IB 
Union Calendar No. 3 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 8 
[Report No. 116–11] 
To require a background check for every firearm sale. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 8, 2019 
Mr. THOMPSON of California (for himself, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. NAD-
LER, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. MAST, Ms. KELLY of Il-
linois, Mr. UPTON, Mrs. MCBATH, and Mr. SMITH of New Jersey) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary 
FEBRUARY 22, 2019 
Additional sponsors: Mr. PETERS, Mr. SWALWELL
of California, Ms. 
BONAMICI, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. KEATING, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, 
Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. DEAN, Mr. LEVIN of 
California, Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, 
Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. O’HALLERAN, Ms. JOHNSON of 
Texas, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. ROUDA, Ms. SHALALA, Ms. WASSERMAN 
SCHULTZ, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Ms. FRANKEL, 
Mr. SOTO, Ms. OMAR, Ms. WEXTON, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. 
CROW, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. 
LYNCH, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. SUOZZI, Ms. 
GARCIA of Texas, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. 
BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. SHERRILL, Ms. 
SCHRIER, 
Mr. 
STANTON, 
Mr. 
GALLEGO, 
Mr. 
CUMMINGS, 
Ms. 
VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. BEYER, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Miss RICE of 
New York, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Ms. TITUS, Mr. 
LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. PHILLIPS, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. PERLMUTTER, 
Ms. LEE of California, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, 
Mr. SERRANO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. 
ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. MI-
CHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. HIMES, 
Ms. SCANLON, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. HIGGINS of New 
York, Mr. SIRES, Ms. WILD, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Ms. MOORE, 
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Mr. CONNOLLY, Mrs. LOWEY, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. 
HILL of California, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. 
MOULTON, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. POCAN, Ms. PIN-
GREE, Ms. MENG, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. RUSH, Mr. LEVIN 
of Michigan, Mr. LEWIS, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Mr. COHEN, Ms. 
DELAURO, Ms. NORTON, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. WELCH, Mr. COOPER, Ms. 
MCCOLLUM, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. VELA, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. 
EVANS, Mr. RYAN, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mrs. 
NAPOLITANO, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. RICHMOND, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. CORREA, 
Mr. ROSE of New York, Mrs. MURPHY, Mr. PAPPAS, Ms. GABBARD, Mr. 
TONKO, Mr. TRONE, Ms. PORTER, Mr. LANGEVIN, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. 
CRIST, Mr. MCEACHIN, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Mr. LAR-
SEN of Washington, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. KILMER, Ms. MATSUI, 
Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. HOYER, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, 
Ms. ESHOO, Ms. LOFGREN, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. CASTEN of 
Illinois, Mr. GARAMENDI, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mr. LUJA´N, 
Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. KIM, Mr. PRICE 
of North Carolina, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. VISCLOSKY, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. 
KENNEDY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. SEWELL of Ala-
bama, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. MCGOVERN, 
Mrs. LURIA, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. WATERS, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. 
ALLRED, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. AGUILAR, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. 
BERA, Mr. VAN DREW, Ms. PLASKETT, Mrs. DEMINGS, Mr. HARDER of 
California, Ms. FUDGE, Mrs. LEE of Nevada, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. DANNY 
K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. SPANBERGER, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. LAMB, 
Mr. JEFFRIES, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. 
BUTTERFIELD, Mrs. CRAIG, Mr. NEAL, Mr. HECK, Ms. BLUNT ROCH-
ESTER, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Mr. SAN
NICOLAS, Mr. COSTA, Ms. 
BARRAGA´N, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. COX of California, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. 
GREEN of Texas, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. CLAY, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. GOMEZ, Ms. 
JAYAPAL, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. LOEBSACK, 
Mr. DELGADO, Mr. CASE, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. BASS, Ms. 
DAVIDS of Kansas, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mrs. AXNE, Mrs. FLETCHER, 
Mr. SABLAN, Ms. SLOTKIN, Ms. FINKENAUER, Mr. SCHRADER, and Mr. 
CUNNINGHAM 
FEBRUARY 22, 2019 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 8, 2019] 
A BILL 
To require a background check for every firearm sale. 
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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 ‘‘Bipartisan Background 
Checks Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to utilize the current back-
ground checks process in the United States to ensure indi-
viduals prohibited from gun possession are not able to ob-
tain firearms. 
SEC. 3. FIREARMS TRANSFERS. 
Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is amend-
ed— 
(1) by striking subsection (s); 
(2) by redesignating subsection (t) as subsection 
(s); and 
(3) by inserting after subsection (s), as redesig-
nated, the following: 
‘‘(t)(1)(A) It shall be unlawful for any person who is 
not a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed 
dealer to transfer a firearm to any other person who is not 
so licensed, unless a licensed importer, licensed manufac-
turer, or licensed dealer has first taken possession of the 
firearm for the purpose of complying with subsection (s). 
