I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 624
To reform the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY22, 2025
Mr. M
ANN(for himself, Mr. CLYDE, Mr. FINSTAD, Mr. DOWNING, Mr.
O
GLES, Mr. FEENSTRA, Mr. TIFFANY, Mr. SCHMIDT, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr.
E
STES, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. SMITHof Nebraska, Mr. ROSE, Mr. COLLINS,
Mr. M
CDOWELL, Mrs. BIGGSof South Carolina, Mr. SELF, Mr. ELLZEY,
Mr. M
OOREof Alabama, Mr. BIGGSof Arizona, and Mr. JACKSONof
Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary
A BILL
To reform the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and
Explosives.
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 ‘‘Reining In Federal 4
Licensing Enforcement Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘RIFLE Act 5
of 2025’’. 6
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SEC. 2. GRADUATED PENALTIES FOR CIVIL VIOLATIONS BY 1
FEDERAL FIREARMS LICENSEES. 2
Section 923 of title 18, United States Code, is 3
amended by striking subsections (e) and (f) and inserting 4
the following: 5
‘‘(e)(1)(A) If the Attorney General determines that 6
a licensee under this section has violated this chapter— 7
‘‘(i) in the case of a violation that is not 8
willful, the Attorney General shall notify the li-9
censee of the violation and work with the li-10
censee to rectify the violation within a commer-11
cially reasonable time frame; or 12
‘‘(ii) in the case of a willful violation, if the 13
Attorney General, after working with the li-14
censee to rectify the violation within a commer-15
cially reasonable time frame, finds that a lesser 16
action (such as a warning, warning letter, or 17
warning conference) is not likely to lead to fu-18
ture compliance, and the Attorney General 19
seeks revocation of the license in an administra-20
tive action, the Attorney General may— 21
‘‘(I) if the licensee has no history of 22
noncompliance with this chapter, suspend 23
the license for not more than 30 days or 24
such lesser period as would apply on com-25
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pliance with such conditions as are speci-1
fied by the Attorney General; or 2
‘‘(II) in any other case, revoke the li-3
cense. 4
‘‘(B) In applying subparagraph (A), the Attorney 5
General shall presume that the violation is not willful, ab-6
sent clear and convincing evidence to the contrary. 7
‘‘(C) For purposes of subparagraph (A): 8
‘‘(i) A violation of this chapter with respect to 9
2 or more firearms during a single transaction shall 10
be considered a single violation. 11
‘‘(ii) A violation of this chapter with respect to 12
any category of record keeping requirements, even if 13
involving multiple instances, shall be considered a 14
single violation. 15
‘‘(D) The Attorney General may not commence an 16
enforcement action under subparagraph (A) with respect 17
to a violation, after the 3-year period that begins with— 18
‘‘(i) the date the violation occurred; or 19
‘‘(ii) if the licensee intentionally obstructed dis-20
covery of the violation, the date the violation is dis-21
covered. 22
‘‘(E) The Attorney General may not commence an en-23
forcement action under subparagraph (A) with respect to 24
a violation without first notifying the licensee of the rea-25
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sons for the contemplated action and affording the licensee 1
an opportunity to demonstrate or achieve compliance with 2
this chapter and to submit facts, arguments, or proposals 3
of adjustment. 4
‘‘(2)(A)(i) Not less than 60 days before the effective 5
date of any penalty imposed on a licensee by reason of 6
a determination made under paragraph (1), the Attorney 7
General shall send the licensee a written notice by certified 8
return receipt mail— 9
‘‘(I) of the determination, and the grounds 10
on which the determination was made; 11
‘‘(II) that sets forth the facts on which the 12
Attorney General relied as a basis for the deter-13
mination, including the facts pertaining to any 14
determination of willfulness; 15
‘‘(III) of the nature of the penalty; and 16
‘‘(IV) that the licensee may, within 60 17
days after receipt of the notice, request in writ-18
ing a hearing to review the determination. 19
‘‘(ii) Within 5 calendar days after serving the written 20
notice on the licensee, the Attorney General, shall give 21
written notice to the licensee of the date the written notice 22
was so served and provide the licensee with proof of the 23
service. 24
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‘‘(B) A hearing to review a determination made under 1
paragraph (1) with respect to a licensee shall not be held 2
unless the licensee or an agent of the licensee requests 3
such a hearing within 60 days after receiving the written 4
notice required by subparagraph (A), and if held, shall be 5
open to the public 6
‘‘(C) On timely receipt from the licensee of a request 7
for such a review, the Attorney General shall stay the im-8
position of any penalty under paragraph (1), pending reso-9
