I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2708 

To prevent a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime, 

or received an enhanced sentence for a misdemeanor because of hate 

or bias in its commission, from obtaining a firearm. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 14, 2019 

Mr. CICILLINE (for himself, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. BASS, Mr. BEYER, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. BROWN of 

Maryland, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, 

Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. CISNEROS, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. CLARKE of New 

York, Mr. CLAY, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. COX of California, Mr. 

CRIST, Mr. CROW, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mrs. 

DAVIS of California, Ms. DEAN, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. 

DEUTCH, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. 

ENGEL, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. FRANKEL, Mr. 

GARCI ́A of Illinois, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. HASTINGS, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. HILL of California, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. 

JAYAPAL, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, 

Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. 

LANGEVIN, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. LEE of 

California, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, 

Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. LYNCH, Mrs. MCBATH, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MEEKS, 

Ms. MENG, Ms. MOORE, Mr. MORELLE, Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL, Mr. 

NADLER, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. 

OMAR, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. ROUDA, Mr. ROSE of New 

York, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. RUSH, Ms. 

SCANLON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. SHALALA, Ms. 

SHERRILL, Mr. SIRES, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. SOTO, Ms. 

SPEIER, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. 

TITUS, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. TONKO, Mr. TRONE, Mr. 

VARGAS, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. WATERS, 

Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. WEXTON, and Ms. WILSON of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 


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•HR 2708 IH

A BILL 

To prevent a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime, or received an enhanced sentence 

for a misdemeanor because of hate or bias in its commission, from obtaining a firearm. 

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 ‘‘Disarm Hate Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. PREVENTION OF PERSON WHO HAS BEEN CON6 VICTED OF A MISDEMEANOR HATE CRIME, 

7 OR RECEIVED AN ENHANCED SENTENCE FOR 

8 A MISDEMEANOR BECAUSE OF HATE OR BIAS 

9 IN ITS COMMISSION, FROM OBTAINING A 

10 FIREARM. 

11 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 921(a) of title 18, United 

12 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(36) The term ‘convicted in any court of a mis15 demeanor hate crime’— 

16 ‘‘(A) means being convicted by a court of an of17 fense that— 

18 ‘‘(i) is a misdemeanor under Federal, 

19 State, or tribal law; 

20 ‘‘(ii) has, as an element, that the conduct 

21 of the offender was motivated by hate or bias 


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•HR 2708 IH

1 because of the actual or perceived race, color, 

2 religion, national origin, gender, sexual orienta3 tion, gender identity (as defined in section 

4 249), or disability of any person; and 

5 ‘‘(iii) involves the use or attempted use of 

6 physical force, the threatened use of a deadly 

7 weapon, or other credible threat to the physical 

8 safety of any person; and 

9 ‘‘(B) does not include— 

10 ‘‘(i) a conviction of an offense described in 

11 subparagraph (A), unless— 

12 ‘‘(I) the person— 

13 ‘‘(aa) was represented by counsel 

14 in the case; or 

15 ‘‘(bb) knowingly and intelligently 

16 waived the right to counsel in the 

17 case; and 

18 ‘‘(II) in the case of a prosecution for 

19 an offense described in subparagraph (A) 

20 for which a person was entitled to a jury 

21 trial in the jurisdiction in which the case 

22 was tried— 

23 ‘‘(aa) the case was tried by a 

24 jury; or 


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1 ‘‘(bb) the person knowingly and 

2 intelligently waived the right to have 

3 the case tried by a jury, by guilty plea 

4 or otherwise; or 

5 ‘‘(ii) a conviction of an offense described in 

6 subparagraph (A) if— 

7 ‘‘(I) the conviction— 

8 ‘‘(aa) has been expunged or set 

9 aside; or 

10 ‘‘(bb) is an offense for which the 

11 person has been pardoned or has had 

12 civil rights restored (if the law of the 

13 applicable jurisdiction provides for the 

14 loss of civil rights under such an of15 fense); and 

16 ‘‘(II) the pardon, expungement, or 

17 restoration of civil rights does not ex18 pressly provide that the person may not 

19 ship, transport, possess, or receive fire20 arms. 

21 ‘‘(37) The term ‘received from any court an enhanced 

22 hate crime misdemeanor sentence’— 

23 ‘‘(A) means a court has imposed a sentence for 

24 a misdemeanor under Federal, State, or tribal law— 


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1 ‘‘(i) that involves the use or attempted use 

2 of physical force, the threatened use of a deadly 

3 weapon, or other credible threat to the physical 

4 safety of any person; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) based, in whole or in part, on a judi6 cial finding that the conduct of the offender 

7 was motivated, in whole or in part, by hate or 

8 bias for any reason referred to in paragraph 

9 (36)(A)(ii); and 

10 ‘‘(B) does not include— 

11 ‘‘(i) the imposition of a sentence described 

12 in subparagraph (A), unless— 

13 ‘‘(I) the person— 

14 ‘‘(aa) was represented by counsel 

15 in the case; or 

16 ‘‘(bb) knowingly and intelligently 

17 waived the right to counsel in the 

18 case; and 

19 ‘‘(II) if the sentence described in sub20 paragraph (A) was imposed in a prosecu21 tion for an offense for which a person was 

22 entitled to a jury trial in the jurisdiction in 

23 which the case was tried— 

24 ‘‘(aa) the case was tried by a 

25 jury; or 


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1 ‘‘(bb) the person knowingly and 

2 intelligently waived the right to have 

3 the case tried by a jury, by guilty plea 

4 or otherwise; or 

5 ‘‘(ii) the imposition of a sentence described 

6 in subparagraph (A) if— 

7 ‘‘(I)(aa) the conviction of the offense 

8 for which the sentence was imposed has 

9 been expunged or set aside; or 

10 ‘‘(bb) the offense for which the sen11 tence was imposed is an offense for which 

12 the person has been pardoned or has had 

13 civil rights restored (if the law of the appli14 cable jurisdiction provides for the loss of 

15 civil rights under such an offense); and 

16 ‘‘(II) the pardon, expungement, or 

17 restoration of civil rights does not ex18 pressly provide that the person may not 

19 ship, transport, possess, or receive fire20 arms.’’. 

21 (b) PROHIBITION ON SALE OR OTHER DISPOSITION

22 OF FIREARM.—Section 922(d) of such title is amended in 

23 the first sentence— 

24 (1) in paragraph (8)(B)(ii), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 

25 the end; 


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1 (2) in paragraph (9), by striking the period and 

2 inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

3 (3) by inserting after paragraph (9) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(10) has been convicted in any court of a mis6 demeanor hate crime, or has received from any court 

7 an enhanced hate crime misdemeanor sentence.’’. 

8 (c) PROHIBITION ON POSSESSION, SHIPMENT, OR

9 TRANSPORT OF FIREARM.—Section 922(g) of such title 

10 is amended— 

11 (1) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 

12 end; 

13 (2) in paragraph (9), by striking the comma 

14 and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

15 (3) by inserting after paragraph (9) the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(10) who has been convicted in any court of 

18 a misdemeanor hate crime, or has received from any 

19 court an enhanced hate crime misdemeanor sen20 tence,’’. 

Æ 


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