“To provide grants to States to encourage the implementation and maintenance of firearms licensing requirements, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section adds a new part PP titled "Firearms Licensing" to Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.). It defines terms including "covered license" (firearms license or firearms dealer license), "domestic violence protection order" (as defined in 18 U.S.C. 2266), "extreme risk protection order" (a state court order prohibiting firearm/ammunition possession by a named individual for a state-specified period, excluding domestic violence protection orders), "prohibited individual" (one categorically ineligible for a covered license), "suitable" (no risk to public safety), and "thorough background check" (federal and state check, possibly including fingerprints). It directs states receiving grants to categorize prohibited individuals based on factors such as criminal history, court determinations of danger or institutional commitments, age, residency, dishonorable military discharges, protection orders or domestic violence misdemeanor convictions (as defined in 18 U.S.C. 921), arrest warrants, fugitive status, citizenship renunciation, and other suitability factors. It authorizes the Assistant Attorney General to award three-year grants to states for implementing or maintaining firearms and firearms dealer licensing that incorporates required elements: (1) firearms license required at purchase/rental/lease of firearms or ammunition purchase and during entire ownership/possession; (2) firearms dealer license required for selling/renting/leasing up to 10 firearms or selling ammunition annually (state sets minimum, not exceeding 10); (3) licensing by local police chief or designee; (4) thorough background checks (possibly including interviews, references) and suitability determinations for licenses, with safety training for first-time firearms applicants and criminal history investigations for dealers; (5) state processes for covered license applications, revocations/suspensions/denials (not based on race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity), judicial review, extreme risk protection order petitions by family members, and surrender by those with revoked/suspended/denied licenses.