lution of the hearing, unless, in the case of a license rev-10
ocation, the Attorney General establishes, at a hearing be-11
fore an administrative law judge, by clear and convincing 12
evidence, that the licensee committed the violation willfully 13
and that the continued operation by the licensee of the 14
business involved poses an immediate and grave threat to 15
public safety. 16
‘‘(3)(A) Within not fewer than 60 days after timely 17
receipt from a licensee or an agent of the licensee of a 18
written request for a hearing to review a determination 19
made under paragraph (1) (or at such later time as is 20
agreed to by the Attorney General and the licensee), an 21
administrative law judge shall hold an evidentiary hearing, 22
at a location convenient to the licensee, to review the de-23
termination, except that, if the licensee moves for leave 24
to take the deposition of any witness identified by the At-25
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torney General or any officer or employee of the Depart-1
ment of Justice who was involved in the inspection or ex-2
amination, or any prior inspection or examination on 3
which the Attorney General relies, the administrative law 4
judge shall grant the motion and adjust the hearing date 5
accordingly. 6
‘‘(B) Not less than 30 days before the hearing, the 7
Attorney General shall deliver to the licensee— 8
‘‘(i) a document identifying each person whom 9
the Attorney General intends to call as a witness 10
during the hearing and a summary of the proposed 11
sworn testimony of the witness; 12
‘‘(ii) a copy of each document, in unredacted 13
form, that will be introduced by the Attorney Gen-14
eral as evidence at the hearing; 15
‘‘(iii) copies of all documents on which the de-16
termination is based; 17
‘‘(iv) a complete copy of the file of the licensee 18
maintained by the Attorney General; and 19
‘‘(v) a sworn statement from the Attorney Gen-20
eral as to whether or not there is a pending criminal 21
investigation by the Attorney General of the licensee, 22
which statement shall be supplemented or amended 23
by the Attorney General if a criminal investigation 24
is initiated before the conclusion of the hearing. 25
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‘‘(C)(i) Within 120 days after the hearing, the admin-1
istrative law judge shall issue a written decision setting 2
forth findings of fact and conclusions of law, and a deci-3
sion as to whether to affirm, modify, or reverse the deter-4
mination. 5
‘‘(ii) The findings of fact and conclusions of law and 6
decision of the administrative law judge shall be— 7
‘‘(I) de novo and not predicated on a presump-8
tion that the determination of the Attorney General 9
was correct; and 10
‘‘(II) based on a clear and convincing standard 11
of proof, which shall be borne by the Attorney Gen-12
eral. 13
‘‘(iii) The administrative law judge shall not make a 14
determination to revoke a license unless the administrative 15
law judge finds, by clear and convincing evidence, that— 16
‘‘(I) the Attorney General notified the licensee 17
in writing of all reasons for the contemplated action 18
of the Attorney General; 19
‘‘(II) the Attorney General afforded the licensee 20
a commercially reasonable opportunity to dem-21
onstrate or achieve compliance with this chapter; 22
and 23
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‘‘(III) the licensee has not complied, and is un-1
likely to be able to achieve compliance, with this 2
chapter. 3
‘‘(iv) The Attorney General shall provide to the li-4
censee a complete copy of the hearing transcript, including 5
exhibits, within 60 days after the date of the hearing. 6
‘‘(D) On request of the licensee, the Attorney General 7
shall stay the effective date of any penalty, suspension, 8
or revocation until there is a final, unreviewable judgment 9
with respect to the determination of the administrative law 10
judge, unless, in the case of a license revocation, the Attor-11
ney General establishes, at a hearing before an adminis-12
trative law judge, by clear and convincing evidence, that 13
the licensee committed the violation willfully and that the 14
continued operation by the licensee of the business in-15
volved poses an immediate and grave threat to public safe-16
ty. 17
‘‘(E) An action of an administrative law judge under 18
this subsection shall be considered final agency action for 19
all purposes, and may be reviewed only as provided in sub-20
section (f). 21
‘‘(4) This subsection shall not be interpreted to affect 22
the authority of the Attorney General under section 23
922(t)(5), except that the provisions of section 922(t)(5) 24
regarding notice and opportunity for a hearing shall be 25
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subject to the procedural and evidentiary requirements 1
provided in this subsection. 2
‘‘(f)(1) Within 60 days after a party receives a notice 3
issued under subsection (d) of a decision to deny a license, 4
or a notice issued under subsection (e)(3)(C) of a deter-5
