NICS Denial Notification Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 875 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 26, 2019 Mr. TOOMEY (for himself, Mr. COONS, Mr. RUBIO, and Mr. JONES) intro- duced the following bill; which was read twice and 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 05:39 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S875.IS S875 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 875 IS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘NICS Denial Notifica- 2 tion Act of 2019’’. 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 (34 U.S.C. 12 40901) (commonly referred to as ‘NICS’) provides a no- 13 tice pursuant to section 922(t) of this title that the receipt 14 of a firearm by a person would violate subsection (g) or 15 (n) of section 922 of this title or State law, the Attorney 16 General shall, in accordance with subsection (b) of this 17 section— 18 ‘‘(1) report to the law enforcement authorities 19 of the State where the person sought to acquire the 20 firearm and, if different, the law enforcement au- 21 thorities of the State of residence of the person— 22 ‘‘(A) that the notice was provided; 23 ‘‘(B) the specific provision of law that 24 would have been violated; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:39 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S875.IS S875 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 875 IS ‘‘(C) the date and time the notice was pro- 1 vided; 2 ‘‘(D) the location where the firearm was 3 sought to be acquired; and 4 ‘‘(E) the identity of the person; and 5 ‘‘(2) where practicable, report the incident to 6 local law enforcement authorities and State and local 7 prosecutors in the jurisdiction where the firearm was 8 sought and in the jurisdiction where the person re- 9 sides. 10 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR REPORT.—A report is 11 made in accordance with this subsection if the report is 12 made within 24 hours after the provision of the notice de- 13 scribed in subsection (a), except that the making of the 14 report may be delayed for so long as is necessary to avoid 15 compromising an ongoing investigation. 16 ‘‘(c) AMENDMENT OF REPORT.—If a report is made 17 in accordance with this subsection and, after such report 18 is made, the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Bu- 19 reau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives deter- 20 mines that the receipt of a firearm by a person for whom 21 the report was made would not violate subsection (g) or 22 (n) of section 922 of this title or State law, the Attorney 23 General shall, in accordance with subsection (b), notify 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:39 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S875.IS S875 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 875 IS any law enforcement authority and any prosecutor to 1 whom the report was made of that determination. 2 ‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in sub- 3 section (a) shall be construed to require a report with re- 4 spect to a person to be made to the same State authorities 5 that originally issued the notice with respect to the per- 6 son.’’. 7 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 8 for such chapter is amended by inserting after the item 9 relating to section 925A the following: 10 ‘‘925B. Reporting of background check denials to State authorities.’’. SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS. 11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 44 of title 18, United 12 States Code, as amended by section 2(a) of this Act, is 13 amended by inserting after section 925B the following: 14 ‘‘§ 925C. Annual report to Congress 15 ‘‘Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 16 of this section, and annually thereafter, the Attorney Gen- 17 eral shall submit to Congress a report detailing the fol- 18 lowing, broken down by Federal judicial district: 19 ‘‘(1) With respect to each category of persons 20 prohibited by subsection (g) or (n) of section 922 of 21 this title or State law from receiving or possessing 22 a firearm who are so denied a firearm— 23 ‘‘(A) the number of denials; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:39 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S875.IS S875 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 875 IS ‘‘(B) the number of denials referred to the 1 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Ex- 2 plosives; 3 ‘‘(C) the number of denials for which the 4 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Ex- 5 plosives determines that the person denied was 6 not prohibited by subsection (g) or (n) of sec- 7 tion 922 of this title or State law from receiving 8 or possessing a firearm; 9 ‘‘(D) the number of denials overturned 10 through the national instant criminal back- 11 ground check system appeals process and the 12 reasons for overturning the denials; 13 ‘‘(E) the number of denials with respect to 14 which an investigation was opened by a field di- 15 vision of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire- 16 arms, and Explosives; 17 ‘‘(F) the number of persons charged with 18 a Federal criminal offense in connection with a 19 denial; and 20 ‘‘(G) the number of convictions obtained 21 by Federal authorities in connection with a de- 22 nial. 23 ‘‘(2) The number of background check notices 24 reported to State authorities pursuant to section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:39 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S875.IS S875 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 875 IS 925B (including the number of the notices that 1 would have been so reported but for section 2 925B(c)).’’. 3 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 4 for such chapter, as amended by section 2(b) of this Act, 5 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 6 925B the following: 7 ‘‘925C. Annual report to Congress.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:39 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S875.IS S875 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS