ATF Transparency Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1700 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to establish an administrative relief process for individuals whose applications for transfer and registra- tion of a firearm were denied, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 22, 2023 Mr. FULCHER (for himself, Mr. PFLUGER, Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. WEBER of Texas, and Mr. TIFFANY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explo- sives to establish an administrative relief process for individuals whose applications for transfer and registra- tion of a firearm were denied, 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 ‘‘ATF Transparency 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1700.IH H1700 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 1700 IH SEC. 2. ADMINISTRATIVE RELIEF FOR DENIAL OF FIREARM 1 TRANSFER APPLICATION. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 5812 of the Internal Rev- 3 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 4 following new subsection: 5 ‘‘(c) ADMINISTRATIVE RELIEF.— 6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to any appli- 7 cation described in subsection (a) for the transfer 8 and registration of a firearm which is denied by the 9 Secretary based on a determination that transferring 10 the firearm to the transferee would violate sub- 11 section (d) of section 922 of title 18, United States 12 Code, or receipt of the firearm by the transferee 13 would violate subsection (g) or (n) of that section or 14 State, local, or tribal law, the Secretary shall— 15 ‘‘(A) provide the transferee with the rel- 16 evant NICS transaction number with respect to 17 such application, 18 ‘‘(B) permit such transferee to appeal such 19 denial to the Secretary in a manner similar to 20 the process for appeals provided under section 21 25.10 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, 22 and 23 ‘‘(C) permit such transferee to provide in- 24 formation to the Secretary to prevent any sub- 25 sequent erroneous denial or extended delay by 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1700.IH H1700 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 1700 IH NICS pursuant to a program (as established by 1 the Secretary) similar to the Voluntary Appeal 2 File program described in section 25.10(g) of 3 title 28, Code of Federal Regulations. 4 ‘‘(2) ATTORNEY FEES.—In the case of any suc- 5 cessful appeal by the transferee pursuant to the 6 process described in paragraph (1)(B), the Secretary 7 shall reimburse the transferee for any reasonable 8 and necessary attorney fees incurred with respect to 9 such appeal. 10 ‘‘(3) NICS.—For purposes of this subsection, 11 the term ‘NICS’ means the national instant criminal 12 background check system established under section 13 103 of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act 14 (34 U.S.C. 40901).’’. 15 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 16 this section shall apply to applications for the transfer and 17 registration of a firearm which are filed or pending on or 18 after the date of enactment of this Act. 19 SEC. 3. TIMELY PROCESSING OF APPLICATIONS. 20 (a) TRANSFER OF FIREARMS.—Section 5812 of the 21 Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended by section 22 2, is amended by adding at the end the following new sub- 23 section: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1700.IH H1700 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 1700 IH ‘‘(d) PROCESSING OF APPLICATIONS.—Notwith- 1 standing subsection (a), if an application described in such 2 subsection with respect to the transfer and registration of 3 a firearm has been filed with the Secretary and the Sec- 4 retary fails to make a determination regarding whether 5 to approve or deny such application prior to the date which 6 is 90 calendar days after the date on which such applica- 7 tion was originally filed by the transferor, the transfer and 8 registration of such firearm to the transferee shall be 9 deemed to have been approved by the Secretary for pur- 10 poses of this section and such transfer may be made. The 11 Secretary shall only deny an application described in sub- 12 section (a) on the grounds that the applicable require- 13 ments under such subsection have not been satisfied, and 14 may not deny an application solely on the grounds that 15 a determination regarding whether to approve or deny 16 such application could not be completed by the Secretary 17 during the period described in the preceding sentence.’’. 18 (b) MAKING OF FIREARMS.—Section 5822 of the In- 19 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the 20 end the following: ‘‘Notwithstanding the preceding sen- 21 tences, if a person files an application to make and reg- 22 ister a firearm with the Secretary and the Secretary fails 23 to make a determination regarding whether to approve or 24 deny such application prior to the date which is 90 cal- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1700.IH H1700 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 1700 IH endar days after the date on which such application was 1 originally filed by such person, such application shall be 2 deemed to have been approved by the Secretary for pur- 3 poses of this section and such firearm may be made by 4 such person. The Secretary shall only deny an application 5 to make and register a firearm on the grounds that the 6 applicable requirements under this section have not been 7 satisfied, and may not deny an application solely on the 8 grounds that a determination regarding whether to ap- 9 prove or deny such application could not be completed by 10 the Secretary during the period described in the preceding 11 sentence.’’. 12 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 13 this section shall apply to applications which are filed or 14 pending on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 15 SEC. 4. REPORTS AND AGREEMENTS. 16 (a) UNRESOLVED NICS CHECKS.—Not later than 17 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 18 Comptroller General of the United States, in conjunction 19 with the Inspector General of the Department of Justice, 20 shall submit a report to Congress— 21 (1) detailing the number of NICS inquiries re- 22 ceived during the period of calendar years 2010 23 through 2021 with respect to the transfer of a fire- 24 arm which remained unresolved following the expira- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1700.IH H1700 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 1700 IH tion of the 90-day period described in section 1 25.9(b)(1) of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations; 2 and 3 (2) providing recommendations for administra- 4 tive actions to be adopted by the Bureau of Alcohol, 5 Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to minimize the 6 number of unresolved NICS inquiries described in 7 paragraph (1). 8 (b) ADMINISTRATION OF NICS CHECKS.—Not later 9 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 10 the Inspector General of the Department of Justice shall 11 submit a report to Congress regarding the percentage of 12 NICS inquiries during the period of calendar years 2014 13 through 2021 with respect to the transfer of a firearm 14 which were administered by the Federal Bureau of Inves- 15 tigation on behalf of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire- 16 arms, and Explosives. 17 (c) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—Not later 18 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 19 the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, 20 and Explosives and the Director of the Federal Bureau 21 of Investigation shall enter into a memorandum of under- 22 standing regarding the administration and processing of 23 NICS inquiries with respect to the transfer of firearms. 24 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1700.IH H1700 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 1700 IH (1) FIREARM.—The term ‘‘firearm’’ has the 1 same meaning given such term under section 2 5845(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 3 (2) NICS.—The term ‘‘NICS’’ means the na- 4 tional instant criminal background check system es- 5 tablished under section 103 of the Brady Handgun 6 Violence Prevention Act (34 U.S.C. 40901). 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1700.IH H1700 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB