Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB884 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 884
5	5	To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require the Bureau of
6	6	Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to establish an administrative
7	7	relief process for individuals whose applications for transfer and registra-
8	8	tion of a firearm were denied, and for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
10	10	MARCH6, 2025
11	11	Mr. R
12	12	ISCH(for himself, Mr. DAINES, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. CRAPO, Mrs.
13	13	H
14	14	YDE-SMITH, Ms. LUMMIS, Mr. SHEEHY, and Mr. MARSHALL) intro-
15	15	duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
16	16	mittee on the Judiciary
17	17	A BILL
18	18	To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require
19	19	the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explo-
20	20	sives to establish an administrative relief process for
21	21	individuals whose applications for transfer and registra-
22	22	tion of a firearm were denied, and for other purposes.
23	23	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
24	24	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
25	25	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
26	26	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ATF Transparency 4
27	27	Act’’. 5
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30	30	•S 884 IS
31	31	SEC. 2. ADMINISTRATIVE RELIEF FOR DENIAL OF FIREARM 1
32	32	TRANSFER APPLICATION. 2
33	33	(a) I
34	34	NGENERAL.—Section 5812 of the Internal Rev-3
35	35	enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 4
36	36	following new subsection: 5
37	37	‘‘(c) A
38	38	DMINISTRATIVERELIEF.— 6
39	39	‘‘(1) I
40	40	N GENERAL.—With respect to any appli-7
41	41	cation described in subsection (a) for the transfer 8
42	42	and registration of a firearm which is denied by the 9
43	43	Secretary based on a determination that transferring 10
44	44	the firearm to the transferee would violate sub-11
45	45	section (d) of section 922 of title 18, United States 12
46	46	Code, or receipt of the firearm by the transferee 13
47	47	would violate subsection (g) or (n) of that section or 14
48	48	State, local, or tribal law, the Secretary shall— 15
49	49	‘‘(A) provide the transferee with the rel-16
50	50	evant NICS transaction number with respect to 17
51	51	such application, 18
52	52	‘‘(B) permit such transferee to appeal such 19
53	53	denial to the Secretary in a manner similar to 20
54	54	the process for appeals provided under section 21
55	55	25.10 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, 22
56	56	and 23
57	57	‘‘(C) permit such transferee to provide in-24
58	58	formation to the Secretary to prevent any sub-25
59	59	sequent erroneous denial or extended delay by 26
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62	62	•S 884 IS
63	63	NICS pursuant to a program (as established by 1
64	64	the Secretary) similar to the Voluntary Appeal 2
65	65	File program described in section 25.10(g) of 3
66	66	title 28, Code of Federal Regulations. 4
67	67	‘‘(2) A
68	68	TTORNEY FEES.—In the case of any suc-5
69	69	cessful appeal by the transferee pursuant to the 6
70	70	process described in paragraph (1)(B), the Secretary 7
71	71	shall reimburse the transferee for any reasonable 8
72	72	and necessary attorney fees incurred with respect to 9
73	73	such appeal. 10
74	74	‘‘(3) NICS.—For purposes of this subsection, 11
75	75	the term ‘NICS’ means the national instant criminal 12
76	76	background check system established under section 13
77	77	103 of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act 14
78	78	(34 U.S.C. 40901).’’. 15
79	79	(b) E
80	80	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 16
81	81	this section shall apply to applications for the transfer and 17
82	82	registration of a firearm which are filed or pending on or 18
83	83	after the date of enactment of this Act. 19
84	84	SEC. 3. TIMELY PROCESSING OF APPLICATIONS. 20
85	85	(a) T
86	86	RANSFER OFFIREARMS.—Section 5812 of the 21
87	87	Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended by section 22
88	88	2, is amended by adding at the end the following new sub-23
89	89	section: 24
90	90	‘‘(d) P
91	91	ROCESSING OFAPPLICATIONS.— 25
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95	95	‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding subsection 1
96	96	(a), if an application described in such subsection 2
97	97	with respect to the transfer and registration of a 3
98	98	firearm has been filed with the Secretary and the 4
99	99	Secretary fails to make a determination regarding 5
100	100	whether to approve or deny such application prior to 6
101	101	the date which is 3 business days after the date on 7
102	102	which such application was originally filed by the 8
103	103	transferor, the transfer and registration of such fire-9
104	104	arm to the transferee shall be deemed to have been 10
105	105	approved by the Secretary for purposes of this sec-11
106	106	tion and such transfer may be made. The Secretary 12
107	107	shall only deny an application described in sub-13
108	108	section (a) on the grounds that the applicable re-14
109	109	quirements under such subsection have not been sat-15
110	110	isfied, and may not deny an application solely on the 16
111	111	grounds that a determination regarding whether to 17
112	112	approve or deny such application could not be com-18
113	113	pleted by the Secretary during the period described 19
114	114	in the preceding sentence. 20
115	115	‘‘(2) S
116	116	AFE HARBOR.— 21
117	117	‘‘(A) I
118	118	N GENERAL.—In the case of an ap-22
119	119	plication described in subsection (a) which, fol-23
120	120	lowing the expiration of the 3-day period under 24