mination to suspend or revoke a license, the party may 6
file a petition with the United States district court for the 7
district in which the party resides or has a principal place 8
of business for a de novo trial of the determination. 9
‘‘(2) In a proceeding conducted under this subsection, 10
the court shall, on application of a party, consider any evi-11
dence submitted by the parties to the proceeding whether 12
or not the evidence was considered at the hearing held 13
under subsection (d) or (e)(3). 14
‘‘(3)(A) If the court decides that the determination 15
was not authorized by law, the court shall order the Attor-16
ney General to take such action as may be necessary to 17
comply with the judgment of the court. 18
‘‘(B) The court shall not make a determination to 19
revoke a license unless the court finds, by clear and con-20
vincing evidence, that— 21
‘‘(i) the Attorney General notified the licensee 22
in writing of all reasons for the contemplated action 23
of the Attorney General; 24
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‘‘(ii) the Attorney General afforded the licensee 1
a commercially reasonable opportunity to dem-2
onstrate or achieve compliance with this chapter; 3
and 4
‘‘(iii) the licensee has not complied, and is un-5
likely to be able to comply, with this chapter. 6
‘‘(4) If criminal proceedings are instituted against an 7
applicant for a license under this chapter or a licensee al-8
leging a violation of this chapter, and the applicant or li-9
censee, as the case may be, is acquitted of the charges, 10
or the proceedings are terminated, other than on motion 11
of the Government before trial on the charges, the Attor-12
ney General shall be absolutely barred from denying a li-13
cense under this chapter, or suspending or revoking a li-14
cense granted under this chapter, if the action would be 15
based in whole or in part on the facts which form the basis 16
of the criminal charges. 17
‘‘(5) The Attorney General may not institute a pro-18
ceeding to suspend or revoke a license granted under this 19
chapter, more than 1 year after the filing of the indict-20
ment or information. 21
‘‘(6) The Attorney General may not institute a pro-22
ceeding to suspend or revoke a license granted under this 23
chapter, based on a violation that is finally determined to 24
have occurred with respect to a different license.’’. 25
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SEC. 3. CONSIDERATION OF FEDERAL FIREARMS LICENSE 1
APPLICATIONS. 2
Section 923(d) of title 18, United States Code, is 3
amended by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the fol-4
lowing: 5
‘‘(2) The Attorney General shall make a preliminary 6
determination as to whether to approve or deny an appli-7
cation submitted under subsection (a) or (b). If the pre-8
liminary determination is to deny the application, the At-9
torney General shall notify the applicant in writing of the 10
preliminary determination and the reasons for the prelimi-11
nary determination, and shall afford the applicant an op-12
portunity to supplement the application with additional in-13
formation and to request a hearing on the application. If 14
the applicant, in a timely manner, requests such a hearing, 15
the Attorney General shall hold the hearing at a location 16
convenient to the applicant, and shall notify the applicant 17
in writing of the time and place of the hearing. 18
‘‘(3) The Attorney General may not deny an applica-19
tion for a license based on— 20
‘‘(A) any prior violation of this chapter by the 21
applicant, if more than 5 years have elapsed since 22
the date a license previously issued to the applicant 23
under this chapter was terminated, unless the Attor-24
ney General finds that the applicant is a person de-25
scribed in section 922(g); 26
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‘‘(B) the applicant having been employed by, or 1
a responsible party for, a licensee whose license 2
under this chapter was revoked, unless there is clear 3
and convincing evidence that the applicant willfully 4
violated this chapter in that capacity; or 5
‘‘(C) the applicant being a spouse, former 6
spouse, or child of a licensee whose license under 7
this chapter was revoked, unless there is clear and 8
convincing evidence that the applicant willfully vio-9
lated this chapter as a responsible party under the 10
license. 11
‘‘(4) The procedures provided for in subsection (e) 12
shall apply with respect to any applicant for a license 13
under this chapter and any application for such a li-14
cense.’’. 15
SEC. 4. DEFINITION OF ‘‘WILLFULLY’’; CERTAIN EVIDENCE 16
INADMISSIBLE TO PROVE WILLFULNESS. 17
Section 923(e) of title 18, United States Code, as 18
amended by section 2(a) of this Act, is amended by adding 19
at the end the following: 20
‘‘(5) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘will-21
fully’ means, with respect to conduct of an individual who 22
holds a license or is designated in the records of the Attor-23
ney General as a responsible party under a specific license, 24
