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106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 3264

To ensure that individuals with histories of mental illness and other persons

prohibited from owning or possessing firearms are stopped from buying

firearms by requiring instant background checks prior to making a firearms purchase, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 30 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2000

Mr. LOTT (for Mr. ASHCROFT) introduced the following bill; which was read

twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To ensure that individuals with histories of mental illness

and other persons prohibited from owning or possessing

firearms are stopped from buying firearms by requiring

instant background checks prior to making a firearms

purchase, 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 bill may be cited as the ‘‘Records Access Im5 provements Act of 2000’’.
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1 SEC. 2. RECORDS ACCESS IMPROVEMENTS.

2 (a) REQUIREMENTS FOR RECEIPT OF FEDERAL

3 FUNDS.—The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

4 (Brady Act), Public Law No. 103–159, 107 Stat. 1563,

5 is amended by adding at the end of Title I the following:

6 ‘‘SEC. 107. RECORDS OF PERSONS PROHIBITED FROM AC7 CESS TO FIREARMS.

8 ‘‘(a) NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF

9 LAW.—

10 ‘‘(1) the total of the amounts of any appropria11 tion hereafter derived or authorized from the Violent

12 Crime Reduction Trust Fund (42 U.S.C. § 14211)

13 for grants to an individual State (and any local gov14 ernment in that State) in this Act, and in any other

15 Act, is reduced by 10 percent on and after October

16 1, 2001, and another 10 percent each and every fis17 cal year thereafter, until no appropriation or author18 ization level is available, unless and until the chief

19 executive officer for such State or local government

20 receiving Violent Crime Reduction Trust Funds cer21 tifies to the Attorney General that at least ninety22 five percent of all available records regarding per23 sons who are—

24 ‘‘(A) adjudicated as mental defectives or

25 been committed to a mental institution by a
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1 court, board, commission, or other lawful au2 thority;

3 ‘‘(B) under indictment for, or have been

4 convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by

5 imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;

6 ‘‘(C) fugitives from justice;

7 ‘‘(D) unlawful users of or addicted to any

8 controlled substance;

9 ‘‘(E) subject to a court order restraining

10 them from committing domestic violence; and

11 ‘‘(F) convicted of a misdemeanor crime of

12 domestic violence,

13 in that jurisdiction’s system of record keeping

14 (which includes executive and judicial record keeping

15 systems) have been and continue to be provided to

16 the Federal Bureau of Investigation to support im17 plementation of the National Instant Criminal Back18 ground Check System; and

19 ‘‘(2) the reductions for each grant made pursu20 ant to paragraph (1) shall be terminated upon such

21 certification. For the fiscal year the certification is

22 provided, the department, agency, or instrumentality

23 of the United States authorized to make the grant

24 shall restore that State or local jurisdiction’s Violent

25 Crime Reduction Trust Funds grants to those levels
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1 that would otherwise have been awarded and dis2 bursed if the jurisdiction had been providing at least

3 ninety-five percent of all the available records de4 scribed in paragraph (1) in that jurisdiction’s system

5 of record keeping to the Federal Bureau of Inves6 tigation.

7 ‘‘(b) FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION.—

8 ‘‘(1) the term ‘adjudicated as mental defectives

9 or been committed to a mental institution’ means an

10 official record of a person—

11 ‘‘(A) adjudicated as mental defective by a

12 court, board, commission, or other lawful au13 thority. An adjudication as a mental defective

14 occurs when a court, board, commission, or

15 other lawful authority determines that an indi16 vidual is mentally retarded or of marked sub17 normal intelligence, mentally ill, or mentally in18 competent, including defendants in criminal

19 cases—

20 ‘‘(i) adjudicated as not guilty by rea21 son of insanity, and

22 ‘‘(ii) found to be a danger to others as

23 a result of a mental disorder or illness; or

24 ‘‘(B) committed to a mental institution

25 through formal commitment by a court, board,
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1 commission, or other legal authority, including

2 any person who has been committed involun3 tarily to a mental institution, including for rea4 sons other than mental defectiveness or mental

5 illness (such as for drug use), except that—

6 ‘‘(i) the mere presence of a person in

7 a mental institution for observation; or

8 ‘‘(ii) a voluntary commitment to a

9 mental institution, shall not be considered

10 a disabling commitment, or a record to be

11 reported to the National Instant Criminal

12 Background Check system. ‘Mental institu13 tions’ means mental health facilities, men14 tal hospitals, sanitariums, psychiatric fa15 cilities, and other facilities that provide di16 agnoses by licensed professionals of mental

17 retardation or mental illness.

