Firearm Due Process Protection Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1817 To enforce the requirement that the National Instant Criminal Background Check System make a final disposition of requests to correct its records within 60 days, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 18, 2019 Mr. EMMER (for himself, Mr. GOSAR, and Mr. NEWHOUSE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To enforce the requirement that the National Instant Crimi- nal Background Check System make a final disposition of requests to correct its records within 60 days, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Firearm Due Process 4 Protection Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:03 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1817.IH H1817 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1817 IH SEC. 2. ENFORCEMENT OF DEADLINE FOR FINAL DISPOSI- 1 TION OF REQUESTS TO CORRECT RECORDS 2 OF THE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL BACK- 3 GROUND CHECK SYSTEM; DUE PROCESS PRO- 4 TECTIONS. 5 Section 925A of title 18, United States Code, is 6 amended— 7 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before 8 ‘‘Any person’’; 9 (2) by inserting ‘‘or aggrieved by a violation of 10 the penultimate sentence of section 103(g) of the 11 Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act’’ after ‘‘(s) 12 or (t) of section 922’’; 13 (3) by striking the last sentence; and 14 (4) by adding after and below the end the fol- 15 lowing: 16 ‘‘(b) PROCEDURAL RULES.— 17 ‘‘(1) EXPEDITED HEARING.—The court shall 18 hold a hearing on an action brought under sub- 19 section (a), within 30 days after the action is 20 brought. 21 ‘‘(2) BURDEN OF PROOF.—At such a hearing, 22 the respondent shall bear the burden of proving by 23 clear and convincing evidence that the individual is 24 ineligible to receive or possess a firearm. 25 ‘‘(c) REMEDIES.— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:03 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1817.IH H1817 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1817 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The court shall assess 1 against the respondent reasonable attorney fees and 2 other litigation costs reasonably incurred in an ac- 3 tion brought under subsection (a) in which the com- 4 plainant has substantially prevailed. 5 ‘‘(2) SUBSTANTIALLY PREVAILED.—For pur- 6 poses of this section, a complainant has substantially 7 prevailed if the complainant has obtained relief 8 through— 9 ‘‘(A) a judicial order; 10 ‘‘(B) an enforceable written agreement or 11 consent decree; or 12 ‘‘(C) a voluntary or unilateral change in 13 position by the United States, if the complain- 14 ant’s claim is not insubstantial.’’. 15 SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORTS TO THE CONGRESS ON DISPOSI- 16 TION OF CHALLENGES TO ACCURACY OF 17 RECORDS OF THE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMI- 18 NAL BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM. 19 The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation 20 shall submit annually to the Committee on the Judiciary 21 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 22 the Judiciary of the Senate a written report that speci- 23 fies— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:03 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1817.IH H1817 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1817 IH (1) the total number of challenges to the accu- 1 racy of the records of the National Instant Criminal 2 Background Check System (in this section referred 3 to as the ‘‘NICS system’’) established under section 4 103 of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act 5 that were received by the NICS system during the 6 year covered by the report; 7 (2) the total number of the challenges that were 8 processed to final disposition by the NICS system; 9 (3) the total number of the challenges with re- 10 spect to which the initial determination of the NICS 11 system was reversed, and with respect to those chal- 12 lenges, the total number in which each reason for 13 the initial determination was made; 14 (4) the total number of the challenges with re- 15 spect to which the initial determination of the NICS 16 system was not reversed, and with respect to those 17 challenges, the total number in which each reason 18 for not doing so was made; and 19 (5) the average length of time needed to com- 20 plete the processing of the challenges referred to in 21 paragraph (2). 22 SEC. 4. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS. 23 It is the sense of the Congress that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:03 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1817.IH H1817 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1817 IH (1) the right of the people to keep and bear 1 arms is a fundamental component of self-govern- 2 ment, self-defense, and the preservation of individual 3 liberty; 4 (2) deprivation of the constitutional right to 5 bear arms requires due process under the Fifth and 6 Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the 7 United States; 8 (3) ignoring appeals of determinations made by 9 the National Instant Criminal Background Check 10 System (NICS) violates due process; and 11 (4) NICS should have the burden of showing a 12 valid reason for the denial of this constitutional 13 right. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:03 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1817.IH H1817 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS