I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2769
To ensure that background checks are conducted before the transfer of
a handgun by a firearms dealer.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 29, 1997
Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. NADLER, Mr. MCDERMOTT,
Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. BERMAN, Ms. KIL-
PATRICK, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, Ms. FURSE, and
Mr. BLAGOJEVICH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To ensure that background checks are conducted before the
transfer of a handgun by a firearms dealer.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Brady Background
Check Improvement Act’’.
SEC. 2. BACKGROUND CHECK REQUESTS REQUIRED TO BE
SENT TO CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFI-
CERS WHOSE POLICE DEPARTMENTS ARE CO-
OPERATING IN CONDUCTING THE CHECKS.
Section 922(s) of title 18, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) in each of subclauses (III) and (IV) of para-
graph (1)(A)(i), by striking ‘‘the chief law enforce-
ment officer of the place of residence of the trans-
feree’’ and inserting ‘‘a designated chief law enforce-
ment officer with respect to the transfer’’;
(2) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the
following:
‘‘(2)(A) Upon request of a chief law enforcement offi-
cer of a cooperating law enforcement agency, the Sec-
retary shall certify the chief law enforcement officer as
the head of a cooperating law enforcement agency.
‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A) of this para-
graph, a law enforcement agency is a cooperating law en-
forcement agency if the agency maintains a practice, upon
receipt of a notice provided pursuant to paragraph
(1)(A)(i)(III) with respect to the transfer of a handgun,
of making a reasonable effort to ascertain within 5 busi-
ness days whether receipt or possession of the handgun
by the transferee would be in violation of Federal, State,
or local law, including research in whatever State and local
record keeping systems are available and in a national sys-
tem designated by the Attorney General.
‘‘(C)(i) Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this paragraph and periodically thereafter,
the Secretary shall provide to each licensed dealer and
shall cause to have published in the Federal Register a
list of the chief law enforcement officers certified under
subparagraph (A).
‘‘(ii) From time to time, the Secretary may cause to
have published in the Federal Register and may provide
to each licensed dealer, or to each licensed dealer within
a State, a list of chief law enforcement officers previously
certified under subparagraph (A) who the Secretary deter-
mines are no longer the head of a cooperating law enforce-
ment agency.’’;
(3) in paragraph (8)—
(A) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(8)’’; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(B) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘des-
ignated chief law enforcement officer’ means, with respect
to a handgun transfer, any of the following who is a listed
chief law enforcement officer:
‘‘(i) The chief law enforcement officer of the
place of residence of the transferee.
‘‘(ii) The chief law enforcement officer of the
place of business of the transferor at which the
handgun transfer is to be made.
‘‘(iii) The chief law enforcement officer of the
State in which the place of business described in
clause (ii) is located.
‘‘(C) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘listed
chief law enforcement officer’ means, with respect to a
handgun transferor, a chief law enforcement officer who—
‘‘(i) has been identified, in the list of chief law
enforcement officers most recently distributed to the
transferor under paragraph (2)(C)(i), as the head of
a cooperating law enforcement agency; and
‘‘(ii) has not been identified, in a list of chief
law enforcement officers subsequently distributed to
the transferor under paragraph (2)(C)(ii), as the
head of a law enforcement agency that has ceased
to be a cooperating law enforcement agency.’’; and
(4) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(10) In the absence of an express provision of State
law that prohibits a State or local law enforcement officer
from conducting a background check on a handgun pur-
chaser, a chief law enforcement officer may make a rea-
sonable effort to ascertain, within 5 business days after
receipt of a notice provided pursuant to paragraph
(1)(A)(i)(III), whether receipt or possession of the hand-
gun involved would violate the law, including research in
whatever State and local recordkeeping systems are avail-
able and in a national system designated by the Attorney
General.’’.
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