18 ‘‘(2)(A) The term ‘misdemeanor crime of do19 mestic violence’ means a Federal, State or local of20 fense that—

21 ‘‘(i) is a misdemeanor under Federal or

22 State law or, in States which do not classify of23 fenses as misdemeanors, is an offense punish24 able by imprisonment for a term of one year or

25 less, and includes offenses that are punishable
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1 only by a fine (offenses are included whether or

2 not the State statute specifically defines the of3 fense as a ‘misdemeanor’ or as a ‘misdemeanor

4 crime of domestic violence’ and also includes all

5 such misdemeanor convictions in Indian Courts

established pursuant to 25 C.F.R. party ̈ 6 11);

7 ‘‘(ii) has, as an element, the use or at8 tempted use of physical force (e.g., assault and

9 battery), or the threatened use of a deadly

10 weapon; and

11 ‘‘(iii) was committed by a current or

12 former spouse, parent, or guardian of the vic13 tim, by a person with whom the victim shares

14 a child in common, by a person who is cohab15 iting with or has cohabited with the victim as

16 a spouse, parent, or guardian (e.g., the equiva17 lent of a ‘common law’ marriage even if such

18 relationship is not recognized under the law), or

19 a person similarly situated to a spouse, parent,

20 or guardian of the victim (e.g., two persons who

21 are residing at the same location in an intimate

22 relationship with the intent to make that place

23 their home would be similarly situated to a

24 spouse).
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1 ‘‘(B) A person shall not be considered to have

2 been convicted of such an offense for purposes of

3 this section unless—

4 ‘‘(i) the person is considered to have been

5 convicted by the jurisdiction in which the pro6 ceedings were held;

7 ‘‘(ii) the person was represented by counsel

8 in the case, or knowingly and intelligently

9 waived the right to counsel in the case; and

10 ‘‘(iii) in the case of a prosecution for which

11 a person was entitled to a jury trial in the juris12 diction in which the case was tried, either—

13 ‘‘(I) the case was tried by a jury; or

14 ‘‘(II) the person knowingly and intel15 ligently waived the right to have the case

16 tried by a jury, by guilty plea or otherwise.

17 ‘‘(iv) A person shall not be considered to

18 have been convicted of such an offense for pur19 poses of this section if the conviction has been

20 expunged or set aside, or is an offense for

21 which the person has been pardoned or has had

22 civil rights restored (if the law of the jurisdic23 tion in which the proceedings were held pro24 vides for the loss of civil rights upon conviction

25 for such an offense), unless the pardon,
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1 expunction, or restoration of civil rights ex2 pressly provides that the person may not ship,

3 transport, possess, or receive firearms, and the

4 person is not otherwise prohibited by the law of

5 the jurisdiction in which the proceedings were

6 held from receiving or possessing any firearms.

7 ‘‘(3)(A) The term ‘persons who are under in8 dictment for, or have been convicted in any court of,

9 a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term ex10 ceeding one year,’ means any person—

11 ‘‘(i) who currently is under indictment (or

12 ‘information’) for a crime punishable by impris13 onment for a term exceeding one year, or whose

14 case has been referred to court-martial if that

15 person is in the military; or

16 ‘‘(ii) who has been convicted in any court

17 (including, for example, a military court) of a

18 crime punishable by imprisonment for a term

19 exceeding one year (‘information’ refers to a

20 formal accusation of a crime made by a pros21 ecuting attorney, as distinguished from an ‘in22 dictment’ presented by a grand jury). The max23 imum sentence that may be imposed determines

24 whether a person is under indictment or infor25 mation for a disabling crime. Similarly, the
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1 maximum sentence that may be imposed, rather

2 than the actual sentence, determines whether a

3 person has been convicted of a disabling crime.

