I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4757
To improve the national instant criminal background check system, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 16, 2002
Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York (for herself, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. KIRK, Mr. CON-
YERS, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. GILMAN, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mrs.
MORELLA, Mr. ANDREWS, Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. CASTLE,
Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. FRANK, Ms. NORTON, Mr. MOORE, Ms. BROWN of
Florida, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH, Ms. CARSON of Indiana, Ms.
SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. LOWEY,
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. HOEFFEL, Ms. RIVERS, Mr. WEXLER, Mr.
MCGOVERN, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. FORD, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr.
HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. WEINER, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD,
Ms. WATERS, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. RUSH, Mr.
CLAY, Mr. ROTHMAN, Ms. DELAURO, and Mr. SHERMAN) 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.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Our Lady of Peace
Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Since 1994, more than 689,000 individuals
have been denied a gun for failing a background
check.
(2) States that fail to computerize their crimi-
nal and mental illness records are the primary cause
of delays for background checks. Helping States
automate their records will reduce delays for law-
abiding gun owners.
(3) 25 States have automated less than 60 per-
cent of their felony criminal conviction records.
(4) 33 States do not automate or share dis-
qualifying mental health records.
(5) In 13 States, domestic violence restraining
orders are not automated or accessible by the na-
tional instant criminal background check system.
(6) In 15 States, no domestic violence mis-
demeanor records are automated or accessible by the
national instant criminal background check system.
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 ‘‘may’’ and inserting ‘‘shall, not
less frequently than quarterly,’’;
(2) by inserting ‘‘electronically’’ before ‘‘fur-
nish’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘The
head of each such department or agency shall ascer-
tain whether the department or agency has any
records on any person described in any paragraph of
section 922(g), title 18, United States Code, and on
being made aware that the department or agency of
such a record, shall transmit a copy of the record to
the Attorney General for inclusion in the system.
The Attorney General shall notify the Congress on
a quarterly basis as to whether the Attorney General
has obtained from each such department or agency
the information required to be provided to the Attor-
ney General under this subsection.’’.
(b) IMMIGRATION RECORDS.—The Commissioner of
the Immigration and Naturalization Service shall imme-
diately transmit all relevant records of persons disqualified
from acquiring a firearm under Federal law, including but
not limited to, illegal aliens, visitors to the United States
on student visas, and visitors to the United States on tour-
ist visas, to the Attorney General for inclusion in the na-
tional instant criminal background check system.
SEC. 102. TRANSMITTAL OF STATE RECORDS TO THE NA-
TIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND
CHECK SYSTEM.
(a) IN GENERAL.—A State that does not meet the
requirements of this section shall be subject to section
104.
(b) REQUIREMENTS.—The requirements of this sec-
tion are as follows:
(1) The State shall provide the name of and
other relevant identifying information relating to
persons disqualified from acquiring a firearm under
Federal or State law to the Attorney General for in-
clusion in the national instant criminal background
check system.
(2) Any information provided to the Attorney
General under paragraph (1) may be accessed only
by personnel legally entitled to access such system.
(3) The State shall certify to the Attorney Gen-
eral that at least 95 percent of all information under
paragraph (1) has been provided to the Attorney
General under paragraph (1).
SEC. 103. TRANSMITTAL OF STATE MENTAL HEALTH
RECORDS TO THE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMI-
NAL BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM.
(a) IN GENERAL.—A State that does not meet the
requirement of this section shall be subject to section 104.
(b) REQUIREMENT.—The requirement of this section
is that the State shall provide the name of and other rel-
evant identifying information relating to persons adju-
dicated as mental defective or those committed to mental
institutions to the Attorney General for inclusion in the
national instant criminal background check system.
(c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of subsection (b), an
adjudication as a mental defective occurs when a court,
board, commission, or other lawful authority determines
that an individual is mentally retarded or of marked sub-
normal intelligence, mentally ill, or mentally incompetent,
including—
(1) defendants in criminal cases adjudicated as
not guilty by reason of insanity, or found incom-
petent to stand trial;
(2) individuals found to be a danger to others
as a result of a mental disorder or illness;
(3) individuals involuntarily committed to a
mental institution by a court, board, commission, or
other authority;
(4) individuals committed for reasons other
than mental defectiveness or mental illness; and
(5) individuals committed within the past 5
years to a mental institution—
(A) for treatment of alcoholism; or
(B) as an unlawful user of, or person ad-
dicted to, any controlled substance (as defined
in section 102 of the Controlled Substances
Act), provided that such unlawful use has oc-
curred recently enough to indicate that the indi-
vidual is actively engaged in such conduct.
(d) EXCEPTION.—This section does not apply to—
(1) a person—
(A) in a mental institution for observation;
or
(B) voluntarily committed to a mental in-
stitution; or
(2) information protected by doctor-patient
privilege.
