[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3264 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3264

 To ensure that individuals with histories of mental illness and other 
persons prohibited from owning or possessing firearms are stopped from 
buying firearms by requiring instant background checks prior to making 
              a firearms purchase, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

            October 30 (legislative day, September 22), 2000

 Mr. Lott (for Mr. Ashcroft) introduced the following bill; which was 
       read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To ensure that individuals with histories of mental illness and other 
persons prohibited from owning or possessing firearms are stopped from 
buying firearms by requiring instant background checks prior to making 
              a firearms purchase, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This bill may be cited as the ``Records Access Improvements Act of 
2000''.

SEC. 2. RECORDS ACCESS IMPROVEMENTS.

    (a) Requirements for Receipt of Federal Funds.--The Brady Handgun 
Violence Prevention Act (Brady Act), Public Law No. 103-159, 107 Stat. 
1563, is amended by adding at the end of Title I the following:

``SEC. 107. RECORDS OF PERSONS PROHIBITED FROM ACCESS TO FIREARMS.

    ``(a) Notwithstanding Any Other Provision of Law.--
            ``(1) the total of the amounts of any appropriation 
        hereafter derived or authorized from the Violent Crime 
        Reduction Trust Fund (42 U.S.C. Sec. 14211) for grants to an 
        individual State (and any local government in that State) in 
        this Act, and in any other Act, is reduced by 10 percent on and 
        after October 1, 2001, and another 10 percent each and every 
        fiscal year thereafter, until no appropriation or authorization 
        level is available, unless and until the chief executive 
        officer for such State or local government receiving Violent 
        Crime Reduction Trust Funds certifies to the Attorney General 
        that at least ninety-five percent of all available records 
        regarding persons who are--
                    ``(A) adjudicated as mental defectives or been 
                committed to a mental institution by a court, board, 
                commission, or other lawful authority;
                    ``(B) under indictment for, or have been convicted 
                in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for 
                a term exceeding one year;
                    ``(C) fugitives from justice;
                    ``(D) unlawful users of or addicted to any 
                controlled substance;
                    ``(E) subject to a court order restraining them 
                from committing domestic violence; and
                    ``(F) convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic 
                violence,
        in that jurisdiction's system of record keeping (which includes 
        executive and judicial record keeping systems) have been and 
        continue to be provided to the Federal Bureau of Investigation 
        to support implementation of the National Instant Criminal 
        Background Check System; and
            ``(2) the reductions for each grant made pursuant to 
        paragraph (1) shall be terminated upon such certification. For 
        the fiscal year the certification is provided, the department, 
        agency, or instrumentality of the United States authorized to 
        make the grant shall restore that State or local jurisdiction's 
        Violent Crime Reduction Trust Funds grants to those levels that 
        would otherwise have been awarded and disbursed if the 
        jurisdiction had been providing at least ninety-five percent of 
        all the available records described in paragraph (1) in that 
        jurisdiction's system of record keeping to the Federal Bureau 
        of Investigation.
    ``(b) For Purposes of This Section.--
            ``(1) the term `adjudicated as mental defectives or been 
        committed to a mental institution' means an official record of 
        a person--
                    ``(A) adjudicated as mental defective by a court, 
                board, commission, or other lawful authority. An 
                adjudication as a mental defective occurs when a court, 
                board, commission, or other lawful authority determines 
that an individual is mentally retarded or of marked subnormal 
intelligence, mentally ill, or mentally incompetent, including 
defendants in criminal cases--
                            ``(i) adjudicated as not guilty by reason 
                        of insanity, and
                            ``(ii) found to be a danger to others as a 
                        result of a mental disorder or illness; or
                    ``(B) committed to a mental institution through 
                formal commitment by a court, board, commission, or 
                other legal authority, including any person who has 
                been committed involuntarily to a mental institution, 
                including for reasons other than mental defectiveness 
                or mental illness (such as for drug use), except that--
                            ``(i) the mere presence of a person in a 
                        mental institution for observation; or
                            ``(ii) a voluntary commitment to a mental 
                        institution, shall not be considered a 
                        disabling commitment, or a record to be 
                        reported to the National Instant Criminal 
                        Background Check system. `Mental institutions' 
                        means mental health facilities, mental 
                        hospitals, sanitariums, psychiatric facilities, 
                        and other facilities that provide diagnoses by 
                        licensed professionals of mental retardation or 
                        mental illness.
            ``(2)(A) The term `misdemeanor crime of domestic violence' 
        means a Federal, State or local offense that--
                    ``(i) is a misdemeanor under Federal or State law 
                or, in States which do not classify offenses as 
                misdemeanors, is an offense punishable by imprisonment 
                for a term of one year or less, and includes offenses 
                that are punishable only by a fine (offenses are 
                included whether or not the State statute specifically 
                defines the offense as a `misdemeanor' or as a 
                `misdemeanor crime of domestic violence' and also 
                includes all such misdemeanor convictions in Indian 
                Courts established pursuant to 25 C.F.R. party11);
                    ``(ii) has, as an element, the use or attempted use 
                of physical force (e.g., assault and battery), or the 
                threatened use of a deadly weapon; and
                    ``(iii) was committed by a current or former 
                spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim, by a person 
                with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a 
                person who is cohabiting with or has cohabited with the 
                victim as a spouse, parent, or guardian (e.g., the 
                equivalent of a `common law' marriage even if such 
                relationship is not recognized under the law), or a 
                person similarly situated to a spouse, parent, or 
                guardian of the victim (e.g., two persons who are 
                residing at the same location in an intimate 
                relationship with the intent to make that place their 
                home would be similarly situated to a spouse).
            ``(B) A person shall not be considered to have been 
        convicted of such an offense for purposes of this section 
