I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1287 

To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to States and units 

of local government to implement statutes, rules, policies, or procedures 

to authorize courts to issue relinquishment orders with respect to individuals charged with or convicted of a crime of domestic violence, or subject 

to a domestic violence protective order, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2019 

Mr. SWALWELL of California (for himself, Mr. COHEN, Ms. DEAN, Mr. 

RASKIN, Mr. CISNEROS, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. CLARKE of 

New York, Mr. CRIST, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. HASTINGS, 

Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. MENG, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. NORTON, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. RYAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, 

Mr. SOTO, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, and Ms. WILSON of Florida) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to States 

and units of local government to implement statutes, 

rules, policies, or procedures to authorize courts to issue 

relinquishment orders with respect to individuals charged 

with or convicted of a crime of domestic violence, or 

subject to a domestic violence protective order, 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, 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
2 

•HR 1287 IH

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Guns for Abusers 

3 Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR STATE IMPLEMENTATION OF RELIN5 QUISHMENT STATUTES. 

6 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General is au7 thorized to make grants to States or units of local govern8 ment that have in place a statute, rule, policy, or practice 

9 that is the same as or substantially similar to the best 

10 practices published by the Attorney General under this 

11 Act, for the purpose of implementing such statute, admin12 istrative rule, policy, or practice. 

13 (b) APPLICATION.—A jurisdiction seeking a grant 

14 under this section shall submit to the Attorney General 

15 an application at such time, in such manner, and con16 taining such information as the Attorney General may rea17 sonably require, and including the applicable statute, rule, 

18 policy, or practice that the jurisdiction has enacted. 

19 SEC. 3. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 

21 date of the enactment of this Act, Attorney General, act22 ing through the Director of the National Institute of Jus23 tice, shall prepare and submit a report to Congress on best 

24 practices for statutes, rules, policies, and practices, which 

25 provide a process by which individuals who are charged 

26 with or convicted of a crime of domestic violence, or who 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
3 

•HR 1287 IH

1 are subject to, or in violation of a domestic violence protec2 tive order, may be subject to relinquishment. Such report 

3 shall include an analysis of the effect of reducing firearm 

4 access for the individuals described in the previous sen5 tence on reducing domestic violence and homicide. 

6 (b) BEST PRACTICES.—In preparing the report 

7 under subsection (a), the Director shall examine and de8 termine the best practices for each of the following: 

9 (1) The types of offenses or court orders for 

10 which relinquishment may be authorized. 

11 (2) The level of discretion of a court in entering 

12 a relinquishment order. 

13 (3) The process courts use in determining 

14 whether relinquishment is appropriate for a par15 ticular party. 

16 (4) The process courts and law enforcement 

17 agencies use to determine whether an individual is in 

18 possession or control of firearms. 

19 (5) The guidance provided to parties subject to 

20 relinquishment orders, as well as the manner of pro21 viding guidance. 

22 (6) The persons or entities to which firearms 

23 may be relinquished, including whether any entity 

24 other than a law enforcement officer or licensed 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
4 

•HR 1287 IH

1 dealer under section 923 of title 18, United States 

2 Code, may receive firearms. 

3 (7) The person or entity which may store relin4 quished firearms, including any criteria such a per5 son or entity must meet, which may include a back6 ground check. 

7 (8) The period of time provided for an indi8 vidual subject to a relinquishment order to comply 

9 with the order. 

10 (9) The manner of proof required to show a re11 linquishment order is fulfilled. 

12 (10) The power granted to a court or law en13 forcement agency to compel compliance with a relin14 quishment order. 

15 (11) The manner in which relinquished firearms 

16 may be safely and securely stored. 

17 (12) The duration of a relinquishment order. 

18 (13) Fees that may be charged by persons or 

19 entities storing relinquished firearms to persons sub20 ject to relinquishment orders. 

21 (14) Considerations for returning, disposing of, 

22 or selling relinquished firearms. 

23 (15) Criteria for returning a firearm to an indi24 vidual subject to a relinquishment order. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
5 

•HR 1287 IH

1 (16) The extent to which victims of offenses 

2 committed by the individual subject to the relin3 quishment order, or individuals who are protected 

4 from an individual subject to a domestic violence 

5 protective order, should be notified when a firearm 

6 is returned to the individual subject to the relin7 quishment order. 

