I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1287 
To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to States and units 
of local government to implement statutes, rules, policies, or procedures 
to authorize courts to issue relinquishment orders with respect to individ-
uals charged with or convicted of a crime of domestic violence, or subject 
to a domestic violence protective order, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 14, 2019 
Mr. SWALWELL of California (for himself, Mr. COHEN, Ms. DEAN, Mr. 
RASKIN, Mr. CISNEROS, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. CLARKE of 
New York, Mr. CRIST, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. HASTINGS, 
Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. MENG, Mrs. NAPOLI-
TANO, Ms. NORTON, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. RYAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, 
Mr. SOTO, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, and Ms. WILSON of Florida) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to States 
and units of local government to implement statutes, 
rules, policies, or procedures to authorize courts to issue 
relinquishment orders with respect to individuals charged 
with or convicted of a crime of domestic violence, or 
subject to a domestic violence protective order, 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. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Guns for Abusers 
Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR STATE IMPLEMENTATION OF RELIN-
QUISHMENT STATUTES. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General is au-
thorized to make grants to States or units of local govern-
ment that have in place a statute, rule, policy, or practice 
that is the same as or substantially similar to the best 
practices published by the Attorney General under this 
Act, for the purpose of implementing such statute, admin-
istrative rule, policy, or practice. 
(b) APPLICATION.—A jurisdiction seeking a grant 
under this section shall submit to the Attorney General 
an application at such time, in such manner, and con-
taining such information as the Attorney General may rea-
sonably require, and including the applicable statute, rule, 
policy, or practice that the jurisdiction has enacted. 
SEC. 3. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, Attorney General, act-
ing through the Director of the National Institute of Jus-
tice, shall prepare and submit a report to Congress on best 
practices for statutes, rules, policies, and practices, which 
provide a process by which individuals who are charged 
with or convicted of a crime of domestic violence, or who 
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are subject to, or in violation of a domestic violence protec-
tive order, may be subject to relinquishment. Such report 
shall include an analysis of the effect of reducing firearm 
access for the individuals described in the previous sen-
tence on reducing domestic violence and homicide. 
(b) BEST
PRACTICES.—In preparing the report 
under subsection (a), the Director shall examine and de-
termine the best practices for each of the following: 
(1) The types of offenses or court orders for 
which relinquishment may be authorized. 
(2) The level of discretion of a court in entering 
a relinquishment order. 
(3) The process courts use in determining 
whether relinquishment is appropriate for a par-
ticular party. 
(4) The process courts and law enforcement 
agencies use to determine whether an individual is in 
possession or control of firearms. 
(5) The guidance provided to parties subject to 
relinquishment orders, as well as the manner of pro-
viding guidance. 
(6) The persons or entities to which firearms 
may be relinquished, including whether any entity 
other than a law enforcement officer or licensed 
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dealer under section 923 of title 18, United States 
Code, may receive firearms. 
(7) The person or entity which may store relin-
quished firearms, including any criteria such a per-
son or entity must meet, which may include a back-
ground check. 
(8) The period of time provided for an indi-
vidual subject to a relinquishment order to comply 
with the order. 
(9) The manner of proof required to show a re-
linquishment order is fulfilled. 
(10) The power granted to a court or law en-
forcement agency to compel compliance with a relin-
quishment order. 
(11) The manner in which relinquished firearms 
may be safely and securely stored. 
(12) The duration of a relinquishment order. 
(13) Fees that may be charged by persons or 
entities storing relinquished firearms to persons sub-
ject to relinquishment orders. 
(14) Considerations for returning, disposing of, 
or selling relinquished firearms. 
(15) Criteria for returning a firearm to an indi-
vidual subject to a relinquishment order. 
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(16) The extent to which victims of offenses 
committed by the individual subject to the relin-
quishment order, or individuals who are protected 
from an individual subject to a domestic violence 
protective order, should be notified when a firearm 
is returned to the individual subject to the relin-
quishment order. 
(17) Precautions taken to ensure victim safety 
as a court gathers information necessary to issue a 
relinquishment order and a law enforcement officer 
executes the order. 
(18) Procedural protections that are required to 
ensure that individuals who may be subject to a re-
linquishment order are provided due process at each 
stage of the process. 
(c) REVIEW AND CONSULTATION.—In preparing the 
report required under this section, the Director shall, at 
a minimum— 
(1) review Federal, State, and local statutes, 
rules, policies, and practices that provide authority 
for courts to enter relinquishment orders in effect on 
the date of the enactment of this Act; 
(2) review academic studies, including studies 
analyzing the effectiveness of statutes, rules, poli-
cies, and practices described in paragraph (1); and 
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(3) meet with, and consider any facts and anal-
yses offered by, prosecutors, defense attorneys, 
judges, nonprofit organizations, Federal, State, and 
local courts, Federal, State, and local law enforce-
ment agencies, and individuals with academic exper-
tise in relinquishment. 
(d) IDENTIFICATION
OF
ITEMS
FOR
FURTHER 
STUDY.—In the report under this section, the Director 
shall identify items for further study, relating to the effec-
tiveness of the best practices developed under subsection 
(b). 
SEC. 4. FURTHER STUDIES. 
The Attorney General, acting through the Director 
of the National Institute of Justice, shall enter into con-
tracts with nongovernmental entities to conduct studies 
comparing statutes, administrative rules, policies and 
practices to determine the relative effectiveness of such 
statutes, rules, policies, and procedures in effectively pro-
viding for relinquishment. Not later than the date that is 
10 years after the submission of the report under section 
3, the Director shall submit to Congress not less than one 
report including updates to the best practices based on 
the studies conducted under this section. 
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ated to a spouse, intimate partner, dating partner, 
parent, or guardian of the victim. 
(4) The term ‘‘domestic violence protective 
order’’ means a court order that restrains a person 
from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate 
partner or dating partner of such person or child of 
such intimate partner or dating partner or person, 
or engaging in other conduct that would place an in-
timate partner or dating partner in reasonable fear 
of bodily injury to the partner or child. 
(5) The term ‘‘relinquishment’’ means the re-
moval of a firearm (as such term is defined in sec-
tion 921 of title 18, United States Code) or ammu-
nition (as such term is defined in section 921 of title 
18, United States Code) from a person’s possession 
or control. 
(6) The term ‘‘relinquishment order’’ means 
any mandate from a court requiring a person to be 
subject to relinquishment. 
Æ 
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