I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7702 

To establish a grant program through the Department of Justice to 

incentivize States to establish point-of-contact systems for firearm sales 

subject to a background check, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 21, 2020 

Ms. DEAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish a grant program through the Department of 

Justice to incentivize States to establish point-of-contact 

systems for firearm sales subject to a background check, 

and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Background Check 

5 Point of Contact Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GRANTS ESTABLISHED. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 7702 IH

1 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Attorney General 

2 may make an annual grant of not more than 

3 $1,000,000 to each eligible State that has conformed 

4 to the requirements of this Act. Such grant may be 

5 renewed for each year that the State remains in 

6 such conformity. The grant shall be used for the es7 tablishment, operation, and maintenance of a point8 of-contact system as set forth in section 3. 

9 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

10 There are authorized to carry out this program not 

11 more than $10,000,000 each fiscal year. 

12 (3) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The Federal 

13 share of the cost of a point-of-contact system carried 

14 out using grant funds may not exceed 25 percent. 

15 (b) PREFERENCE FOR OTHER GRANTS.—The Attor16 ney General shall give preference in awards of any discre17 tionary grant administered by the Bureau of Justice As18 sistance to a State that has conformed its laws in accord19 ance with this Act. 

20 SEC. 3. POINT-OF-CONTACT SYSTEMS REQUIRED. 

21 To be in compliance with this section, a State shall 

22 conform its laws to the following: 

23 (1) A point-of-contact system for the sale or 

24 transfer of a firearm shall be established or main25 tained, under which a person licensed under section 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 7702 IH

1 923 of title 18, United States Code, may verify that 

2 the sale or transfer would be lawful. 

3 (2) A sale or transfer of a firearm may not be 

4 completed unless the parties to the sale or transfer 

5 receive an approval number issued by the point-of6 contact system not later than 10 days after the sale 

7 or transfer is initiated. 

8 (3) The point-of-contact system may not issue 

9 an approval number if the system cannot confirm 

10 that the sale or transfer would be lawful. 

11 (4) A hotline shall be established, to be oper12 ated by the State, to be used by a person licensed 

13 under section 923 of title 18, United States Code, 

14 for purposes of contacting the national instant crimi15 nal background check system. 

16 (5) A fund shall be established by the State for 

17 the operation of the point-of-contact system. 

18 (6) An appeals process in the case of any fail19 ure by the point-of-contact system to issue an ap20 proval number, with the burden of proof on the 

21 State to prove that there was a valid basis for fail22 ure to issue shall be established. 

23 (7) For each denial, the information will be 

24 transferred to the state or local law enforcement 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 7702 IH

1 agency responsible for investigating the denial as a 

2 violation of law. 

3 SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENT. 

4 To be in compliance with this section, a State that 

5 receives a grant under this Act shall publish an annual 

6 report that contains information substantially similar to 

7 the information included in a NICS operations report 

8 made by the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investiga9 tion and additionally includes the following: 

10 (1) The number of investigations resulting from 

11 failures to issue approval numbers. 

12 (2) Results of investigations reported. 

13 (3) Denied appeals that were overturned. 

14 (4) Total number of hours where point of con15 tact system was not functional resulting in a halt in 

16 processing checks. 

17 (5) The number of persons arrestsed as a result 

18 of an information transfer under section 3(7). 

19 SEC. 5. ANNUAL AUDIT. 

20 To be in compliance with this section, a State shall 

21 submit to an annual audit by the Director of the Federal 

22 Bureau of Investigation of the point-of-contact system es23 tablished under section 3. 

24 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 7702 IH

1 (1) The term ‘‘firearm’’ has the meaning given 

2 such term in section 921 of title 18, United States 

3 Code. 

4 (2) The terms ‘‘law enforcement agency’’ and 

5 ‘‘unit of local government’’ have the meanings given 

6 such terms in section 901 of the Omnibus Crime 

7 Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 

8 10251). 

9 (3) The term ‘‘State’’ includes each of the sev10 eral States, the District of Columbia, the Common11 wealth of Puerto Rico, and any other territory of the 

12 United States. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS