall enter into con- 14 tracts with nongovernmental entities to conduct studies 15 comparing statutes, administrative rules, policies and 16 practices to determine the relative effectiveness of such 17 statutes, rules, policies, and procedures in effectively pro- 18 viding for relinquishment. Not later than the date that is 19 10 years after the submission of the report under section 20 3, the Director shall submit to Congress not less than one 21 report including updates to the best practices based on 22 the studies conducted under this section. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1287.IH H1287 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 1287 IH SEC. 5. FEDERAL ADOPTION. 1 (a) STATUTE.—The Attorney General shall prepare 2 and submit to Congress recommendations for Federal leg- 3 islation in accordance with section 3. 4 (b) RULES; POLICIES AND PRACTICES.—To the ex- 5 tent authorized by law, the Attorney General shall make 6 rules, policies, and practices in accordance with the best 7 practices described in section 3. 8 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 9 In this Act: 10 (1) The term ‘‘intimate partner’’ has the mean- 11 ing given that term in section 921 of title 18, United 12 States Code. 13 (2) The term ‘‘dating partner’’ has the meaning 14 given that term in section 2266 of title 18, United 15 States Code. 16 (3) The term ‘‘crime of domestic violence’’ 17 means an offense that has, as an element, the use 18 or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened 19 use of a deadly weapon, committed by a current or 20 former spouse, intimate partner, dating partner, 21 parent, or guardian of the victim, by a person with 22 whom the victim shares a child in common, by a per- 23 son who is cohabiting with or has cohabited with the 24 victim as a spouse, intimate partner, dating partner, 25 parent, or guardian, or by a person similarly situ- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1287.IH H1287 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 1287 IH ated to a spouse, intimate partner, dating partner, 1 parent, or guardian of the victim. 2 (4) The term ‘‘domestic violence protective 3 order’’ means a court order that restrains a person 4 from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate 5 partner or dating partner of such person or child of 6 such intimate partner or dating partner or person, 7 or engaging in other conduct that would place an in- 8 timate partner or dating partner in reasonable fear 9 of bodily injury to the partner or child. 10 (5) The term ‘‘relinquishment’’ means the re- 11 moval of a firearm (as such term is defined in sec- 12 tion 921 of title 18, United States Code) or ammu- 13 nition (as such term is defined in section 921 of title 14 18, United States Code) from a person’s possession 15 or control. 16 (6) The term ‘‘relinquishment order’’ means 17 any mandate from a court requiring a person to be 18 subject to relinquishment. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1287.IH H1287 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS