NICS Denial Notification Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1671 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 11, 2019 Mr. QUIGLEY (for himself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Mr. KING of New York, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. GON- ZALEZ of Ohio, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. ROSE of New York, Mr. UPTON, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. NORTON, Mr. LAMB, Mr. STIVERS, Ms. DEAN, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. KATKO, and Mr. BACON) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 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. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H1671.IH H1671 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1671 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 ‘‘NICS Denial Notifica- 4 tion Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. REPORTING OF BACKGROUND CHECK DENIALS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 44 of title 18, United 7 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 925A 8 the following: 9 ‘‘§ 925B. Reporting of background check denials to 10 State authorities 11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If the national instant criminal 12 background check system established under section 103 13 of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (18 U.S.C. 14 922 note) provides a notice pursuant to section 922(t) of 15 this title that the receipt of a firearm by a person would 16 violate subsection (g) or (n) of section 922 of this title 17 or State law, the Attorney General shall, in accordance 18 with subsection (b) of this section— 19 ‘‘(1) report to the law enforcement authorities 20 of the State where the person sought to acquire the 21 firearm and, if different, the law enforcement au- 22 thorities of the State of residence of the person— 23 ‘‘(A) that the notice was provided; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1671.IH H1671 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1671 IH ‘‘(B) of the specific provision of law that 1 would have been violated; 2 ‘‘(C) of the date and time the notice was 3 provided; 4 ‘‘(D) of the location where the firearm was 5 sought to be acquired; and 6 ‘‘(E) of the identity of the person; and 7 ‘‘(2) where practicable, report the incident to 8 local law enforcement authorities and State and local 9 prosecutors in the jurisdiction where the firearm was 10 sought and in the jurisdiction where the person re- 11 sides. 12 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR REPORT.—A report is 13 made in accordance with this subsection if the report is 14 made within 24 hours after the provision of the notice de- 15 scribed in subsection (a), except that the making of the 16 report may be delayed for so long as is necessary to avoid 17 compromising an ongoing investigation. 18 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in sub- 19 section (a) shall be construed to require a report with re- 20 spect to a person to be made to the same State authorities 21 that originally issued the notice with respect to the per- 22 son.’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1671.IH H1671 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1671 IH (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 1 for such chapter is amended by inserting after the item 2 relating to section 925A the following: 3 ‘‘925B. Reporting of background check denials to State authorities.’’. SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 44 of title 18, United 5 States Code, as amended by section 2(a) of this Act, is 6 amended by inserting after section 925B the following: 7 ‘‘§ 925C. Annual report to Congress 8 ‘‘Not later than 1 year after the date of the enact- 9 ment of this section, and annually thereafter, the Attorney 10 General shall submit to the Congress a report detailing 11 the following, broken down by Federal judicial district: 12 ‘‘(1) With respect to each category of persons 13 prohibited by section 922(g) from receiving or pos- 14 sessing a firearm who are so denied a firearm— 15 ‘‘(A) the number of cases referred to the 16 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Ex- 17 plosives; 18 ‘‘(B) the number of cases with respect to 19 which an investigation was opened by a field di- 20 vision of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire- 21 arms, and Explosives; 22 ‘‘(C) the number of arrests made; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1671.IH H1671 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1671 IH ‘‘(D) the number of convictions obtained 1 by Federal authorities in connection with the 2 denial. 3 ‘‘(2) The number of background check notices 4 reported to State authorities pursuant to section 5 925B (including the number of the notices that 6 would have been so reported but for section 7 925B(c)).’’. 8 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 9 for such chapter, as amended by section 2(b) of this Act, 10 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 11 925B the following: 12 ‘‘925C. Annual report to Congress.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1671.IH H1671 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS