I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1415 
To improve the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 17, 2005 
Mrs. MCCARTHY (for herself and Mr. DINGELL) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
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, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘NICS Improvement Act of 2005’’. 
(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. 
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 790,000 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, 2003. 
(2) From November 30, 1998, through Decem-
ber 31, 2003, over 40,800,000 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) Approximately 24,000,000 criminal records 
are either not automated or not accessible by NICS 
and another 16,000,000 criminal records that are 
automated and accessible are missing critical data, 
such as arrest dispositions. 
(5) The primary cause of delay in NICS back-
ground checks is the failure of the States to— 
(A) update and make available criminal 
disposition records; and 
(B) provide automated access to informa-
tion concerning persons prohibited from pos-
sessing or receiving a firearm because of mental 
illness, restraining orders, or misdemeanor con-
victions for domestic violence. 
(6) The failure of the States to provide auto-
mated access to this information is principally 
caused by the States’ failure to— 
(A) computerize information relating to 
criminal history, criminal dispositions, mental 
illness, restraining orders, and misdemeanor 
convictions for domestic violence; or 
(B) make 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) Twenty-three States have failed to automate 
all of their felony criminal conviction records. 
(9) Only forty-five percent of the criminal his-
tory records in the Interstate Identification Index, 
maintained by the FBI and used by the NICS, have 
disposition information included. 
(10) Many States do not submit fingerprint- 
based records of misdemeanor convictions that may 
disqualify a person from possessing or receiving a 
firearm under section 922(g)(9) of title 18, United 
States Code. 
(11) Forty States do not automate or make ac-
cessible disqualifying mental health records. 
(12) Only ten States have provided disquali-
fying mental health records to NICS. Of this group, 
8 States have provided less than 40 such records, 1 
State has provided approximately 1,600 such 
records, and only 1 State has provided close to com-
plete records by having submitted more than 50,000 
such records. 
(13) Five States and 4 territories do not auto-
mate or make accessible domestic violence restrain-
ing order records to NICS.
(14) Of the States that provide domestic vio-
lence restraining orders to NICS, records from 18 
States are not complete and accurate. 
(15) Fourteen States do not automate or make 
accessible domestic violence misdemeanor conviction 
records. 
(16) Of the States that provide domestic vio-
lence misdemeanor conviction records to NICS, 
records from 29 States are not complete or accurate. 
(17) On March 12, 2002, the senseless shoot-
ing, which took the lives of a priest and a parish-
ioner at the Our Lady of Peace Church in Lynbrook, 
New York, brought attention to the lack of informa-
tion sharing enabling Federal and State law enforce-
ment agencies to conduct a complete background 
check on a potential firearm purchaser. The man 
who committed this double murder had a prior dis-
qualifying mental health commitment and a restrain-
ing order against him, but passed a Brady back-
ground check because NICS did not have the nec-
essary information to determine that he was ineli-
gible to purchase a firearm under Federal or State 
law.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
As used in this Act, the following definitions shall 
apply: 
(1) COURT ORDER.—The term ‘‘court order’’ 
includes— 
(A) a court order (as described in section 
922(g)(8) of title 18, United States Code); and 
(B) a protection order (as defined in sec-
tion 2266(5) 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’’— 
(A) has the meaning given the term in sec-
tion 921(a)(33) of title 18, United States Code; 
(B) includes any Federal, State, or local 
offense that— 
(i) is a misdemeanor under Federal, 
State, local, or tribal law or, in a State 
that does not classify offenses as mis-
demeanors, is an offense punishable by im-
prisonment for a term of 1 year or less or 
punishable only by a fine regardless of 
whether or not the State statute specifi-
cally defines the offense as a crime of do-
mestic violence; 
(ii) has, as an element of the offense, 
the use or attempted use of physical force, 
such as assault and battery, or the threat-
ened use of a deadly weapon; and 
(iii) was committed by a current or 
former spouse, parent, or guardian of the 
victim, by a person with whom the victim 
shares a child in common, by a person who 
is cohabiting with or has cohabited with 
the victim as a spouse, parent, or guard-
ian, or a person similarly situated to a 
spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim; 
and 
(C) does not include a crime described 
under subparagraph (A) if— 
(i) the person was not convicted by 
the jurisdiction in which the proceeding 
was held;
(ii) the person was not represented by 
counsel in the case and did not knowingly 
or intelligently waive the right to counsel 
in the case; 
(iii) in the case of a prosecution for 
which a person was entitled to a jury trial 
in the jurisdiction in which the case was 
tried— 
(I) the case was not tried by a 
jury; and 
(II) the person did not knowingly 
or intelligently waive the right to have 
the case tried by a jury, by guilty 
plea, or otherwise; or 
(iv) the conviction has been expunged 
or set aside, or is an offense for which the 
person has been pardoned or has had civil 
rights restored unless— 
(I) the pardon, expungement, or 
restoration of civil rights expressly 
provides that the person may not ship, 
transport, possess, or receive firearms; 
or 
(II) the person is otherwise pro-
hibited by the law of the jurisdiction
in which the proceedings were held 
from receiving or possessing any fire-
arms. 
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— 
(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-
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 
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 
(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.