that the person— 25
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‘‘(A) had actual knowledge of a clearly estab-1
lished legal duty; 2
‘‘(B) understood the obligation imposed by the 3
legal duty; and 4
‘‘(C) engaged in the conduct knowingly and in 5
deliberate disregard of the legal duty. 6
‘‘(6) Evidence that a person has received a document 7
or other communication containing information about a 8
requirement imposed by or under this chapter and evi-9
dence that the person has signed an acknowledgment that 10
the person understands the legal obligations of the person 11
under this chapter shall not be admissible as part of the 12
determination of the Attorney General, in an administra-13
tive law hearing or in a court of law, to prove actual 14
knowledge and shall not be admissible as evidence to es-15
tablish a willful violation of this chapter. 16
‘‘(7) Evidence that a person has substantial experi-17
ence as a licensee, or has in other instances successfully 18
complied with this chapter, shall not be admissible as part 19
of the determination of the Attorney General, in an admin-20
istrative law hearing or in a court of law, to prove actual 21
knowledge and shall not be admissible as evidence to es-22
tablished a willful violation of this chapter. 23
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‘‘(8) In determining under this subsection whether 1
conduct of a licensee was willful, the entire historical ad-2
ministrative record of the licensee shall be considered.’’. 3
SEC. 5. RECONSIDERATION OF DENIED APPLICATIONS 4
FROM FORMER FIREARM LICENSEES, IN 5
LIGHT OF NEW RULES PERTAINING TO 6
WILLFULLNESS; REVERSAL OF LICENSE REV-7
OCATIONS, SUSPENSIONS AND DENIALS 8
MADE WHILE CERTAIN ATF ORDERS ARE IN 9
EFFECT. 10
(a) R
ECONSIDERATION OF APPLICATIONS.—The At-11
torney General shall reconsider each application for a li-12
cense under chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, 13
that is submitted by a person formerly licensed under such 14
chapter whose application for a license under such chapter 15
was denied before the date of the enactment of this Act, 16
and that was disposed of on or before such date of enact-17
ment, and, in doing so, the Attorney General shall apply 18
the amendments made by section 4 of this Act. 19
(b) R
EVERSAL OFREVOCATIONS, SUSPENSION, AND 20
D
ENIALS.—In the case of any person whose license under 21
chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, is revoked or 22
suspended, or whose application for such a license is de-23
nied, while ATF Order 5370.1E, ATF Order 5370.1F, or 24
ATF Order 5370.1G is in effect, the Attorney General 25
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shall, absent clear and convincing evidence that the contin-1
ued operation by the licensee of the business subject to 2
the license poses an immediate and grave threat to public 3
safety— 4
(1)(A) in the case of such a revocation, rein-5
state the license; 6
(B) in the case of such a suspension, end the 7
suspension; or 8
(C) in the case of such a denial, reconsider the 9
application; and 10
(2) in each case, reimburse the person for all 11
legal fees incurred by the person, while the Order is 12
in effect, with respect to any proceeding involving 13
the revocation, suspension, or application. 14
(c) E
STABLISHMENT OF WEBSITE FORADMINISTRA-15
TION OFRELIEF.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Within 120 days after the 17
date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen-18
eral shall— 19
(A) establish a website, entitled 20
‘‘gunrightsrestored.gov’’, through which a per-21
son described in subsection (a) or (b) may sub-22
mit a claim for the reimbursement described in 23
subsection (b)(2); and 24
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(B) publish in the Federal Register all in-1
formation about how such a person may so sub-2
mit such a claim. 3
(2) N
ONDELEGATION.—The Attorney General 4
may not delegate the implementation of paragraph 5
(1) to any entity that is not in the Office of the At-6
torney General or the Office of the Deputy Attorney 7
General. 8
(d) R
EPORTS.—Within 6 months after the date of the 9
enactment of this Act, the Attorney General and the In-10
spector General of the Department of Justice shall pre-11
pare and submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the 12
House of Representatives and the Committee on the Judi-13
ciary of the Senate separate reports on the implementation 14
of this section. 15
SEC. 6. ESTABLISHMENT OF FORMAL INSPECTION, EXAM-16
INATION, AND INVESTIGATIVE STANDARDS. 17
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Attorney General shall estab-18
lish written standards for how the Bureau of Alcohol, To-19
bacco, Firearms, and Explosives is to— 20
(1) conduct inspections, examinations, or inves-21
tigations of a possible violation of chapter 40 or 44 22
of title 18, United States Code; and 23
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(2) make license application denial, license sus-1
pension, license revocation or other adverse deter-2
