H.R. 6258 — Disarm Hate Act

This section prohibits persons convicted in any court of a misdemeanor hate crime or who received from any court an enhanced hate crime misdemeanor sentence from shipping, transporting, possessing, or receiving firearms (adding new 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(10)) and from purchasing or receiving firearms from others (adding new §922(d)(11)). It defines a misdemeanor hate crime as a federal, state, or tribal misdemeanor (i) motivated by hate or bias based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person and (ii) involving the use or attempted use of physical force, threatened use of a deadly weapon, or other credible threat to physical safety (new §921(a)(36)); an enhanced hate crime misdemeanor sentence is a heightened sentence for a similar misdemeanor based on such motivation (new §921(a)(37)). Both definitions exclude convictions or sentences imposed without representation by counsel or jury trial (where applicable) and those that have been expunged, pardoned, or had civil rights restored unless the relief expressly restricts firearms. (Thus, the provision expands the existing federal firearms prohibitions in §922(g)—which bar possession by categories such as felons, fugitives, and domestic violence misdemeanants—to include these hate crime-related misdemeanor categories.)