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‘‘(B) Upon taking possession of a firearm under sub-
paragraph (A), a licensee shall comply with all require-
ments of this chapter as if the licensee were transferring 
the firearm from the inventory of the licensee to the unli-
censed transferee. 
‘‘(C) If a transfer of a firearm described in subpara-
graph (A) will not be completed for any reason after a li-
censee takes possession of the firearm (including because the 
transfer of the firearm to, or receipt of the firearm by, the 
transferee would violate this chapter), the return of the fire-
arm to the transferor by the licensee shall not constitute 
the transfer of a firearm for purposes of this chapter. 
‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to— 
‘‘(A) a law enforcement agency or any law en-
forcement officer, armed private security professional, 
or member of the armed forces, to the extent the offi-
cer, professional, or member is acting within the 
course and scope of employment and official duties; 
‘‘(B) a transfer that is a loan or bona fide gift 
between spouses, between domestic partners, between 
parents and their children, between siblings, between 
aunts or uncles and their nieces or nephews, or be-
tween grandparents and their grandchildren; 
‘‘(C) a transfer to an executor, administrator, 
trustee, or personal representative of an estate or a 
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trust that occurs by operation of law upon the death 
of another person; 
‘‘(D) a temporary transfer that is necessary to 
prevent imminent death or great bodily harm, if the 
possession by the transferee lasts only as long as im-
mediately necessary to prevent the imminent death or 
great bodily harm; 
‘‘(E) a transfer that is approved by the Attorney 
General under section 5812 of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986; or 
‘‘(F) a temporary transfer if the transferor has 
no reason to believe that the transferee will use or in-
tends to use the firearm in a crime or is prohibited 
from possessing firearms under State or Federal law, 
and the transfer takes place and the transferee’s pos-
session of the firearm is exclusively— 
‘‘(i) at a shooting range or in a shooting 
gallery or other area designated for the purpose 
of target shooting; 
‘‘(ii) while reasonably necessary for the pur-
poses of hunting, trapping, or fishing, if the 
transferor— 
‘‘(I) has no reason to believe that the 
transferee intends to use the firearm in a 
place where it is illegal; and 
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‘‘(II) has reason to believe that the 
transferee will comply with all licensing 
and permit requirements for such hunting, 
trapping, or fishing; or 
‘‘(iii) while in the presence of the transferor. 
‘‘(3)(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
chapter, the Attorney General may implement this sub-
section with regulations. 
‘‘(B) Regulations promulgated under this paragraph 
may not include any provision requiring licensees to facili-
tate transfers in accordance with paragraph (1). 
‘‘(C) Regulations promulgated under this paragraph 
may not include any provision requiring persons not li-
censed under this chapter to keep records of background 
checks or firearms transfers. 
‘‘(D) Regulations promulgated under this paragraph 
may not include any provision placing a cap on the fee 
licensees may charge to facilitate transfers in accordance 
with paragraph (1). 
‘‘(4) It shall be unlawful for a licensed importer, li-
censed manufacturer, or licensed dealer to transfer posses-
sion of, or title to, a firearm to another person who is not 
so licensed unless the importer, manufacturer, or dealer has 
provided such other person with a notice of the prohibition 
under paragraph (1), and such other person has certified 
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that such other person has been provided with this notice 
on a form prescribed by the Attorney General.’’. 
SEC. 4. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 
(a) SECTION 922.—Section 922(y)(2) of title 18, 
United States Code, is amended in the matter preceding 
subparagraph 
(A) 
by 
striking 
‘‘, 
(g)(5)(B), 
and 
(s)(3)(B)(v)(II)’’ and inserting ‘‘and (g)(5)(B)’’. 
(b) CONSOLIDATED AND FURTHER CONTINUING AP-
PROPRIATIONS ACT, 2012.—Section 511 of title V of divi-
sion B of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appro-
priations Act, 2012 (18 U.S.C. 922 note) is amended by 
striking ‘‘subsection 922(t)’’ each place it appears and in-
serting ‘‘subsection (s) or (t) of section 922’’. 
SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 
Nothing in this Act, or any amendment made by this 
Act, shall be construed to— 
(1) authorize the establishment, directly or indi-
rectly, of a national firearms registry; or 
(2) interfere with the authority of a State, under 
section 927 of title 18, United States Code, to enact 
a law on the same subject matter as this Act. 
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 210 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
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Union Calendar No. 3 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 8 
[Report No. 116–11] 
A BILL 
To require a background check for every firearm 
sale. 
FEBRUARY 22, 2019 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
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