I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 715
To require a background check for every firearm sale.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 1, 2023
Mr. F ITZPATRICK (for himself, Mr. T HOMPSON of California, Ms. B ONAMICI, Mrs. B EATTY, Mrs. T ORRES of California, Mr. P ETERS, Mr. G ARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. D AVID SCOTT of Georgia, Ms. K ELLY of Illinois, Mr.
ESPAILLAT, Mr. T ONKO, Mr. P ANETTA, Ms. S TEVENS, Ms. C ASTOR of Florida, Mr. S CHNEIDER, Mr. G ARAMENDI, Ms. D AVIDS of Kansas, Mr.
HIGGINS of New York, Mr. C OSTA, Ms. M OORE of Wisconsin, Mr.
CA´ RDENAS, Ms. J ACOBS, Ms. N ORTON, Ms. M CCOLLUM, Mrs. N APOLI- TANO, Ms. K AMLAGER-DOVE, Ms. S CANLON, Mr. S MITH of Washington, Mr. S WALWELL, Mr. S TANTON, Mr. C ONNOLLY, Ms. G ARCIA of Texas, Ms. H OULAHAN, Mr. L ARSEN of Washington, Ms. T ITUS, Mrs. F LETCH- ER, Mr. G RIJALVA, Mr. L ARSON of Connecticut, Mr. N ORCROSS, Mr.
DESAULNIER, Mrs. W ATSON COLEMAN, Mr. C ARBAJAL, Mr. C ASE, Mr.
ROBERT GARCIA of California, Mr. C ORREA, Mr. P HILLIPS, Mr.
QUIGLEY, Mr. H UFFMAN, Ms. W EXTON, Mr. N EGUSE, Mr. D AVIS of Illi- nois, Ms. U NDERWOOD, Mrs. F OUSHEE, Mr. B EYER, Mrs. H AYES, Mr.
PAPPAS, Mr. M ORELLE, Ms. M ENG, Mr. A UCHINCLOSS, Mr. T RONE, Ms.
DELBENE, Ms. L EE of California, Mr. C ASTEN, Mr. S HERMAN, Mrs.
DINGELL, Mr. S CHIFF, Mr. S ARBANES, Mr. D OGGETT, Mr. N ADLER, Mr.
MOULTON, Ms. W ILLIAMS of Georgia, Mr. R ASKIN, Ms. S A´ NCHEZ, Ms.
TOKUDA, Mr. P AYNE, Mr. H IMES, Ms. B ROWNLEY, Mr. P ALLONE, Ms.
ADAMS, Mr. G OLDMAN of New York, Mr. N ICKEL, Ms. R OSS, Ms.
ESHOO, Mr. M CGOVERN, Mr. C ARTWRIGHT, Mr. L YNCH, Ms. W ILD, Mr.
GOMEZ, Ms. P INGREE, Ms. V ELA´ ZQUEZ, Ms. W ASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms.
CHU, Mr. V ARGAS, Mr. M ULLIN, Ms. S CHAKOWSKY, Mr. F OSTER, Mr.
CASTRO of Texas, Mr. L EVIN, Ms. K APTUR, Ms. T LAIB, Mr. B LU- MENAUER, Mr. K ILMER, Mrs. M CBATH, Mr. E VANS, Mr. B OYLE of Penn- sylvania, Mr. M FUME, Mr. K RISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. P LASKETT, Ms. S ALI- NAS, Mr. B ERA, Ms. E SCOBAR, Mr. L ANDSMAN, Ms. O MAR, Mr. B ISHOP of Georgia, Ms. D ELAURO, Mrs. T RAHAN, Ms. S EWELL, Ms. C LARKE of New York, Mr. T AKANO, Ms. P ETTERSEN, Mrs. C HERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Mr. C LEAVER, Ms. D EAN of Pennsylvania, Ms. W ILSON of Florida, Mr.
KILDEE, Mr. I VEY, Mr. K HANNA, Ms. L EGER FERNANDEZ, Ms. C RAIG, Ms. B ROWN, Ms. P RESSLEY, Ms. C ROCKETT, Mr. G OTTHEIMER, Ms.
MATSUI, Ms. P ORTER, Ms. B ARRAGA´ N, Mr. M EEKS, Ms. J AYAPAL, Mr.
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POCAN, Ms. O CASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. M CGARVEY, Mr. R UIZ, Ms. S CHOLTEN, Mr. T ORRES of New York, Ms. B ALINT, Mr. B OWMAN, Mr. J OHNSON of Georgia, Mr. K IM of New Jersey, Ms. H OYLE of Oregon, Mr. D ELUZIO, Mr. C OHEN, Mr. G ALLEGO, Mrs. L EE of Nevada, Mr. A GUILAR, Mr.