8 (17) Precautions taken to ensure victim safety 

9 as a court gathers information necessary to issue a 

10 relinquishment order and a law enforcement officer 

11 executes the order. 

12 (18) Procedural protections that are required to 

13 ensure that individuals who may be subject to a re14 linquishment order are provided due process at each 

15 stage of the process. 

16 (c) REVIEW AND CONSULTATION.—In preparing the 

17 report required under this section, the Director shall, at 

18 a minimum— 

19 (1) review Federal, State, and local statutes, 

20 rules, policies, and practices that provide authority 

21 for courts to enter relinquishment orders in effect on 

22 the date of the enactment of this Act; 

23 (2) review academic studies, including studies 

24 analyzing the effectiveness of statutes, rules, poli25 cies, and practices described in paragraph (1); and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
6 

•HR 1287 IH

1 (3) meet with, and consider any facts and anal2 yses offered by, prosecutors, defense attorneys, 

3 judges, nonprofit organizations, Federal, State, and 

4 local courts, Federal, State, and local law enforce5 ment agencies, and individuals with academic exper6 tise in relinquishment. 

7 (d) IDENTIFICATION OF ITEMS FOR FURTHER

8 STUDY.—In the report under this section, the Director 

9 shall identify items for further study, relating to the effec10 tiveness of the best practices developed under subsection 

11 (b). 

12 SEC. 4. FURTHER STUDIES. 

13 The Attorney General, acting through the Director 

14 of the National Institute of Justice, shall enter into con15 tracts with nongovernmental entities to conduct studies 

16 comparing statutes, administrative rules, policies and 

17 practices to determine the relative effectiveness of such 

18 statutes, rules, policies, and procedures in effectively pro19 viding for relinquishment. Not later than the date that is 

20 10 years after the submission of the report under section 

21 3, the Director shall submit to Congress not less than one 

22 report including updates to the best practices based on 

23 the studies conducted under this section. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
7 

•HR 1287 IH

1 SEC. 5. FEDERAL ADOPTION. 

2 (a) STATUTE.—The Attorney General shall prepare 

3 and submit to Congress recommendations for Federal leg4 islation in accordance with section 3. 

5 (b) RULES; POLICIES AND PRACTICES.—To the ex6 tent authorized by law, the Attorney General shall make 

7 rules, policies, and practices in accordance with the best 

8 practices described in section 3. 

9 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

10 In this Act: 

11 (1) The term ‘‘intimate partner’’ has the mean12 ing given that term in section 921 of title 18, United 

13 States Code. 

14 (2) The term ‘‘dating partner’’ has the meaning 

15 given that term in section 2266 of title 18, United 

16 States Code. 

17 (3) The term ‘‘crime of domestic violence’’ 

18 means an offense that has, as an element, the use 

19 or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened 

20 use of a deadly weapon, committed by a current or 

21 former spouse, intimate partner, dating partner, 

22 parent, or guardian of the victim, by a person with 

23 whom the victim shares a child in common, by a per24 son who is cohabiting with or has cohabited with the 

25 victim as a spouse, intimate partner, dating partner, 

26 parent, or guardian, or by a person similarly situVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1287.IH H1287

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
8 

•HR 1287 IH

1 ated to a spouse, intimate partner, dating partner, 

2 parent, or guardian of the victim. 

3 (4) The term ‘‘domestic violence protective 

4 order’’ means a court order that restrains a person 

5 from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate 

6 partner or dating partner of such person or child of 

7 such intimate partner or dating partner or person, 

8 or engaging in other conduct that would place an in9 timate partner or dating partner in reasonable fear 

10 of bodily injury to the partner or child. 

11 (5) The term ‘‘relinquishment’’ means the re12 moval of a firearm (as such term is defined in sec13 tion 921 of title 18, United States Code) or ammu14 nition (as such term is defined in section 921 of title 

15 18, United States Code) from a person’s possession 

16 or control. 

17 (6) The term ‘‘relinquishment order’’ means 

18 any mandate from a court requiring a person to be 

19 subject to relinquishment. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS