I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1441 

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 26, 2021 

Mr. SWALWELL (for himself, Mr. CICILLINE, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. 

BLUMENAUER, Mr. BROWN, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CASTEN, Mr. COOPER, Ms. 

DEGETTE, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, 

Mr. HASTINGS, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. HIMES, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. 

KHANNA, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. LEE of California, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. NORTON, 

Ms. PINGREE, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. SHERRILL, Mr. SUOZZI, Mrs. 

TRAHAN, and Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN) 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. 


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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 ‘‘No Guns for Abusers 

5 Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR STATE IMPLEMENTATION OF RELIN7 QUISHMENT STATUTES. 

8 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General is au9 thorized to make grants to States, Tribes, or units of local 

10 government that have in place a statute, rule, policy, or 

11 practice that is the same as or substantially similar to the 

12 best practices published by the Attorney General under 

13 this Act, for the purpose of implementing such statute, 

14 administrative rule, policy, or practice. 

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

16 under this section shall submit to the Attorney General 

17 an application at such time, in such manner, and con18 taining such information as the Attorney General may rea19 sonably require, and including the applicable statute, rule, 

20 policy, or practice that the jurisdiction has enacted. 

21 SEC. 3. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 

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

23 date of the enactment of this Act, Attorney General, act24 ing through the Director of the National Institute of Jus25 tice, shall prepare and submit a report to Congress on best 


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

2 provide a process by which individuals who are charged 

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

4 are subject to, or in violation of a domestic violence protec5 tive order, may be subject to relinquishment. Such report 

6 shall include an analysis of the effect of reducing firearm 

7 access for the individuals described in the previous sen8 tence on reducing domestic violence and homicide. 

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

10 under subsection (a), the Director shall examine and de11 termine the best practices for each of the following: 

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

13 which relinquishment may be authorized. 

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

15 a relinquishment order. 

16 (3) The process courts use in determining 

17 whether relinquishment is appropriate for a par18 ticular party. 

19 (4) The process courts and law enforcement 

20 agencies use to determine whether an individual is in 

21 possession or control of firearms. 

22 (5) The guidance provided to parties subject to 

23 relinquishment orders and the victims of the parties 

24 subject to the relinquishment orders, as well as the 

25 manner of providing guidance. 


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1 (6) The persons or entities to which firearms 

2 may be relinquished, including whether any entity 

3 other than a law enforcement officer or licensed 

4 dealer under section 923 of title 18, United States 

5 Code, may receive firearms. 

6 (7) The person or entity which may store relin7 quished firearms, including any criteria such a per8 son or entity must meet, which may include a back9 ground check. 

10 (8) The period of time provided for an indi11 vidual subject to a relinquishment order to comply 

12 with the order. 

13 (9) The manner of proof required to show a re14 linquishment order is fulfilled. 

15 (10) The power granted to a court or law en16 forcement agency to compel compliance with a relin17 quishment order. 

18 (11) The manner in which relinquished firearms 

19 may be safely and securely stored. 

20 (12) The duration of a relinquishment order. 

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

22 entities storing relinquished firearms to persons sub23 ject to relinquishment orders. 

24 (14) Considerations for returning, disposing of, 

25 or selling relinquished firearms. 


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1 (15) Criteria for returning a firearm to an indi2 vidual subject to a relinquishment order. 

3 (16) The extent to which victims of offenses 

4 committed by the individual subject to the relin5 quishment order, or individuals who are protected 

6 from an individual subject to a domestic violence 

7 protective order, should be notified when a firearm 

8 is returned to the individual subject to the relin9 quishment order. 

10 (17) Precautions taken to ensure victim safety 

11 as a court gathers information necessary to issue a 

12 relinquishment order and a law enforcement officer 

13 executes the order. 

14 (18) Procedural protections that are required to 

15 ensure that individuals who may be subject to a re16 linquishment order are provided due process at each 

17 stage of the process. 

18 (19) The involvement of victim and community 

19 advocates. 

20 (20) The cultural sensitivity of the relinquish21 ment process. 

22 (21) The services and safety planning provided 

23 to the victims before, during, and after firearms are 

24 relinquished or recovered and when they are re25 turned. 


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

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

3 a minimum— 

4 (1) review Federal, State, Tribal, and local stat5 utes, rules, policies, and practices that provide au6 thority for courts to enter relinquishment orders in 

7 effect on the date of the enactment of this Act; 

8 (2) review academic studies, including studies 

9 analyzing the effectiveness of statutes, rules, poli10 cies, and practices described in paragraph (1); and 

11 (3) meet with, and consider any facts and anal12 yses offered by, prosecutors, defense attorneys, fam13 ily attorneys, judges, nonprofit organizations, victims 

14 service providers, culturally specific organizations, 

15 Federal, State, Tribal, and local courts, Federal, 

16 State, Tribal, and local law enforcement agencies, 

17 the National Domestic Violence and Firearms Re18 source Center, and individuals with academic exper19 tise in relinquishment. 

20 (d) IDENTIFICATION OF ITEMS FOR FURTHER

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

22 shall identify items for further study, relating to the effec23 tiveness of the best practices developed under subsection 

24 (b). 


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1 SEC. 4. FURTHER STUDIES. 

2 The Attorney General, acting through the Director 

3 of the National Institute of Justice, shall enter into con4 tracts with nongovernmental entities to conduct studies 

5 comparing statutes, administrative rules, policies and 

6 practices to determine the relative effectiveness of such 

7 statutes, rules, policies, and procedures in effectively pro8 viding for relinquishment. Not later than the date that is 

9 10 years after the submission of the report under section 

10 3, the Director shall submit to Congress not less than one 

11 report including updates to the best practices based on 

12 the studies conducted under this section. 

13 SEC. 5. FEDERAL ADOPTION. 

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

15 and submit to Congress recommendations for Federal leg16 islation in accordance with section 3. 

17 (b) RULES; POLICIES AND PRACTICES.—To the ex18 tent authorized by law, the Attorney General shall make 

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

20 practices described in section 3. 

21 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

22 In this Act, terms used have the meanings given such 

23 terms in section 901 of the Omnibus Crime Control and 

24 Safe Streets Act of 1968, except as follows: 


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1 (1) The term ‘‘intimate partner’’ has the mean2 ing given that term in section 921 of title 18, United 

3 States Code. 

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

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

6 States Code. 

7 (3) The term ‘‘covered offense’’ means— 

8 (A) stalking; or 

9 (B) an offense that has, as an element, the 

10 use or attempted use of physical force, or the 

11 threatened use of a deadly weapon. 

12 (4) The term ‘‘covered person’’ means, with re13 gard to a targeted person or a protected person— 

14 (A) the current or former— 

15 (i) spouse; 

16 (ii) intimate partner; 

17 (iii) dating partner; 

18 (iv) parent; or 

19 (v) guardian, 

20 of the targeted person or protected person; 

21 (B) a person with whom the targeted per22 son or protected person shares a child in com23 mon; 

24 (C) a person who is cohabiting with or has 

25 cohabited with the targeted person or protected 


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1 person as a spouse, intimate partner, dating 

2 partner, parent, or guardian; 

3 (D) a person similarly situated to a spouse, 

4 intimate partner, dating partner, parent, or 

5 guardian of the targeted person or protected 

6 person; or 

7 (E) a person who has or had a relationship 

8 with the targeted person or protected person 

9 such that the targeted person or protected per10 son is otherwise protected by the domestic or 

11 family violence laws of the State, tribal, or mu12 nicipal jurisdiction in which the targeted person 

13 or protected person resides, or, if an offense has 

14 occurred, against that targeted or protected 

15 person. 

16 (5) The term ‘‘crime of domestic violence’’ 

17 means a covered offense committed by a covered per18 son against the targeted person. 

19 (6) The term ‘‘domestic violence protective 

20 order’’ means a court order that restrains a covered 

21 person described in subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), 

22 (D), or (E) of paragraph (4) from harassing, stalk23 ing, or threatening a protected person, or engaging 

24 in other conduct that would place an intimate partVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:07 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1441.IH H1441

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1 ner or dating partner in reasonable fear of bodily in2 jury to the partner or child. 

3 (7) The term ‘‘protected person’’ means, with 

4 regard to a person, the intimate partner or dating 

5 partner of that person, or the child of such intimate 

6 partner, of such dating partner, or of that person. 

7 (8) The term ‘‘relinquishment’’ means the re8 moval of a firearm (as such term is defined in sec9 tion 921 of title 18, United States Code) or ammu10 nition (as such term is defined in section 921 of title 

11 18, United States Code) from a person’s possession 

12 or control. 

13 (9) The term ‘‘relinquishment order’’ means 

14 any mandate from a court requiring a person to be 

15 subject to relinquishment. 

16 (10) The term ‘‘targeted person’’ means the 

17 victim of a covered offense. 

Æ 


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