Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Firearm Due Process Protection Act ”.
Firearm Due Process Protection Act
A BILL
To require the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to make a final disposition of requests to correct its records within 60 days, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Deadline for final disposition of requests to correct records of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System
Section 103(g) of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (18 U.S.C. 922 note) is amended—
by striking “If” and inserting the following:
“(1) In general—If”
by adding at the end the following: “The Attorney General shall make a final disposition of any information so submitted, within 60 days after receipt of the information.”; and
by adding after and below the end the following new paragraph:
“(2) Private right of action
“(A) In general—An individual aggrieved by a violation of the last sentence of paragraph (1) may bring an action in the United States district court for the district in which the individual attempted to acquire a firearm for a declaratory judgment on the eligibility of the individual to receive and possess a firearm.
“(B) Expedited hearing—The court shall hold a hearing on such an action within 30 days after the action is brought.
“(C) Burden of proof—At such a hearing, the United States shall bear the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that the individual is ineligible to receive or possess a firearm.
“(D) Remedies—If the government does not so prove the ineligibility, the court shall order the Attorney General to correct or remove the erroneous records of the national instant criminal background check system with respect to the individual within 5 business days, and shall award the individual the costs of bringing the action and a reasonable attorney’s fee.”
Sec. 3 Annual reports to the Congress on disposition of challenges to accuracy of records of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System
The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall submit annually to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate a written report that specifies—
the total number of challenges to the accuracy of the records of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (in this section referred to as the “NICS system”) established under section 103 of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act that were received by the NICS system during the year covered by the report;
the total number of the challenges that were processed to final disposition by the NICS system;
the total number of the challenges with respect to which the initial determination of the NICS system was reversed, and with respect to those challenges, the total number in which each reason for the initial determination was made;
the total number of the challenges with respect to which the initial determination of the NICS system was not reversed, and with respect to those challenges, the total number in which each reason for not doing so was made; and
the average length of time needed to complete the processing of the challenges referred to in paragraph (2).
Sec. 4 Sense of the Congress
It is the sense of the Congress that—
the right of the people to keep and bear arms is a fundamental component of self-government and the preservation of individual liberty;
deprivation of the constitutional right to bear arms requires due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States; and
ignoring appeals of determinations made by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System violates due process.