4 ‘‘(B) Indictments, information, and convictions

5 for the following crimes are exceptions and are not

6 disabling:

7 ‘‘(i) Federal or State offenses pertaining to

8 antitrust offenses, unfair trade practices, and

9 other similar business-related offenses; and

10 ‘‘(ii) State offenses classified by State law

11 as misdemeanors punishable by imprisonment

12 for a term of 2 years or less.

13 ‘‘(C) Any conviction which has been expunged,

14 set aside, or for which a person has been pardoned

15 or has had civil rights restored remains disabling if;

16 ‘‘(i) the pardon, expunction, or restoration

17 of civil rights expressly provides that the person

18 may not ship, transport, possess, or receive fire19 arms, or

20 ‘‘(ii) the person is prohibited by the law of

21 the jurisdiction where the conviction occurred

22 from receiving or possessing any firearm.

23 ‘‘(4) The term ‘persons who are fugitives from

24 justice’ means persons (A) who know they have

25 charges pending against them, even if only for a
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1 misdemeanor, and who leave the State of prosecu2 tion, or (B) who leave the State in order to avoid

3 giving testimony in any criminal proceeding.

4 ‘‘(5)(A) The term ‘persons who are unlawful

5 users of, or addicted to, any controlled substance’

6 means persons who are—

7 ‘‘(i) unlawful users of, or addicted to, any

8 controlled substance, as defined in section 102

9 of the Controlled Substances Act. Controlled

10 substances include, but are not limited to, mari11 juana, depressants, stimulants, and narcotic

12 drugs. They do not include distilled spirits,

13 wine, malt beverages, or tobacco. The use of

14 any illegal controlled substance (such as PCP),

15 or the use of any other controlled substance

16 (such as morphine) in a manner other than as

17 prescribed by a licensed physician, is also un18 lawful use; or

19 ‘‘(ii) addicted to a controlled substance,

20 meaning any individual who is found to (I) ha21 bitually use a controlled substance so as to en22 danger the health, safety, welfare, or morals of

23 the public, or (II) to have lost the power of self24 control with reference to the addition.
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1 ‘‘(B) To incur firearms disabilities, there must

2 be evidence that a person is a current unlawful user

3 of, or addict to, a controlled substance. Such unlaw4 ful use or addiction may be demonstrated by evi5 dence of—

6 ‘‘(i) the recent use of a controlled sub7 stance, which is part of a pattern of unlawful

8 use or addiction; or

9 ‘‘(ii) the current unlawful use of, or addic10 tion to, a controlled substance.

11 ‘‘(6) The term ‘persons who are subject to a

12 court order restraining them from committing do13 mestic violence’ means any persons who, at the time

14 they apply to receive a firearm, are under a court

15 order that meets the following criteria—

16 ‘‘(A) the order must have been issued after

17 a hearing of which the person subject to the

18 order received actual notice, and at which the

19 person had an opportunity to participate; and

20 ‘‘(B) the order must restrain the person

21 subject to the order from harassing, stalking, or

22 threatening an intimate partner of the person,

23 or a child of the intimate partner or person, or

24 engaging in other conduct that would place an
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1 intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily in2 jury to the partner or child; and

3 ‘‘(C) the order must include a finding that

4 the person subject to the order represents a

5 credible threat to the physical safety of the inti6 mate partner or child, or the order must explic7 itly prohibit the use, attempted use, or threat8 ened use of physical force against the intimate

9 partner or child that would reasonably be ex10 pected to cause bodily injury.

11 ‘‘(7) The term ‘intimate partner’ is defined as

12 a spouse, former spouse, an individual who is a par13 ent of a child of the person, or an individual who co14 habitates or has cohabited with the person.’’

15 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

16 this section shall take effect on January 1, 2001.

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