I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4980 

To require the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to make 

a final disposition of requests to correct its records within 60 days, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 18, 2016 

Mr. EMMER of Minnesota (for himself, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. DESJARLAIS, Mr. 

FINCHER, Mr. FORBES, Mr. GUINTA, Mr. JODY B. HICE of Georgia, Mr. 

KELLY of Pennsylvania, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. ZINKE, Mr. COOK, Mr. 

WESTERMAN, and Mr. GOSAR) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require the National Instant Criminal Background Check 

System to make a final disposition of requests to correct 

its records within 60 days, 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 ‘‘Firearm Due Process 

5 Protection Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEADLINE FOR FINAL DISPOSITION OF REQUESTS 

2 TO CORRECT RECORDS OF THE NATIONAL IN3 STANT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK SYS4 TEM. 

5 Section 103(g) of the Brady Handgun Violence Pre6 vention Act (18 U.S.C. 922 note) is amended— 

7 (1) by striking ‘‘If’’ and inserting the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If’’; 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘The 

10 Attorney General shall make a final disposition of 

11 any information so submitted, within 60 days after 

12 receipt of the information.’’; and 

13 (3) by adding after and below the end the fol14 lowing new paragraph: 

15 ‘‘(2) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An individual ag17 grieved by a violation of the last sentence of 

18 paragraph (1) may bring an action in the 

19 United States district court for the district in 

20 which the individual attempted to acquire a 

21 firearm for a declaratory judgment on the eligi22 bility of the individual to receive and possess a 

23 firearm. 

24 ‘‘(B) EXPEDITED HEARING.—The court 

25 shall hold a hearing on such an action within 

26 30 days after the action is brought. 


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1 ‘‘(C) BURDEN OF PROOF.—At such a hear2 ing, the United States shall bear the burden of 

3 proving by clear and convincing evidence that 

4 the individual is ineligible to receive or possess 

5 a firearm. 

6 ‘‘(D) REMEDIES.—If the government does 

7 not so prove the ineligibility, the court shall 

8 order the Attorney General to correct or remove 

9 the erroneous records of the national instant 

10 criminal background check system with respect 

11 to the individual within 5 business days, and 

12 shall award the individual the costs of bringing 

13 the action and a reasonable attorney’s fee.’’. 

14 SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORTS TO THE CONGRESS ON DISPOSI15 TION OF CHALLENGES TO ACCURACY OF 

16 RECORDS OF THE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMI17 NAL BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM. 

18 The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation 

19 shall submit annually to the Committee on the Judiciary 

20 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

21 the Judiciary of the Senate a written report that speci22 fies— 

23 (1) the total number of challenges to the accu24 racy of the records of the National Instant Criminal 

25 Background Check System (in this section referred 


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1 to as the ‘‘NICS system’’) established under section 

2 103 of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act 

3 that were received by the NICS system during the 

4 year covered by the report; 

5 (2) the total number of the challenges that were 

6 processed to final disposition by the NICS system; 

7 (3) the total number of the challenges with re8 spect to which the initial determination of the NICS 

9 system was reversed, and with respect to those chal10 lenges, the total number in which each reason for 

11 the initial determination was made; 

12 (4) the total number of the challenges with re13 spect to which the initial determination of the NICS 

14 system was not reversed, and with respect to those 

15 challenges, the total number in which each reason 

16 for not doing so was made; and 

17 (5) the average length of time needed to com18 plete the processing of the challenges referred to in 

19 paragraph (2). 

20 SEC. 4. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS. 

21 It is the sense of the Congress that— 

22 (1) the right of the people to keep and bear 

23 arms is a fundamental component of self-government 

24 and the preservation of individual liberty; 


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1 (2) deprivation of the constitutional right to 

2 bear arms requires due process under the Fifth and 

3 Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the 

4 United States; and 

5 (3) ignoring appeals of determinations made by 

6 the National Instant Criminal Background Check 

7 System violates due process. 

Æ 


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