[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2769 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2769

To ensure that background checks are conducted before the transfer of a 
                     handgun by a firearms dealer.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 29, 1997

 Mr. Schumer (for himself, Mr. Meehan, Mr. Nadler, Mr. McDermott, Ms. 
 Lofgren, Mr. Menendez, Mrs. Morella, Mr. Berman, Ms. Kilpatrick, Mr. 
 Gutierrez, Mr. Barrett of Wisconsin, Ms. Furse, and Mr. Blagojevich) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To ensure that background checks are conducted before the transfer of a 
                     handgun by a firearms dealer.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Brady Background Check Improvement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. BACKGROUND CHECK REQUESTS REQUIRED TO BE SENT TO CHIEF LAW 
              ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS WHOSE POLICE DEPARTMENTS ARE 
              COOPERATING IN CONDUCTING THE CHECKS.

    Section 922(s) of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in each of subclauses (III) and (IV) of paragraph 
        (1)(A)(i), by striking ``the chief law enforcement officer of 
        the place of residence of the transferee'' and inserting ``a 
        designated chief law enforcement officer with respect to the 
        transfer'';
            (2) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the following:
    ``(2)(A) Upon request of a chief law enforcement officer of a 
cooperating law enforcement agency, the Secretary shall certify the 
chief law enforcement officer as the head of a cooperating law 
enforcement agency.
    ``(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, a law 
enforcement agency is a cooperating law enforcement agency if the 
agency maintains a practice, upon receipt of a notice provided pursuant 
to paragraph (1)(A)(i)(III) with respect to the transfer of a handgun, 
of making a reasonable effort to ascertain within 5 business days 
whether receipt or possession of the handgun by the transferee would be 
in violation of Federal, State, or local law, including research in 
whatever State and local record keeping systems are available and in a 
national system designated by the Attorney General.
    ``(C)(i) Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of 
this paragraph and periodically thereafter, the Secretary shall provide 
to each licensed dealer and shall cause to have published in the 
Federal Register a list of the chief law enforcement officers certified 
under subparagraph (A).
    ``(ii) From time to time, the Secretary may cause to have published 
in the Federal Register and may provide to each licensed dealer, or to 
each licensed dealer within a State, a list of chief law enforcement 
officers previously certified under subparagraph (A) who the Secretary 
determines are no longer the head of a cooperating law enforcement 
agency.'';
            (3) in paragraph (8)--
                    (A) by inserting ``(A)'' after ``(8)''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(B) For purposes of this subsection, the term `designated chief 
law enforcement officer' means, with respect to a handgun transfer, any 
of the following who is a listed chief law enforcement officer:
            ``(i) The chief law enforcement officer of the place of 
        residence of the transferee.
            ``(ii) The chief law enforcement officer of the place of 
        business of the transferor at which the handgun transfer is to 
        be made.
            ``(iii) The chief law enforcement officer of the State in 
        which the place of business described in clause (ii) is 
        located.
    ``(C) For purposes of this subsection, the term `listed chief law 
enforcement officer' means, with respect to a handgun transferor, a 
chief law enforcement officer who--
            ``(i) has been identified, in the list of chief law 
        enforcement officers most recently distributed to the 
        transferor under paragraph (2)(C)(i), as the head of a 
        cooperating law enforcement agency; and
            ``(ii) has not been identified, in a list of chief law 
        enforcement officers subsequently distributed to the transferor 
        under paragraph (2)(C)(ii), as the head of a law enforcement 
        agency that has ceased to be a cooperating law enforcement 
        agency.''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(10) In the absence of an express provision of State law that 
prohibits a State or local law enforcement officer from conducting a 
background check on a handgun purchaser, a chief law enforcement 
officer may make a reasonable effort to ascertain, within 5 business 
days after receipt of a notice provided pursuant to paragraph 
(1)(A)(i)(III), whether receipt or possession of the handgun involved 
would violate the law, including research in whatever State and local 
recordkeeping systems are available and in a national system designated 
by the Attorney General.''.
                                 <all>