H.R. 4198 — Clean Hands Firearm Procurement Act

This section requires the Attorney General, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, to publish or make publicly available a list of covered firearms dealers not later than 120 days after enactment and annually thereafter.

This section prohibits a federal agency from entering into a contract with a licensed firearms dealer listed as a covered firearms dealer during the current calendar year or either of the preceding two calendar years. It authorizes the Attorney General to waive the prohibition upon request by the Secretary of Defense or Secretary of Homeland Security to protect national security, requiring notice to the chair and ranking minority member of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees (possibly classified). The prohibition takes effect 180 days after enactment.

This section defines terms used in the Act, including (1) "covered firearms dealer" as a licensed dealer to whom the National Tracing Center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) traced at least 25 firearms with a time-to-crime of not more than three years during at least two of the three calendar years preceding publication of the applicable list under section 2; (2) "Federal agency" as a department, agency, office, or other establishment in the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the U.S. government; (3) "firearm" and "licensed dealer," with the meanings given those terms in 18 U.S.C. §921(a); and (4) "time-to-crime" as the period between a firearm's last known retail sale and its recovery by law enforcement in connection with a crime.