minations regarding an applicant or licensee. 3
(b) I
NCLUSION OF MITIGATINGFACTORS.—The 4
standards shall include mitigation factors that must be 5
considered before the Attorney General initiates any ad-6
verse action against an applicant or licensee. 7
(c) A
VAILABILITY.—The written standards shall be 8
made available to the public, and shall be provided by the 9
Attorney General to applicants and licensees at the time 10
of any license application and on demand. 11
SEC. 7. LIMITATIONS ON USE OF FIREARMS PURCHASER 12
INFORMATION. 13
Section 923(g)(1)(D) of title 18, United States Code, 14
is amended in the last sentence by inserting ‘‘, except that 15
information identifying a person who has purchased or re-16
ceived firearms or ammunition and who is not prohibited 17
from doing so may not be so made available or so provided 18
unless the agency involved has certified that the agency 19
will not disclose the information to any entity other than 20
a court, federal, State or local law enforcement agency, 21
or prosecutor’’ before the period. 22
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SEC. 8. LIQUIDATION OF INVENTORY IN FEDERAL FIRE-1
ARMS LICENSE EXPIRATION, SURRENDER, OR 2
REVOCATION CASES. 3
Section 923 of title 18, United States Code, is 4
amended by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(m)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), an en-6
tity whose license issued under this chapter is expired, sur-7
rendered, or revoked shall be afforded 90 days from the 8
effective date of the expiration, surrender, or revocation 9
(not counting any period in which an appeal of such a 10
revocation is pending) to liquidate the firearms business 11
inventory of the entity, which time may be extended on 12
a showing of reasonable cause. During the 90-day period 13
(including any extension of the period), the license in-14
volved shall continue to be considered valid, notwith-15
standing the expiration, surrender, or revocation, and the 16
Attorney General shall issue letters of authorization to the 17
entity on which licensees under this chapter and commer-18
cial third parties may rely. At any time before the expira-19
tion of the disposition period, the entity may transfer any 20
remaining firearms from the firearms business inventory 21
of the entity to the entity or, if more than 1 person holds 22
an interest in the entity, to the interest holders, at which 23
point the firearms are deemed to be a personal collection 24
of the entity or interest holders, as the case may be. 25
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‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply with respect to 1
a person if a United States district court for the judicial 2
district in which the person resides or in which the prin-3
cipal place of business of the person subject to the license 4
is located finds, by clear and convincing evidence, that the 5
continued operation by the person of the firearms business 6
involved poses an immediate and grave threat to public 7
safety, in which case the person may transfer all firearms 8
from the firearms business inventory of the person to the 9
personal collection of the person or to another licensee for 10
consignment or other liquidation at the direction of the 11
person.’’. 12
SEC. 9. OPPORTUNITY TO CURE VIOLATIONS AFTER ACQUI-13
SITION OF FIREARMS BUSINESS. 14
Section 923 of title 18, United States Code, is further 15
amended by adding at the end the following: 16
‘‘(n) If the Attorney General is made aware that a 17
business licensed under this chapter has been transferred 18
to a surviving spouse or child of the licensee, to an execu-19
tor, administrator, or other legal representative of a de-20
ceased or incompetent licensee, to a receiver or trustee in 21
bankruptcy, to an assignee for benefit of creditors, or to 22
an entity holding a security interest in an item as collat-23
eral pursuant to Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial 24
Code (U.C.C. § 9–102(a)(73)), and, before the transfer, 25
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or on the first inspection or examination by the Attorney 1
General of the records of the licensee after the transfer, 2
the licensee is found to be operating the business in viola-3
tion of this chapter, the Attorney General— 4
‘‘(1) shall notify the transferee of the violation 5
by the transferor; and 6
‘‘(2) shall not presume that the transferee is 7
committing the violation.’’. 8
SEC. 10. STANDARDS FOR CRIMINAL VIOLATIONS OF REC-9
ORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS. 10
Section 922(m) of title 18, United States Code, is 11
amended— 12
(1) by striking ‘‘any false entry’’ and inserting 13
‘‘a materially false entry’’; 14
(2) by striking ‘‘appropriate entry’’ and insert-15
ing ‘‘a materially significant entry’’; and 16
(3) by striking ‘‘properly maintain’’ and insert-17
ing ‘‘retain custody of’’. 18
Æ
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ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS