II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2449 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to require licenses to acquire or 

receive firearms, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 

Mr. BOOKER (for himself and Mr. BLUMENTHAL) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to require licenses 

to acquire or receive firearms, 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 ‘‘Federal Firearm Li5 censing Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LICENSE FOR THE PURCHASE OF FIREARMS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 44 of title 18, United 

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘§ 932. License for the acquisition or receipt of fire2 arms 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

4 (d), it shall be unlawful for any individual to purchase or 

5 receive a firearm unless the individual has a valid Federal 

6 firearm license. 

7 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF FEDERAL LICENSE TO

8 PURCHASE OR RECEIVE FIREARMS.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 

10 establish a Federal system for issuing a Federal fire11 arm license to eligible individuals for firearms trans12 ferred to such individual. 

13 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The system established 

14 under paragraph (1) shall require that— 

15 ‘‘(A) an individual shall be eligible to re16 ceive such a license if the individual— 

17 ‘‘(i) has completed training in fire18 arms safety, including— 

19 ‘‘(I) a written test, to dem20 onstrate knowledge of applicable fire21 arms laws; and 

22 ‘‘(II) hands-on testing, including 

23 firing testing, to demonstrate safe use 

24 and sufficient accuracy of a firearm; 

25 ‘‘(ii) as part of the process for apply26 ing for such a license— 


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1 ‘‘(I) has submitted to a back2 ground investigation and criminal his3 tory check of the individual; 

4 ‘‘(II) has submitted proof of 

5 identity; 

6 ‘‘(III) has submitted the finger7 prints of the individual; and 

8 ‘‘(IV) has submitted identifying 

9 information on the firearm that the 

10 person intends to obtain, including the 

11 make, model, and serial number, and 

12 the identity of the firearm seller or 

13 transferor; 

14 ‘‘(B) a license issued under the system is 

15 available at a designated local office, which 

16 shall be located in both urban and rural areas; 

17 ‘‘(C) the Attorney General shall issue or 

18 deny a license under this section not later than 

19 30 days after the date on which the application 

20 for such license is received; 

21 ‘‘(D) each license issued under this section 

22 shall be valid for the purchase of a single fire23 arm, which shall be purchased not later than 30 

24 days after the date on which the license is 

25 issued; 


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1 ‘‘(E) a license issued under the system 

2 shall expire on the date that is 5 years after the 

3 date on which the license was issued; and 

4 ‘‘(F) the Attorney General shall provide 

5 notice of an application for a license under this 

6 section to the relevant State and local officials. 

7 ‘‘(3) BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Before issuing a li9 cense under this section, the Attorney General 

10 shall— 

11 ‘‘(i) conduct a background investiga12 tion on the applicant; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) deny any license if receipt of a 

14 firearm would violate subsection (g) or (n) 

15 of section 922 or any provision of State 

16 law. 

17 ‘‘(B) POSES A DANGER OF BODILY IN18 JURY.— 

19 ‘‘(i) INFORMATION FROM STATE AND

20 LOCAL OFFICIALS.—After receiving the no21 tice described in paragraph (2)(F), rel22 evant State and local officials may submit 

23 to the Attorney General information dem24 onstrating that the individual poses a sig25 nificant danger of bodily injury to self or 


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1 others by possessing, purchasing, or receiv2 ing a firearm. 

3 ‘‘(ii) DENIAL.— 

4 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney 

5 General may deny a license under this 

6 section if the Attorney General deter7 mines that the applicant poses a sig8 nificant danger of bodily injury to self 

9 or others by possessing, purchasing, 

10 or receiving a firearm, after exam11 ining factors the Attorney General 

12 considers are relevant to the deter13 mination, including— 

14 ‘‘(aa) history of threats or 

15 acts of violence toward self or 

16 others; 

17 ‘‘(bb) history of use, at18 tempted use, or threatened use of 

19 physical force by the applicant 

20 against another person; 

21 ‘‘(cc) whether the applicant 

22 is the subject of or has violated a 

23 domestic violence or stalking re24 straining order or protection 

25 order; 


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1 ‘‘(dd) any prior arrest, pend2 ing charge, or conviction for a 

3 violent or serious crime or dis4 orderly persons offense, stalking 

5 offense, or domestic violence of6 fense; 

7 ‘‘(ee) any prior arrest, pend8 ing charge, or conviction for an 

9 offense involving cruelty to ani10 mals; 

11 ‘‘(ff) history of drug or alco12 hol abuse or involvement in drug 

13 trafficking; 

14 ‘‘(gg) any recent acquisition 

15 of firearms, ammunition, or other 

16 deadly weapons; and 

17 ‘‘(hh) involvement in fire18 arms trafficking or unlawful fire19 arms transfers; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) history of unsafe stor21 age or handling of firearms. 

22 ‘‘(II) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—An ap23 plicant denied a license under sub24 clause (I) may file an action in the 

25 appropriate district court of the 


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1 United States for seeking review of 

2 the denial. 