        unless--
                    ``(i) the person is considered to have been 
                convicted by the jurisdiction in which the proceedings 
                were held;
                    ``(ii) the person was represented by counsel in the 
                case, or knowingly and intelligently waived the right 
                to counsel in the case; and
                    ``(iii) in the case of a prosecution for which a 
                person was entitled to a jury trial in the jurisdiction 
                in which the case was tried, either--
                            ``(I) the case was tried by a jury; or
                            ``(II) the person knowingly and 
                        intelligently waived the right to have the case 
                        tried by a jury, by guilty plea or otherwise.
                    ``(iv) A person shall not be considered to have 
                been convicted of such an offense for purposes of this 
                section if the conviction has been expunged or set 
                aside, or is an offense for which the person has been 
                pardoned or has had civil rights restored (if the law 
                of the jurisdiction in which the proceedings were held 
                provides for the loss of civil rights upon conviction 
                for such an offense), unless the pardon, expunction, or 
                restoration of civil rights expressly provides that the 
                person may not ship, transport, possess, or receive 
                firearms, and the person is not otherwise prohibited by 
                the law of the jurisdiction in which the proceedings 
                were held from receiving or possessing any firearms.
            ``(3)(A) The term `persons who are under indictment for, or 
        have been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by 
        imprisonment for a term exceeding one year,' means any person--
                    ``(i) who currently is under indictment (or 
                `information') for a crime punishable by imprisonment 
                for a term exceeding one year, or whose case has been 
                referred to court-martial if that person is in the 
                military; or
                    ``(ii) who has been convicted in any court 
                (including, for example, a military court) of a crime 
                punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one 
                year (`information' refers to a formal accusation of a 
                crime made by a prosecuting attorney, as distinguished 
                from an `indictment' presented by a grand jury). The 
                maximum sentence that may be imposed determines whether 
                a person is under indictment or information for a 
                disabling crime. Similarly, the maximum sentence that 
                may be imposed, rather than the actual sentence, 
                determines whether a person has been convicted of a 
                disabling crime.
            ``(B) Indictments, information, and convictions for the 
        following crimes are exceptions and are not disabling:
                    ``(i) Federal or State offenses pertaining to 
                antitrust offenses, unfair trade practices, and other 
                similar business-related offenses; and
                    ``(ii) State offenses classified by State law as 
                misdemeanors punishable by imprisonment for a term of 2 
                years or less.
            ``(C) Any conviction which has been expunged, set aside, or 
        for which a person has been pardoned or has had civil rights 
        restored remains disabling if;
                    ``(i) the pardon, expunction, or restoration of 
                civil rights expressly provides that the person may not 
                ship, transport, possess, or receive firearms, or
                    ``(ii) the person is prohibited by the law of the 
                jurisdiction where the conviction occurred from 
                receiving or possessing any firearm.
            ``(4) The term `persons who are fugitives from justice' 
        means persons (A) who know they have charges pending against 
        them, even if only for a misdemeanor, and who leave the State 
        of prosecution, or (B) who leave the State in order to avoid 
        giving testimony in any criminal proceeding.
            ``(5)(A) The term `persons who are unlawful users of, or 
        addicted to, any controlled substance' means persons who are--
                    ``(i) unlawful users of, or addicted to, any 
                controlled substance, as defined in section 102 of the 
                Controlled Substances Act. Controlled substances 
                include, but are not limited to, marijuana, 
                depressants, stimulants, and narcotic drugs. They do 
                not include distilled spirits, wine, malt beverages, or 
                tobacco. The use of any illegal controlled substance 
                (such as PCP), or the use of any other controlled 
                substance (such as morphine) in a manner other than as 
                prescribed by a licensed physician, is also unlawful 
                use; or
                    ``(ii) addicted to a controlled substance, meaning 
                any individual who is found to (I) habitually use a 
                controlled substance so as to endanger the health, 
                safety, welfare, or morals of the public, or (II) to 
                have lost the power of self-control with reference to 
                the addition.
            ``(B) To incur firearms disabilities, there must be 
        evidence that a person is a current unlawful user of, or addict 
        to, a controlled substance. Such unlawful use or addiction may 
        be demonstrated by evidence of--
                    ``(i) the recent use of a controlled substance, 
                which is part of a pattern of unlawful use or 
                addiction; or
                    ``(ii) the current unlawful use of, or addiction 
                to, a controlled substance.
            ``(6) The term `persons who are subject to a court order 
        restraining them from committing domestic violence' means any 
        persons who, at the time they apply to receive a firearm, are 
        under a court order that meets the following criteria--
                    ``(A) the order must have been issued after a 
                hearing of which the person subject to the order 
                received actual notice, and at which the person had an 
                opportunity to participate; and
                    ``(B) the order must restrain the person subject to 
                the order from harassing, stalking, or threatening an 
                intimate partner of the person, or a child of the 
                intimate partner or person, or engaging in other 
                conduct that would place an intimate partner in 
                reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or 
                child; and
                    ``(C) the order must include a finding that the 
                person subject to the order represents a credible 
                threat to the physical safety of the intimate partner 
                or child, or the order must explicitly prohibit the 
                use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force 
                against the intimate partner or child that would 
                reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury.
            ``(7) The term `intimate partner' is defined as a spouse, 
        former spouse, an individual who is a parent of a child of the 
        person, or an individual who cohabitates or has cohabited with 
        the person.''
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect on January 1, 2001.
                                 <all>