Firearm Due Process Protection Act

Firearm Due Process Protection Act

This bill amends the Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act to establish a 60-day time limit for the Department of Justice to make a final disposition of a request to correct a record in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. With respect to violations of that limit, the bill establishes a private right to action.

[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4980 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4980

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 18, 2016

 Mr. Emmer of Minnesota (for himself, Mr. Abraham, Mr. DesJarlais, Mr. 
Fincher, Mr. Forbes, Mr. Guinta, Mr. Jody B. Hice of Georgia, Mr. Kelly 
of Pennsylvania, Mr. King of Iowa, Mr. Zinke, Mr. Cook, Mr. Westerman, 
and Mr. Gosar) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to 
 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. DEADLINE FOR FINAL DISPOSITION OF REQUESTS TO CORRECT RECORDS 
              OF THE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM.

    Section 103(g) of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (18 
U.S.C. 922 note) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``If'' and inserting the following:
            ``(1) In general.--If'';
            (2) by adding at the end the following: ``The Attorney 
        General shall make a final disposition of any information so 
        submitted, within 60 days after receipt of the information.''; 
        and
            (3) by adding after and below the end the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(2) Private right of action.--
                    ``(A) In general.--An individual aggrieved by a 
                violation of the last sentence of paragraph (1) may 
                bring an action in the United States district court for 
                the district in which the individual attempted to 
                acquire a firearm for a declaratory judgment on the 
                eligibility of the individual to receive and possess a 
                firearm.
                    ``(B) Expedited hearing.--The court shall hold a 
                hearing on such an action within 30 days after the 
                action is brought.
                    ``(C) Burden of proof.--At such a hearing, the 
                United States shall bear the burden of proving by clear 
                and convincing evidence that the individual is 
                ineligible to receive or possess a firearm.
                    ``(D) Remedies.--If the government does not so 
                prove the ineligibility, the court shall order the 
                Attorney General to correct or remove the erroneous 
                records of the national instant criminal background 
                check system with respect to the individual within 5 
                business days, and shall award the individual the costs 
                of bringing the action and a reasonable attorney's 
                fee.''.

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 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; and
            (3) ignoring appeals of determinations made by the National 
        Instant Criminal Background Check System violates due process.
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