H.R. 532 — Handgun Permit to Purchase Act

This section states congressional findings on gun violence, including that it claimed 46,728 lives in 2023 and that 90% of specified firearm violence from 2018-2022 involved handguns, resulting in 35,959 handgun deaths; and on handgun purchaser licensing laws, citing research associating their adoption with reductions in firearm homicides (e.g., 27.8% in Connecticut post-1995, 11% in urban counties from 1984-2015) and suicides (e.g., 32.8% in Connecticut), their repeal with increases (e.g., 47.3% homicides and 23.5% suicides in Missouri post-2007), and other benefits such as reduced crime gun diversion (e.g., 82% in Baltimore post-2013 Maryland law) and fewer mass shootings, with most crime guns in licensing states originating elsewhere.

This section establishes a Handgun Licensing Grant Program under a new part PP of Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, authorizing the Attorney General to award competitive grants to states, units of local government, and Indian tribes for developing, implementing, evaluating, and improving handgun purchaser licensing programs. To qualify, grantees must have enacted a licensing law requiring applicants to be at least 21 years old and U.S. citizens, nationals, or lawful permanent residents; apply at a state law enforcement agency; undergo a criminal background check (at minimum, verifying no prohibitions under 18 U.S.C. 922(g)), fingerprinting, and photographing; and renew every five years or less. This section authorizes appropriations of such sums as may be necessary to carry out the program.