II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 675 

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 10, 2021 

Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. CORNYN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. 

CARPER, Mr. LANKFORD, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. MANCHIN, 

Mr. TOOMEY, Mr. GRAHAM, and Mrs. SHAHEEN) 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. 


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•S 675 IS

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘NICS Denial Notifica5 tion Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REPORTING OF BACKGROUND CHECK DENIALS. 

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

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

9 the following: 

10 ‘‘§ 925B. Reporting of background check denials to 

11 State authorities 

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

13 background check system established under section 103 

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

15 40901) (commonly referred to as ‘NICS’) provides a no16 tice pursuant to section 922(t) of this title that the receipt 

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

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

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

20 section— 

21 ‘‘(1) report to the law enforcement authorities 

22 of the State where the person sought to acquire the 

23 firearm and, if different, the law enforcement au24 thorities of the State of residence of the person— 

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


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

2 would have been violated; 

3 ‘‘(C) the date and time the notice was pro4 vided; 

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

6 sought to be acquired; and 

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

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

9 local law enforcement authorities and State and local 

10 prosecutors in the jurisdiction where the firearm was 

11 sought and in the jurisdiction where the person re12 sides. 

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

14 made in accordance with this subsection if the report is 

15 made within 24 hours after the provision of the notice de16 scribed in subsection (a), except that the making of the 

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

18 compromising an ongoing investigation. 

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

20 in accordance with this subsection and, after such report 

21 is made, the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Bu22 reau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives deter23 mines that the receipt of a firearm by a person for whom 

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

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


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

2 any law enforcement authority and any prosecutor to 

3 whom the report was made of that determination. 

4 ‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in sub5 section (a) shall be construed to require a report with re6 spect to a person to be made to the same State authorities 

7 that originally issued the notice with respect to the per8 son.’’. 

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

10 for such chapter is amended by inserting after the item 

11 relating to section 925A the following: 

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

12 SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

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

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

15 amended by inserting after section 925B the following: 

16 ‘‘§ 925C. Annual report to Congress 

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

18 of this section, and annually thereafter, the Attorney Gen19 eral shall submit to Congress a report detailing the fol20 lowing, broken down by Federal judicial district: 

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

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

23 this title or State law from receiving or possessing 

24 a firearm who are so denied a firearm— 

25 ‘‘(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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