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 acquire a firearm. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 26, 2019 

Mr. TOOMEY (for himself, Mr. COONS, Mr. RUBIO, and Mr. JONES) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

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 acquire a firearm. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘NICS Denial Notifica3 tion Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. REPORTING OF BACKGROUND CHECK DENIALS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 44 of title 18, United 

6 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 925A 

7 the following: 

8 ‘‘§ 925B. Reporting of background check denials to 

9 State authorities 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If the national instant criminal 

11 background check system established under section 103 

12 of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (34 U.S.C. 

13 40901) (commonly referred to as ‘NICS’) provides a no14 tice pursuant to section 922(t) of this title that the receipt 

15 of a firearm by a person would violate subsection (g) or 

16 (n) of section 922 of this title or State law, the Attorney 

17 General shall, in accordance with subsection (b) of this 

18 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 au22 thorities of the State of residence of the person— 

23 ‘‘(A) that the notice was provided; 

24 ‘‘(B) the specific provision of law that 

25 would have been violated; 


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1 ‘‘(C) the date and time the notice was pro2 vided; 

3 ‘‘(D) the location where the firearm was 

4 sought to be acquired; and 

5 ‘‘(E) the identity of the person; and 

6 ‘‘(2) where practicable, report the incident to 

7 local law enforcement authorities and State and local 

8 prosecutors in the jurisdiction where the firearm was 

9 sought and in the jurisdiction where the person re10 sides. 

11 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR REPORT.—A report is 

12 made in accordance with this subsection if the report is 

13 made within 24 hours after the provision of the notice de14 scribed in subsection (a), except that the making of the 

15 report may be delayed for so long as is necessary to avoid 

16 compromising an ongoing investigation. 

17 ‘‘(c) AMENDMENT OF REPORT.—If a report is made 

18 in accordance with this subsection and, after such report 

19 is made, the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Bu20 reau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives deter21 mines that the receipt of a firearm by a person for whom 

22 the report was made would not violate subsection (g) or 

23 (n) of section 922 of this title or State law, the Attorney 

24 General shall, in accordance with subsection (b), notify 


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1 any law enforcement authority and any prosecutor to 

2 whom the report was made of that determination. 

3 ‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in sub4 section (a) shall be construed to require a report with re5 spect to a person to be made to the same State authorities 

6 that originally issued the notice with respect to the per7 son.’’. 

8 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

9 for such chapter is amended by inserting after the item 

10 relating to section 925A the following: 

‘‘925B. Reporting of background check denials to State authorities.’’. 

11 SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 44 of title 18, United 

13 States Code, as amended by section 2(a) of this Act, is 

14 amended by inserting after section 925B the following: 

15 ‘‘§ 925C. Annual report to Congress 

16 ‘‘Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

17 of this section, and annually thereafter, the Attorney Gen18 eral shall submit to Congress a report detailing the fol19 lowing, broken down by Federal judicial district: 

20 ‘‘(1) With respect to each category of persons 

21 prohibited by subsection (g) or (n) of section 922 of 

22 this title or State law from receiving or possessing 

23 a firearm who are so denied a firearm— 

24 ‘‘(A) the number of denials; 


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1 ‘‘(B) the number of denials referred to the 

2 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Ex3 plosives; 

4 ‘‘(C) the number of denials for which the 

5 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Ex6 plosives determines that the person denied was 

7 not prohibited by subsection (g) or (n) of sec8 tion 922 of this title or State law from receiving 

9 or possessing a firearm; 

10 ‘‘(D) the number of denials overturned 

11 through the national instant criminal back12 ground check system appeals process and the 

13 reasons for overturning the denials; 

14 ‘‘(E) the number of denials with respect to 

15 which an investigation was opened by a field di16 vision of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire17 arms, and Explosives; 

18 ‘‘(F) the number of persons charged with 

19 a Federal criminal offense in connection with a 

20 denial; and 

21 ‘‘(G) the number of convictions obtained 

22 by Federal authorities in connection with a de23 nial. 

24 ‘‘(2) The number of background check notices 

25 reported to State authorities pursuant to section 


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1 925B (including the number of the notices that 

2 would have been so reported but for section 

3 925B(c)).’’. 

4 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

5 for such chapter, as amended by section 2(b) of this Act, 

6 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 

7 925B the following: 

‘‘925C. Annual report to Congress.’’. 

Æ 


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