121	121	paragraph (1), has been deemed to have been 25
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124	124	•S 884 IS
125	125	approved by the Secretary for purposes of this 1
126	126	section and for which the transfer of the fire-2
127	127	arm has been made, if the Secretary subse-3
128	128	quently determines that the applicable require-4
129	129	ments under such subsection have not been sat-5
130	130	isfied and that such application should have 6
131	131	been denied, the Secretary shall provide actual 7
132	132	notice of such determination to the transferor 8
133	133	and transferee of such firearm. 9
134	134	‘‘(B) C
135	135	RIMINAL LIABILITY.—In the case of 10
136	136	a determination described in subparagraph (A) 11
137	137	that an application for transfer and registration 12
138	138	of a firearm should have been denied— 13
139	139	‘‘(i) the transferor may not be held 14
140	140	liable for any violation of subsection (d) of 15
141	141	section 922 of title 18, United States 16
142	142	Code, and 17
143	143	‘‘(ii) the transferee may not be held 18
144	144	liable for any violation of subsection (g) or 19
145	145	(n) of section 922 of title 18, United 20
146	146	States Code, provided that the transferee 21
147	147	returns the firearm to the Secretary within 22
148	148	the 14-day period subsequent to the date 23
149	149	on which the transferee received notice 24
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152	152	•S 884 IS
153	153	from the Secretary regarding such deter-1
154	154	mination.’’. 2
155	155	(b) M
156	156	AKING OFFIREARMS.—Section 5822 of the In-3
157	157	ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the 4
158	158	end the following: ‘‘Notwithstanding the preceding sen-5
159	159	tences, if a person files an application to make and reg-6
160	160	ister a firearm with the Secretary and the Secretary fails 7
161	161	to make a determination regarding whether to approve or 8
162	162	deny such application prior to the date which is 3 business 9
163	163	days after the date on which such application was origi-10
164	164	nally filed by such person, such application shall be 11
165	165	deemed to have been approved by the Secretary for pur-12
166	166	poses of this section and such firearm may be made by 13
167	167	such person. The Secretary shall only deny an application 14
168	168	to make and register a firearm on the grounds that the 15
169	169	applicable requirements under this section have not been 16
170	170	satisfied, and may not deny an application solely on the 17
171	171	grounds that a determination regarding whether to ap-18
172	172	prove or deny such application could not be completed by 19
173	173	the Secretary during the period described in the preceding 20
174	174	sentence.’’. 21
175	175	(c) E
176	176	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 22
177	177	this section shall apply to applications which are filed or 23
178	178	pending on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 24
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181	181	•S 884 IS
182	182	SEC. 4. REPORTS AND AGREEMENTS. 1
183	183	(a) U
184	184	NRESOLVEDNICS CHECKS.—Not later than 2
185	185	180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 3
186	186	Comptroller General of the United States, in conjunction 4
187	187	with the Inspector General of the Department of Justice, 5
188	188	shall submit a report to Congress— 6
189	189	(1) detailing the number of NICS inquiries re-7
190	190	ceived during the period of calendar years 2010 8
191	191	through 2024 with respect to the transfer of a fire-9
192	192	arm which remained unresolved following the expira-10
193	193	tion of the 90-day period described in section 11
194	194	25.9(b)(1) of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations; 12
195	195	and 13
196	196	(2) providing recommendations for administra-14
197	197	tive actions to be adopted by the Bureau of Alcohol, 15
198	198	Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to minimize the 16
199	199	number of unresolved NICS inquiries described in 17
200	200	paragraph (1). 18
201	201	(b) A
202	202	DMINISTRATION OF NICS CHECKS.—Not later 19
203	203	than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 20
204	204	the Inspector General of the Department of Justice shall 21
205	205	submit a report to Congress regarding the percentage of 22
206	206	NICS inquiries during the period of calendar years 2014 23
207	207	through 2024 with respect to the transfer of a firearm 24
208	208	which were administered by the Federal Bureau of Inves-25
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211	211	•S 884 IS
212	212	tigation on behalf of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire-1
213	213	arms, and Explosives. 2
214	214	(c) M
215	215	EMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—Not later 3
216	216	than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 4
217	217	the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, 5
218	218	and Explosives and the Director of the Federal Bureau 6
219	219	of Investigation shall enter into a memorandum of under-7
220	220	standing regarding the administration and processing of 8
221	221	NICS inquiries with respect to the transfer of firearms. 9
222	222	(d) D
223	223	EFINITIONS.—In this section— 10
224	224	(1) F
225	225	IREARM.—The term ‘‘firearm’’ has the 11
226	226	same meaning given such term under section 12
227	227	5845(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 13
228	228	(2) NICS.—The term ‘‘NICS’’ means the na-14
229	229	tional instant criminal background check system es-15
230	230	tablished under section 103 of the Brady Handgun 16
231	231	Violence Prevention Act (34 U.S.C. 40901). 17
232	232	Æ
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