I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4966 

To require the Attorney General to report certain revocation and remedial 

action data with respect to Federal firearm licenses and to require 

the Comptroller General of the United States to study the effectiveness 

of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in investigating and revoking the licenses. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 27, 2023 

Ms. BROWNLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require the Attorney General to report certain revocation 

and remedial action data with respect to Federal firearm 

licenses and to require the Comptroller General of the 

United States to study the effectiveness of the Bureau 

of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in investigating and revoking the licenses. 

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 ‘‘Protecting Americans 

5 from Reckless Gun Dealers Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. 

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

3 States Code is amended by inserting after section 925D 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘§ 925E. Annual report to Congress on license inspec6 tions. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Within 180 days after the date 

8 of the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, 

9 the Attorney General shall submit to the appropriate con10 gressional committees a written report on the actions un11 dertaken by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, 

12 and Explosives in the year covered by the report to issue 

13 and revoke licenses and inspect licensees under section 

14 923, that includes the following: 

15 ‘‘(1) The number of inspections completed each 

16 month. 

17 ‘‘(2) The number of inspections that identified 

18 at least 1 serious violation. 

19 ‘‘(3) The number of licenses that were revoked, 

20 the number of licenses that were not renewed in lieu 

21 of revocation, and the number of licenses surren22 dered after an inspection. 

23 ‘‘(4) For each licensee whose license was re24 voked on the basis of an inspection, the name and 

25 location of the licensee, the date of revocation, and 

26 any serious violation identified by the inspection. 


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•HR 4966 IH

1 ‘‘(5) For each licensee whose license was not re2 newed in lieu of revocation after an inspection, the 

3 name and location of the licensee, the date the li4 cense expired, and any serious violation identified by 

5 the inspection. 

6 ‘‘(6) For each licensee who surrendered such a 

7 license after an inspection, including a licensee who 

8 discontinued business operations, the name and loca9 tion of the licensee, the date of surrender, and any 

10 serious violation identified by the inspection. 

11 ‘‘(7) The number of inspections that identified 

12 at least 1 serious violation but with respect to which 

13 the Attorney General did not revoke the applicable 

14 license, broken down by— 

15 ‘‘(A) the Attorney General’s decision not to 

16 pursue revocation, further broken down by the 

17 Attorney General’s reason for the decision; 

18 ‘‘(B) the reversal of an initial decision of 

19 the Attorney General to revoke the license after 

20 a hearing held pursuant to section 923(f)(2); 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(C) the order of a court to reverse a rev23 ocation after a petition was filed for review of 

24 a final agency determination. 


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1 ‘‘(8) The reasons of the Attorney General not 

2 to pursue revocation, broken down geographically 

3 based on the location of the field office of the Bu4 reau with responsibility for the area where the li5 censee involved is located. 

6 ‘‘(9) The number of reports of violations and 

7 warning letters issued and warning conferences held 

8 by the Bureau, broken down geographically based on 

9 the location of the field office of the Bureau in10 volved. 

11 ‘‘(b) PUBLICATION ON WEBSITE.—On each date a re12 port required by subsection (a) is submitted, the Attorney 

13 General shall cause to be published on the website of the 

14 Bureau the information contained in the report. 

15 ‘‘(c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.— 

16 In this section, the term ‘appropriate congressional com17 mittees’ means— 

18 ‘‘(1) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

19 House of Representatives; and 

20 ‘‘(2) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

21 Senate. 

22 ‘‘(d) SERIOUS VIOLATION.—In this section, the term 

23 ‘serious violation’ means one of the following: 

24 ‘‘(1) Refusing to allow an inspection pursuant 

25 to section 923(g). 


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1 ‘‘(2) Transferring a firearm in violation of sec2 tion 922(d). 

3 ‘‘(3) Failing to wait 3 business days before 

4 transferring a firearm pursuant to section 922(t)(1). 

5 ‘‘(4) Failing to comply with any other require6 ment of section 922(t)(1) before transferring a fire7 arm. 

8 ‘‘(5) Falsifying a record required to be main9 tained pursuant to section 923(g). 

10 ‘‘(6) Failing to respond to a trace request pur11 suant to section 923(g)(7). 

12 ‘‘(7) Transferring a firearm to another person 

13 with the knowledge that the person is making a 

14 straw purchase of the firearm in violation of section 

15 932. 

16 ‘‘(8) Failing to submit a report of multiple sales 

17 or other dispositions to an unlicensed person pursu18 ant to section 923(g)(3). 

19 ‘‘(9) Failing to report a theft or loss of a fire20 arm pursuant to section 923(g)(6). 

21 ‘‘(10) Failing to maintain an accurate record of 

22 the receipt, sale, or other disposition of a firearm 

23 pursuant to section 923(g)(2).’’. 


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

2 for such chapter is amended by inserting after the item 

3 relating to section 925D the following: 

‘‘925E. Annual report to Congress on license inspections.’’. 

4 SEC. 3. GAO STUDY AND REPORT ON THE EFFECTIVENESS 

5 OF THE BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, 

6 FIREARMS, AND EXPLOSIVES TO INVES7 TIGATE FEDERAL FIREARM LICENSES. 

8 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

9 States shall conduct a study on the operations and proce10 dures used to issue and revoke licenses under section 923 

11 of title 18, United States Code, and to investigate and in12 spect holders of such licenses, that focuses on— 

13 (1) whether systemic failures in the issuance 

14 and revocation of the licenses have resulted in inef15 fective enforcement of chapter 44 of such title; 

16 (2) the extent to which the Attorney General 

17 has exercised discretion not to pursue revocation of 

18 a license based on the putative existence of extraor19 dinary circumstances, notwithstanding a finding by 

20 the Attorney General that a licensee willfully com21 mitted a violation that renders the license eligible for 

22 revocation; 

23 (3) geographic variability in the enforcement of 

24 such chapter; 


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1 (4) the outcomes related to the revocation of li2 censes, including— 

3 (A) the number of licensees who received a 

4 notice of license revocation but whose licenses 

5 were not revoked; and 

6 (B) the average and median periods of 

7 time from inspection to revocation of a license, 

8 broken down by— 

9 (i) revocations without hearing or ap10 peal by the licensee; 

11 (ii) revocations after an administrative 

12 determination without judicial review pur13 sued by the licensee; and 

14 (iii) revocations after such a judicial 

15 review; and 

16 (5) the policies and practices for providing over17 sight of the activities of the licensees during the 

18 pendency of revocation proceedings, including while 

19 a licensee seeks judicial review. 

20 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Within 1 year after the 

21 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

22 of the United States shall submit a written report to Con23 gress on the results of the study required by subsection 

24 (a). 

Æ 


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