IIB 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2640 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JUNE 14, 2007 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
AN ACT 
To improve the National Instant Criminal Background Check 
System, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
Sec. 3. Definitions. 
TITLE I—TRANSMITTAL OF RECORDS 
Sec. 101. Enhancement of requirement that Federal departments and agencies 
provide relevant information to the National Instant Criminal 
Background Check System. 
Sec. 102. Requirements to obtain waiver. 
Sec. 103. Implementation assistance to States. 
Sec. 104. Penalties for noncompliance. 
Sec. 105. Relief from disabilities program required as condition for participa-
tion in grant programs. 
TITLE II—FOCUSING FEDERAL ASSISTANCE ON THE 
IMPROVEMENT OF RELEVANT RECORDS 
Sec. 201. Continuing evaluations. 
TITLE III—GRANTS TO STATE COURT SYSTEMS FOR THE IM-
PROVEMENT IN AUTOMATION AND TRANSMITTAL OF DISPOSI-
TION RECORDS 
Sec. 301. Disposition records automation and transmittal improvement grants. 
TITLE IV—GAO AUDIT 
Sec. 401. GAO audit. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Approximately 916,000 individuals were 
prohibited from purchasing a firearm for failing a 
background check between November 30, 1998, (the 
date the National Instant Criminal Background 
Check System (NICS) began operating) and Decem-
ber 31, 2004.
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(2) From November 30, 1998, through Decem-
ber 31, 2004, nearly 49,000,000 Brady background 
checks were processed through NICS. 
(3) Although most Brady background checks 
are processed through NICS in seconds, many back-
ground checks are delayed if the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation (FBI) does not have automated access 
to complete information from the States concerning 
persons prohibited from possessing or receiving a 
firearm under Federal or State law. 
(4) Nearly 21,000,000 criminal records are not 
accessible by NICS and millions of criminal records 
are missing critical data, such as arrest dispositions, 
due to data backlogs. 
(5) The primary cause of delay in NICS back-
ground checks is the lack of— 
(A) updates and available State criminal 
disposition records; and 
(B) automated access to information con-
cerning persons prohibited from possessing or 
receiving a firearm because of mental illness, 
restraining orders, or misdemeanor convictions 
for domestic violence. 
(6) Automated access to this information can 
be improved by—
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(A) computerizing information relating to 
criminal history, criminal dispositions, mental 
illness, restraining orders, and misdemeanor 
convictions for domestic violence; or 
(B) making such information available to 
NICS in a usable format. 
(7) Helping States to automate these records 
will reduce delays for law-abiding gun purchasers. 
(8) On March 12, 2002, the senseless shooting, 
which took the lives of a priest and a parishioner at 
the Our Lady of Peace Church in Lynbrook, New 
York, brought attention to the need to improve in-
formation-sharing that would enable Federal and 
State law enforcement agencies to conduct a com-
plete background check on a potential firearm pur-
chaser. The man who committed this double murder 
had a prior disqualifying mental health commitment 
and a restraining order against him, but passed a 
Brady background check because NICS did not have 
the necessary information to determine that he was 
ineligible to purchase a firearm under Federal or 
State law. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
As used in this Act, the following definitions shall 
apply:
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(1) COURT ORDER.—The term ‘‘court order’’ 
includes a court order (as described in section 
922(g)(8) of title 18, United States Code). 
(2) MENTAL HEALTH TERMS.—The terms ‘‘ad-
judicated as a mental defective’’, ‘‘committed to a 
mental institution’’, and related terms have the 
meanings given those terms in regulations imple-
menting section 922(g)(4) of title 18, United States 
Code, as in effect on the date of the enactment of 
this Act. 
(3) MISDEMEANOR CRIME OF DOMESTIC VIO-
LENCE.—The term ‘‘misdemeanor crime of domestic 
violence’’ has the meaning given the term in section 
921(a)(33) of title 18, United States Code. 
