Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB532 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 532
5	5	To authorize for a grant program for handgun licensing programs, and
6	6	for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	JANUARY16, 2025
9	9	Mr. R
10	10	ASKIN(for himself and Mrs. HAYES) introduced the following bill; which
11	11	was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To authorize for a grant program for handgun licensing
14	14	programs, and for other purposes.
15	15	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
16	16	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
17	17	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
18	18	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Handgun Permit to 4
19	19	Purchase Act’’. 5
20	20	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
21	21	Congress finds as follows: 7
22	22	(1) In 2023, gun violence claimed 46,728 lives, 8
23	23	marking the third-highest number of gun-related 9
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26	26	•HR 532 IH
27	27	deaths ever recorded in the United States in a single 1
28	28	year. 2
29	29	(2) Between 2018 and 2022, approximately 90 3
30	30	percent of the firearm violence committed in the 4
31	31	United States for which a firearm type was specified 5
32	32	involved a handgun. 6
33	33	(3) During the 5-year period described in para-7
34	34	graph (2), 35,959 people in the United States were 8
35	35	killed with a handgun. 9
36	36	(4) Research by top national experts shows 10
37	37	that— 11
38	38	(A) the adoption of handgun purchaser li-12
39	39	censing laws is associated with significant re-13
40	40	ductions in firearm-related homicides; and 14
41	41	(B) the repeal of handgun purchaser li-15
42	42	censing laws is associated with significant in-16
43	43	creases in firearm-related homicides. 17
44	44	(5) Research on the effects of the adoption of 18
45	45	a handgun purchaser licensing law in Connecticut in 19
46	46	1995 showed— 20
47	47	(A) a 27.8-percent reduction in the rate of 21
48	48	firearm homicide; and 22
49	49	(B) a 32.8-percent reduction in firearm 23
50	50	suicide rates. 24
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53	53	•HR 532 IH
54	54	(6) Published research has shown that the re-1
55	55	peal of a handgun purchaser licensing law in Mis-2
56	56	souri in 2007 was associated with— 3
57	57	(A) a 47.3-percent increase in the rate of 4
58	58	firearm homicide; and 5
59	59	(B) a 23.5-percent increase in firearm sui-6
60	60	cide rates. 7
61	61	(7) Research on the impact of the adoption of 8
62	62	a handgun purchaser licensing law in Maryland in 9
63	63	2013 found— 10
64	64	(A) that the adoption was associated with 11
65	65	an 82-percent reduction in the Baltimore Police 12
66	66	Department’s recovery of handguns with key in-13
67	67	dications of diversion for criminal use; and 14
68	68	(B) that 41-percent of prohibited pur-15
69	69	chasers surveyed in Baltimore reported greater 16
70	70	difficulty in obtaining a handgun. 17
71	71	(8) Research on the effects of firearm pur-18
72	72	chaser licensing laws throughout 3 decades found 19
73	73	that— 20
74	74	(A) in urban counties between 1984 and 21
75	75	2015, firearm purchaser licensing laws were as-22
76	76	sociated with an 11 percent reduction in fire-23
77	77	arm homicides; and 24
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81	81	(B) between 1984 and 2017, States with 1
82	82	strong firearm purchaser licensing laws were 2
83	83	associated with 56 percent lower rates of fatal 3
84	84	mass shooting incidents and 67 percent fewer 4
85	85	mass shooting victims. 5
86	86	(9) In States that have had effective handgun 6
87	87	purchaser licensing laws for decades, such as Con-7
88	88	necticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York, 8
89	89	the vast majority of firearms traced to crimes origi-9
90	90	nated in States that do not have handgun purchaser 10
91	91	licensing laws, which supports the need for handgun 11
92	92	purchaser licensing laws in every State. 12
93	93	(10) Research has shown that States with 13
94	94	handgun purchaser licensing laws export far fewer 14
95	95	firearms for criminal use in other States than States 15
96	96	that lack handgun purchaser licensing laws. 16
97	97	(11) On January 13, 2025, the Supreme Court 17
98	98	of the United States declined to hear a challenge to 18
99	99	Maryland’s handgun licensing law, allowing the rul-19
100	100	ing of the United States Court of Appeals for the 20
101	101	Fourth Circuit, which upheld the constitutionality of 21
102	102	the law, to stand. 22
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106	106	SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED FOR HANDGUN LI-1