3 ‘‘(C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 

4 in this paragraph may be construed to modify 

5 any other requirement for a background inves6 tigation relating to the acquisition or receipt of 

7 a firearm in effect on the day before the date 

8 of enactment of this section. 

9 ‘‘(4) REVOCATION.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General 

11 shall revoke a license issued under this section 

12 if the Attorney General determines that— 

13 ‘‘(i) the licensee poses a significant 

14 danger of bodily injury to self or others by 

15 possessing, purchasing, or receiving a fire16 arm; or 

17 ‘‘(ii) after a regular background inves18 tigation conducted by the Attorney Gen19 eral, the possession of a firearm would vio20 late subsection (g) or (n) of section 922 or 

21 any provision of State law. 

22 ‘‘(B) NOTICE AND OPPORTUNITY FOR A

23 HEARING.— 

24 ‘‘(i) NOTICE.—Upon determining that 

25 the licensee should have their license reVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:26 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2449.IS S2449

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1 voked under subparagraph (A), the Attor2 ney General shall provide notice to the li3 censee and to relevant State and local offi4 cials of the determination. 

5 ‘‘(ii) HEARING.—For revocations 

6 under subparagraph (A)(i), the Attorney 

7 General shall provide a licensee an oppor8 tunity for a hearing in the appropriate dis9 trict court of the United States not later 

10 than 30 days after the date on which a li11 cense is revoked under this paragraph to 

12 appeal the revocation. 

13 ‘‘(C) PROCEDURES.—The Attorney Gen14 eral shall establish procedures to ensure that 

15 any firearm is removed from any individual 

16 when the individual’s license is revoked under 

17 this paragraph. 

18 ‘‘(D) RETURN OF FIREARMS.—A firearm 

19 removed under the procedures established under 

20 subparagraph (C) may be returned to the indi21 vidual only if the individual’s license is rein22 stated. 

23 ‘‘(5) RENEWAL.—The Attorney General shall 

24 establish procedures for the renewal of a license that 


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1 requires that the applicant satisfies the requirements 

2 described in paragraph (2). 

3 ‘‘(6) ENROLLMENT IN RAP BACK.—The Attor4 ney General shall enroll each individual who is 

5 issued a license under this section in the Rap Back 

6 service. 

7 ‘‘(c) RECORDKEEPING .—It shall be unlawful for any 

8 individual to sell or otherwise dispose of a firearm to a 

9 person unless the individual reports the transaction to the 

10 Attorney General not later than 3 business days after the 

11 date on which the firearm is sold or transferred, which 

12 shall include identifying information on the firearm seller 

13 and on the firearm transferee, including the make, model, 

14 and serial number. 

15 ‘‘(d) STATE LICENSES.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) shall not 

17 apply to an individual in a State if the Attorney 

18 General determines that the State has a process for 

19 issuing a State firearm license to eligible individuals 

20 in the State with substantially similar requirements 

21 to those described in subsection (b). 

22 ‘‘(e) REGULATIONS.—The Attorney General may pro23 mulgate regulations that the Attorney General determines 

24 are necessary to carry out this section.’’. 


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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

2 for such chapter is amended by adding at the end the fol3 lowing: 

‘‘932. License for the acquisition or receipt of firearms.’’. 

4 SEC. 3. POINT-OF-SALE BACKGROUND CHECK. 

5 Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is 

6 amended by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(aa)(1)(A) It shall be unlawful for any person who 

8 is not a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or li9 censed dealer to transfer a firearm to any other person 

10 who is not so licensed, unless a licensed importer, licensed 

11 manufacturer, or licensed dealer has first taken possession 

12 of the firearm for the purpose of complying with sub13 section (t). 

14 ‘‘(B) Upon taking possession of a firearm under sub15 paragraph (A), a licensee shall comply with all require16 ments of this chapter as if the licensee were transferring 

17 the firearm from the inventory of the licensee to the unli18 censed transferee. 

19 ‘‘(C) If a transfer of a firearm described in subpara20 graph (A) will not be completed for any reason after a 

21 licensee takes possession of the firearm (including because 

22 the transfer of the firearm to, or receipt of the firearm 

23 by, the transferee would violate this chapter), the return 

24 of the firearm to the transferor by the licensee shall not 


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1 constitute the transfer of a firearm for purposes of this 

2 chapter.’’. 

3 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON TRANSFER TO CERTAIN UNLI4 CENSED PERSONS. 

5 Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is 

6 amended by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(aa) PROHIBITION ON TRANSFER TO CERTAIN UN8 LICENSED PERSONS.—It shall be unlawful for any person 

9 to— 

10 ‘‘(1) sell or otherwise dispose of a firearm to 

11 any person if such person does not have a license 

12 issued under section 932 or a substantially similar 

13 State law, as determined by the Attorney General, 

14 during the previous 30 days; or 

15 ‘‘(2) fail to report to the relevant law enforce16 ment agencies the sale or disposal described in para17 graph (1).’’. 

Æ 


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