TITLE I—TRANSMITTAL OF 
RECORDS 
SEC. 101. ENHANCEMENT OF REQUIREMENT THAT FED-
ERAL DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES PRO-
VIDE RELEVANT INFORMATION TO THE NA-
TIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND 
CHECK SYSTEM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 103(e)(1) of the Brady 
Handgun Violence Prevention Act (18 U.S.C. 922 note) 
is amended—
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(1) by striking ‘‘Notwithstanding’’ and insert-
ing the following: 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘On request’’ and inserting the 
following: 
‘‘(B) REQUEST OF ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 
On request’’; 
(3) by striking ‘‘furnish such information’’ and 
inserting ‘‘furnish electronic versions of the informa-
tion described under subparagraph (A)’’; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(C) QUARTERLY SUBMISSION TO ATTOR-
NEY
GENERAL.—If a department or agency 
under subparagraph (A) has any record of any 
person demonstrating that the person falls 
within one of the categories described in sub-
section (g) or (n) of section 922 of title 18, 
United States Code, the head of such depart-
ment or agency shall, not less frequently than 
quarterly, provide the pertinent information 
contained in such record to the Attorney Gen-
eral. 
‘‘(D) INFORMATION UPDATES.—The agen-
cy, on being made aware that the basis under 
which a record was made available under sub-
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paragraph (A) does not apply, or no longer ap-
plies, shall— 
‘‘(i) update, correct, modify, or re-
move the record from any database that 
the agency maintains and makes available 
to the Attorney General, in accordance 
with the rules pertaining to that database; 
or 
‘‘(ii) notify the Attorney General that 
such basis no longer applies so that the 
National Instant Criminal Background 
Check System is kept up to date. 
‘‘(E) ANNUAL
REPORT.—The Attorney 
General shall submit an annual report to Con-
gress that describes the compliance of each de-
partment or agency with the provisions of this 
paragraph.’’. 
(b) PROVISION
AND
MAINTENANCE
OF
NICS 
RECORDS.— 
(1) DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY.— 
The Secretary of Homeland Security shall make 
available to the Attorney General— 
(A) records, updated not less than quar-
terly, which are relevant to a determination of 
whether a person is disqualified from possessing
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or receiving a firearm under subsection (g) or 
(n) of section 922 of title 18, United States 
Code, for use in background checks performed 
by the National Instant Criminal Background 
Check System; and 
(B) information regarding all the persons 
described in subparagraph (A) of this para-
graph who have changed their status to a cat-
egory not identified under section 922(g)(5) of 
title 18, United States Code, for removal, when 
applicable, from the National Instant Criminal 
Background Check System. 
(2) DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.—The Attorney 
General shall— 
(A) ensure that any information submitted 
to, or maintained by, the Attorney General 
under this section is kept accurate and con-
fidential, as required by the laws, regulations, 
policies, or procedures governing the applicable 
record system; 
(B) provide for the timely removal and de-
struction of obsolete and erroneous names and 
information from the National Instant Criminal 
Background Check System; and
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(C) work with States to encourage the de-
velopment of computer systems, which would 
permit electronic notification to the Attorney 
General when— 
(i) a court order has been issued, lift-
ed, or otherwise removed by order of the 
court; or 
(ii) a person has been adjudicated as 
mentally defective or committed to a men-
tal institution. 
(c) STANDARD FOR ADJUDICATIONS, COMMITMENTS, 
AND
DETERMINATIONS
RELATED
TO
MENTAL 
HEALTH.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—No department or agency of 
the Federal Government may provide to the Attor-
ney General any record of an adjudication or deter-
mination related to the mental health of a person, 
or any commitment of a person to a mental institu-
tion if— 
(A) the adjudication, determination, or 
commitment, respectively, has been set aside or 
expunged, or the person has otherwise been 
fully released or discharged from all mandatory 
treatment, supervision, or monitoring;
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(B) the person has been found by a court, 
board, commission, or other lawful authority to 
no longer suffer from the mental health condi-
tion that was the basis of the adjudication, de-
termination, or commitment, respectively, or 
has otherwise been found to be rehabilitated 
through any procedure available under law; or 
(C) the adjudication, determination, or 
commitment, respectively, is based solely on a 
medical finding of disability, without a finding 
that the person is a danger to himself or to oth-
ers or that the person lacks the mental capacity 
to manage his own affairs. 