(e) PRIVACY PROTECTIONS.—The Attorney General
shall work with State and local law enforcement and the
mental health community to establish protocols for pro-
tecting the privacy of information provided in this section.
Such protocols shall be in addition to any other applicable
laws for protecting the privacy of such information.
(e) COMMENCEMENT
OF TRANSMITTAL.—Notwith-
standing subsection (c), the State shall begin to comply
with subsection (b) not later than January 1, 2005. If
such compliance occurs before the establishment of proto-
cols under subsection (c), the Attorney General shall en-
sure that any information provided under this section may
be accessed only by personnel authorized by law to access
the national instant criminal background check system.
SEC. 104. PENALTIES FOR NONCOMPLIANCE.
(a) ATTORNEY GENERAL REPORT.—Not later than
January 31 of each year, the Attorney General shall sub-
mit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and
the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep-
resentatives a report on the progress of States in auto-
mating the databases containing information under sec-
tions 102 and 103 and in providing that information pur-
suant to the requirements of sections 102 and 103.
graph (2) to a State if that State provides compel-
ling evidence of its inability to meet the require-
ments of sections 102 and 103.
(c) REALLOCATION.—Any funds that are not allo-
cated for failure to comply with the requirements of sub-
section (b) shall be reallocated to States that meet such
requirements.
SEC. 105. IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS TO STATES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made available to
carry out this section, the Attorney General shall make
grants to each State, in a manner consistent with the na-
tional criminal history improvement program, which shall
be used by the State, in conjunction with units of local
government and State and local courts, to establish or up-
grade information and identification technologies for fire-
arms eligibility determinations.
(b) USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS.—Grants under this
section may only be awarded for the following purposes:
(1) Building databases that are directly related
to checks under the national instant criminal back-
ground check system (NICS), including court dis-
position and corrections records.
(2) Assisting States in establishing or enhanc-
ing their own capacities to perform NICS back-
ground checks.
(3) Improving final dispositions of criminal
records.
(4) Supplying mental health records to NICS.
(5) Supplying domestic violence restraining or-
ders and temporary restraining orders for inclusion
in NICS.
(c) CONDITION.—As a condition of receiving a grant
under this section, a State shall specify the projects for
which grant amounts will be used, and shall use such
amounts only as specified. A State that violates this sec-
tion shall be liable to the Attorney General for the full
amount granted.
(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section
$250,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2003, 2004, and
2005.
TITLE II—FOCUSING FEDERAL
ASSISTANCE 
ON 
THE 
IM-
PROVEMENT 
OF 
RELEVANT
RECORDS
SEC. 201. CONTINUING EVALUATIONS.
(a) EVALUATION REQUIRED.—The Director of the
Bureau of Justice Statistics shall study and evaluate the
operations of the national instant criminal background
check system. Such study and evaluation shall include, but
not be limited to, compilations and analyses of the oper-
ations and record systems of the agencies and organiza-
tions participating in such system.
(b) REPORT ON GRANTS.—Not later than January
31 of each year, the Director shall submit to Congress
a report on the implementation of sections 102 and 103
of this Act.
(c) REPORT ON BEST PRACTICES.—Not later than
January 31 of each year, the Director shall submit to Con-
gress, and to each State participating in the National
Criminal History Improvement Program, a report of the
practices of the States regarding the collection, mainte-
nance, automation, and transmittal of identifying informa-
tion relating to individuals described in section 922(g) of
title 18, United States Code, by the State or any other
agency, or any other records relevant to the national in-
stant criminal background check system, that the Director
considers to be best practices.
TITLE III—GRANTS TO STATE
COURTS FOR THE IMPROVE-
MENT IN AUTOMATION AND
TRANSMITTAL 
OF 
DISPOSI-
TION RECORDS
SEC. 301. GRANTS AUTHORIZED.
(a) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made available to
carry out this section, the Attorney General shall make
grants to each State for use by the chief judicial officer
of the State to improve the handling of proceedings related
to criminal history dispositions and temporary restraining
orders as they relate to disqualification from firearms
ownership under State and Federal laws.
(b) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts granted under this
section shall be used by the chief judicial officer only as
follows:
(1) For fiscal year 2003, such amounts shall be
used to carry out assessments of the capabilities of
the courts of the State for the automation and
transmission to State and Federal record reposi-
tories the arrest and conviction records of such
courts to the extent relevant to disqualification from
firearms ownership under State and Federal laws.
(2) For fiscal years after 2003, such amounts
shall be used to implement policies, systems, and
procedures for the automation and transmission to
State and Federal record repositories the arrest and
conviction records of such courts to the extent rel-
evant to disqualification from firearms ownership
under State and Federal laws.
(c) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There
are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General
to carry out this section $125,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2003, 2004, and 2005.
Æ