Firearm Due Process Protection Act
Bill: H.R.3820 | Sponsor: Rep. Emmer, Tom (R-MN)
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
Firearm Due Process Protection Act
This bill expands the grounds for pursuing judicial remedies related to certain firearm transfers. Additionally, the bill establishes procedural rules applicable to actions for judicial remedies.
Current law authorizes judicial remedies for an individual who is erroneously denied a firearm (e.g., an individual is denied a firearm but the individual is eligible to receive or possess a firearm). This bill authorizes remedies for an individual who experiences an extended delay (i.e., a delay of more than 60 days) on a firearm transfer.
Additionally, the bill requires an expedited hearing on an action for judicial remedies and places the burden of proof on the respondent to show by clear and convincing evidence that the individual was ineligible to receive or possess a firearm.


To enforce the requirement that the National Instant Criminal 
Background Check System make a final disposition of requests to correct 
          its records within 60 days, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Firearm Due Process Protection 
Act''.

SEC. 2. ENFORCEMENT OF DEADLINE FOR FINAL DISPOSITION OF REQUESTS TO 
              CORRECT RECORDS OF THE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL 
              BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM; DUE PROCESS PROTECTIONS.

    Section 925A of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a) In General.--'' before ``Any 
        person'';
            (2) by inserting ``or aggrieved by a violation of the 
        penultimate sentence of section 103(g) of the Brady Handgun 
        Violence Prevention Act'' after ``(s) or (t) of section 922'';
            (3) by striking the last sentence; and
            (4) by adding after and below the end the following:
    ``(b) Procedural Rules.--
            ``(1) Expedited hearing.--The court shall hold a hearing on 
        an action brought under subsection (a), within 30 days after 
        the action is brought.
            ``(2) Burden of proof.--At such a hearing, the respondent 
        shall bear the burden of proving by clear and convincing 
        evidence that the individual is ineligible to receive or 
        possess a firearm.
    ``(c) Remedies.--
            ``(1) In general.--The court shall assess against the 
        respondent reasonable attorney fees and other litigation costs 
        reasonably incurred in an action brought under subsection (a) 
        in which the complainant has substantially prevailed.
            ``(2) Substantially prevailed.--For purposes of this 
        section, a complainant has substantially prevailed if the 
        complainant has obtained relief through--
                    ``(A) a judicial order;
                    ``(B) an enforceable written agreement or consent 
                decree; or
                    ``(C) a voluntary or unilateral change in position 
                by the United States, if the complainant's claim is not 
                insubstantial.''.

SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORTS TO THE CONGRESS ON DISPOSITION OF CHALLENGES TO 
              ACCURACY OF RECORDS OF THE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL 
              BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM.

    The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall submit 
annually to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate a 
written report that specifies--
            (1) the total number of challenges to the accuracy of the 
        records of the National Instant Criminal Background Check 
        System (in this section referred to as the ``NICS system'') 
        established under section 103 of the Brady Handgun Violence 
        Prevention Act that were received by the NICS system during the 
        year covered by the report;
            (2) the total number of the challenges that were processed 
        to final disposition by the NICS system;
            (3) the total number of the challenges with respect to 
        which the initial determination of the NICS system was 
        reversed, and with respect to those challenges, the total 
        number in which each reason for the initial determination was 
        made;
            (4) the total number of the challenges with respect to 
        which the initial determination of the NICS system was not 
        reversed, and with respect to those challenges, the total 
        number in which each reason for not doing so was made; and
            (5) the average length of time needed to complete the 
        processing of the challenges referred to in paragraph (2).

SEC. 4. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) the right of the people to keep and bear arms is a 
        fundamental component of self-government, self-defense, and the 
        preservation of individual liberty;
            (2) deprivation of the constitutional right to bear arms 
        requires due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments 
        to the Constitution of the United States;
            (3) ignoring appeals of determinations made by the National 
        Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) violates due 
        process; and
            (4) NICS should have the burden of showing a valid reason 
        for the denial of this constitutional right.
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