(2) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN ADJUDICATIONS, 
DETERMINATIONS, AND COMMITMENTS.— 
(A) PROGRAM FOR RELIEF FROM DISABIL-
ITIES.—Each department or agency of the 
United States that makes any adjudication or 
determination related to the mental health of a 
person or imposes any commitment to a mental 
institution, as described in subsection (d)(4) 
and (g)(4) of section 922 of title 18, United 
States Code, shall establish a program that per-
mits such a person to apply for relief from the 
disabilities imposed by such subsections. Relief
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and judicial review shall be available according 
to the standards prescribed in section 925(c) of 
title 18, United States Code. 
(B) RELIEF FROM DISABILITIES.—In the 
case of an adjudication or determination related 
to the mental health of a person or a commit-
ment of a person to a mental institution, a 
record of which may not be provided to the At-
torney General under paragraph (1), including 
because of the absence of a finding described in 
subparagraph (C) of such paragraph, or from 
which a person has been granted relief under a 
program established under subparagraph (A), 
the adjudication, determination, or commit-
ment, respectively, shall be deemed not to have 
occurred for purposes of subsections (d)(4) and 
(g)(4) of section 922 of title 18, United States 
Code. 
(d) 
INFORMATION
EXCLUDED
FROM
NICS 
RECORDS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—No department or agency of 
the Federal Government may make available to the 
Attorney General, for use by the National Instant 
Criminal Background Check System (nor may the 
Attorney General make available to such system),
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the name or any other relevant identifying informa-
tion of any person adjudicated or determined to be 
mentally defective or any person committed to a 
mental institution for purposes of assisting the At-
torney General in enforcing subsections (d)(4) and 
(g)(4) of section 922 of title 18, United States Code, 
unless such adjudication, determination, or commit-
ment, respectively, included a finding that the per-
son is a danger to himself or to others or that the 
person lacks the mental capacity to manage his own 
affairs. 
(2) EFFECTIVE
DATE.—Paragraph (1) shall 
apply to names and other information provided be-
fore, on, or after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. Any name or information provided in violation 
of paragraph (1) before such date shall be removed 
from the National Instant Criminal Background 
Check System. 
SEC. 102. REQUIREMENTS TO OBTAIN WAIVER. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning 3 years after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, a State shall be eligible to 
receive a waiver of the 10 percent matching requirement 
for National Criminal History Improvement Grants under 
the Crime Identification Technology Act of 1988 (42 
U.S.C. 14601) if the State provides at least 90 percent
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of the information described in subsection (c). The length 
of such a waiver shall not exceed 2 years. 
(b) STATE ESTIMATES.— 
(1) INITIAL STATE ESTIMATE.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—To assist the Attorney 
General in making a determination under sub-
section (a) of this section, and under section 
104, concerning the compliance of the States in 
providing information to the Attorney General 
for the purpose of receiving a waiver under sub-
section (a) of this section, or facing a loss of 
funds under section 104, by a date not later 
than 180 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, each State shall provide the Attor-
ney General with a reasonable estimate, as cal-
culated by a method determined by the Attor-
ney General, of the number of the records de-
scribed in subparagraph (C) applicable to such 
State that concern persons who are prohibited 
from possessing or receiving a firearm under 
subsection (g) or (n) of section 922 of title 18, 
United States Code. 
(B) FAILURE TO PROVIDE INITIAL ESTI-
MATE.—A State that fails to provide an esti-
mate described in subparagraph (A) by the date