107	107	CENSING. 2
108	108	(a) I
109	109	NGENERAL.—Title I of the Omnibus Crime 3
110	110	Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10101 4
111	111	et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 5
112	112	‘‘PART PP—HANDGUN LICENSING GRANT 6
113	113	PROGRAM 7
114	114	‘‘SEC. 3061. DEFINITION. 8
115	115	‘‘In this part, the term ‘handgun’ has the meaning 9
116	116	given the term in section 921(a) of title 18, United States 10
117	117	Code. 11
118	118	‘‘SEC. 3062. GRANT PROGRAM. 12
119	119	‘‘(a) I
120	120	NGENERAL.—The Attorney General may 13
121	121	award grants to States, units of local government, and In-14
122	122	dian tribes for the development, implementation, and eval-15
123	123	uation of handgun purchaser licensing requirements. 16
124	124	‘‘(b) P
125	125	ROGRAMAUTHORIZED.—From the amounts 17
126	126	appropriated to carry out this part, and not later than 18
127	127	90 days after such amounts are appropriated, the Attor-19
128	128	ney General shall award grants, on a competitive basis, 20
129	129	to eligible applicants whose applications are approved 21
130	130	under subsection (c) to assist such applicants in imple-22
131	131	menting and improving handgun purchaser licensing pro-23
132	132	grams. 24
133	133	‘‘(c) A
134	134	PPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 25
135	135	under this part, a State, unit of local government, or In-26
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138	138	•HR 532 IH
139	139	dian tribe shall submit to the Attorney General an applica-1
140	140	tion at such time, in such manner, and containing such 2
141	141	information as the Attorney General may require, includ-3
142	142	ing— 4
143	143	‘‘(1) a description of the law that the applicant 5
144	144	has enacted to require a license for any purchase of 6
145	145	a handgun, including a description of any exemp-7
146	146	tions to such law; and 8
147	147	‘‘(2) a description of how the applicant will use 9
148	148	the grant to carry out or improve its handgun pur-10
149	149	chaser licensing program. 11
150	150	‘‘(d) E
151	151	LIGIBILITYREQUIREMENTS.—To be eligible 12
152	152	for a grant under this part, an applicant shall have in ef-13
153	153	fect a handgun purchaser licensing law that includes the 14
154	154	following requirements: 15
155	155	‘‘(1) With respect to an individual applying for 16
156	156	a handgun license or permit— 17
157	157	‘‘(A) the individual shall be— 18
158	158	‘‘(i) not less than 21 years old; and 19
159	159	‘‘(ii) a citizen or national of the 20
160	160	United States or an alien lawfully admitted 21
161	161	for permanent residence (as those terms 22
162	162	are defined in section 101(a) of the Immi-23
163	163	gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 24
164	164	1101(a))); 25
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168	168	‘‘(B) the individual shall apply for the 1
169	169	handgun purchaser license or permit at a law 2
170	170	enforcement agency in the State in which the 3
171	171	individual resides; 4
172	172	‘‘(C) the individual shall reapply for the 5
173	173	handgun purchaser license or permit after a pe-6
174	174	riod not longer than 5 years; and 7
175	175	‘‘(D) the individual shall, in connection 8
176	176	with the application for the handgun purchaser 9
177	177	license or permit— 10
178	178	‘‘(i) submit to a background investiga-11
179	179	tion and a criminal history check, as estab-12
180	180	lished by the State, which shall ensure, at 13
181	181	a minimum, that the individual is not pro-14
182	182	hibited from possessing a firearm under 15
183	183	section 922(g) of title 18, United States 16
184	184	Code; and 17
185	185	‘‘(ii) submit fingerprints and photo-18
186	186	graphs. 19
187	187	‘‘(2) An individual who is prohibited from pos-20
188	188	sessing a firearm under section 922(g) of title 18, 21
189	189	United States Code, may not be issued a handgun 22
190	190	purchasing license or permit. 23
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194	194	‘‘(e) USE OFFUNDS.—Grant funds awarded under 1
195	195	this part shall be used to improve the handgun purchaser 2
196	196	licensing program of the grant recipient.’’. 3
197	197	(b) A
198	198	UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 4
199	199	1001(a) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 5
200	200	Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10261(a)) is amended by 6
201	201	adding at the end the following: 7
202	202	‘‘(29) There are authorized to be appropriated 8
203	203	such sums as may be necessary to carry out part 9
204	204	PP.’’. 10
205	205	Æ
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