KEATING, Mr. R UPPERSBERGER, Ms. B LUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. C OURT- NEY, Mr. S COTT of Virginia, Ms. S TRICKLAND, Ms. L OIS FRANKEL of Florida, Ms. L OFGREN, Mr. C ROW, Ms. S PANBERGER, Ms. J ACKSON LEE, Mr. S OTO, Ms. S HERRILL, Mr. M AGAZINER, Mr. C ARTER of Lou- isiana, Mr. A LLRED, Ms. S LOTKIN, Mr. F ROST, and Mr. M OSKOWITZ) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To require a background check for every firearm sale.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bipartisan Back-4
ground Checks Act of 2023’’. 5
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 6
The purpose of this Act is to utilize the current back-7 ground checks process in the United States to ensure indi-8 viduals prohibited from gun purchase or possession are 9 not able to obtain firearms. 10
SEC. 3. FIREARMS TRANSFERS. 11
(a) I N GENERAL.—Section 922 of title 18, United 12
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-13 lowing: 14
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‘‘(aa)(1)(A) It shall be unlawful for any person who 1
is not a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or li-2 censed dealer to transfer a firearm to any other person 3 who is not so licensed, unless a licensed importer, licensed 4 manufacturer, or licensed dealer has first taken possession 5 of the firearm for the purpose of complying with sub-6
section (t). 7
‘‘(B) Upon taking possession of a firearm under sub-8
paragraph (A), a licensee shall comply with all require-9 ments of this chapter as if the licensee were transferring 10 the firearm from the inventory of the licensee to the unli-11 censed transferee. 12
‘‘(C) If a transfer of a firearm described in subpara-13 graph (A) will not be completed for any reason after a 14 licensee takes possession of the firearm (including because 15 the transfer of the firearm to, or receipt of the firearm 16 by, the transferee would violate this chapter), the return 17 of the firearm to the transferor by the licensee shall not 18 constitute the transfer of a firearm for purposes of this 19 chapter. 20
‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to— 21
‘‘(A) a law enforcement agency or any law en-22
forcement officer, armed private security profes-23
sional, or member of the Armed Forces, to the ex-24
tent the officer, professional, or member is acting 25
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the course and scope of employment and official du-1
ties; 2
‘‘(B) a transfer or exchange (which, for pur-3
poses of this subsection, means an in-kind transfer 4
of a firearm of the same type or value) that is a loan 5 or bona fide gift between spouses, between domestic 6
partners, between parents and their children, includ-7
ing step-parents and their step-children, between sib-8 lings, between aunts or uncles and their nieces or 9
nephews, or between grandparents and their grand-10
children, if the transferor has no reason to believe 11 that the transferee will use or intends to use the 12
firearm in a crime or is prohibited from possessing 13
firearms under State or Federal law; 14
‘‘(C) a transfer to an executor, administrator, 15
trustee, or personal representative of an estate or a 16 trust that occurs by operation of law upon the death 17 of another person; 18
‘‘(D) a temporary transfer that is necessary to 19
prevent imminent death or great bodily harm, in-20
cluding harm to self, family, household members, or 21
others, if the possession by the transferee lasts only 22 as long as immediately necessary to prevent the im-23
minent death or great bodily harm, including harm 24
to self, and the harm of domestic violence, dating 25
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partner violence, sexual assault, stalking, and do-1
mestic abuse; 2
‘‘(E) a transfer that is approved by the Attor-3
ney General under section 5812 of the Internal Rev-4
enue Code of 1986; or 5
‘‘(F) a temporary transfer if the transferor has 6
no reason to believe that the transferee will use or 7
intends to use the firearm in a crime or is prohibited 8 from possessing firearms under State or Federal 9
law, and the transfer takes place and the trans-10
feree’s possession of the firearm is exclusively— 11
‘‘(i) at a shooting range or in a shooting 12
gallery or other area designated for the purpose 13
of target shooting; 14
‘‘(ii) while reasonably necessary for the 15
purposes of hunting, trapping, pest control on 16
a farm or ranch, or fishing, if the transferor— 17
‘‘(I) has no reason to believe that the 18
transferee intends to use the firearm in a 19
place where it is illegal; and 20
‘‘(II) has reason to believe that the 21
transferee will comply with all licensing 22
and permit requirements for such hunting, 23
trapping, pest control on a farm or ranch, 24
or fishing; or 25
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‘‘(iii) while in the presence of the trans-1
feror. 2
‘‘(3) It shall be unlawful for a licensed importer, li-3 censed manufacturer, or licensed dealer to transfer posses-4 sion of, or title to, a firearm to another person who is 5 not so licensed unless the importer, manufacturer, or deal-6 er has provided such other person with a notice of the 7 prohibition under paragraph (1), and such other person 8 has certified that such other person has been provided 9 with this notice on a form prescribed by the Attorney Gen-10 eral. 11
‘‘(4) The Attorney General shall make available to 12
any person licensed under this chapter both Spanish and 13 English versions of the form required for the conduct of 14 a background check under subsection (t) and this sub-15 section, and the notice and form required under paragraph 16 (3) of this subsection.’’. 17
(b) A MENDMENT TO SECTION 924(a).—Section 18
924(a)(5) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 19 striking ‘‘(s) or (t)’’ and inserting ‘‘(s), (t), or (aa)’’. 20 (c) R ULES OF INTERPRETATION.—Nothing in this 21
Act, or any amendment made by this Act, shall be con-22 strued to— 23
(1) authorize the establishment, directly or indi-24
rectly, of a national firearms registry; or 25
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(2) interfere with the authority of a State, 1
under section 927 of title 18, United States Code, 2
to enact a law on the same subject matter as this 3
Act. 4
(d) E FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 5
subsections (a) and (b) shall take effect 180 days after 6 the date of enactment of this Act. 7
Æ
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