[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3812 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3812

 To provide firearm licensees an opportunity to correct statutory and 
             regulatory violations, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 27, 2024

   Ms. Ernst (for herself, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Braun, Mr. Budd, Mr. 
Cassidy, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Daines, Ms. Lummis, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Mullin, 
 Mr. Ricketts, Mr. Risch, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Tillis, 
Mr. Vance, and Mr. Crapo) introduced the following bill; which was read 
          twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide firearm licensees an opportunity to correct statutory and 
             regulatory violations, 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 Act may be cited as the ``Fighting Irrational Regulatory 
Enforcement to Avert Retailers' Misfortune Act'' or the ``FIREARM 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FIREARM LICENSING REVOCATIONS AND DENIALS.

    (a) Self-Reported Violations; Opportunity To Correct Violations.--
Section 923(e) of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(e)''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2)(A) The Attorney General may not bring an enforcement action 
to revoke, or deny a renewal of, a license for a violation of any 
provision of this chapter or any implementing regulation thereof on the 
basis of a self-reported violation.
    ``(B) In the case of a self-reported violation, the Attorney 
General shall--
            ``(i) assist the licensee to correct the self-reported 
        violation; and
            ``(ii) provide the licensee with instructions and 
        compliance training designed to assist the licensee in avoiding 
        repetition of the self-reported violation in the future.
    ``(3)(A) Before initiating an enforcement action under this 
subsection, the Attorney General shall provide the licensee with actual 
notice of the violation giving rise to the enforcement action, which 
shall include, at a minimum--
            ``(i) a detailed explanation of the substance of the 
        violation;
            ``(ii) all evidence or documentation in the possession of 
        the Attorney General regarding the enforcement action; and
            ``(iii) a statement that the Attorney General will not 
        initiate the enforcement action if the licensee corrects the 
        violation by the date that is 30 business days after the date 
        on which the licensee receives the notice.
    ``(B) The Attorney General may bring an enforcement action under 
this subsection against a licensee described in subparagraph (A) if--
            ``(i) 30 business days have elapsed since the date on which 
        the licensee received the notice of the violation required 
        under that subparagraph; and
            ``(ii) the licensee has not corrected the violation.
    ``(4) The Attorney General may not bring an enforcement action on 
the basis of any violation of any provision of this chapter or any 
implementing regulation thereof that has been corrected pursuant to 
paragraph (2) or (3).''.
    (b) Direct Judicial Review of License Revocations.--Section 923(f) 
of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ``If'' and inserting 
        ``Except as provided in paragraph (3), if'';
            (2) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as paragraphs 
        (4) and (5), respectively; and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
    ``(3)(A) During the 10-business-day period beginning on the date on 
which a license holder receives a written notice of revocation of the 
license under paragraph (1), the license holder, in lieu of requesting 
a hearing under paragraph (2), may file a petition with the United 
States district court for the district in which the license holder 
resides or has his or her principle place of business for a judicial 
review of the revocation.
    ``(B) If a license holder files a petition with a United States 
district court under subparagraph (A), the Attorney General shall stay 
the effective date of the revocation until the court issues a judgment.
    ``(C) In a proceeding conducted under this paragraph, the court may 
consider any evidence submitted by the parties to the proceeding.
    ``(D) If the court decides that the Attorney General was not 
authorized to revoke the license, the court shall order the Attorney 
General to take such action as may be necessary to comply with the 
judgment of the court.''.
    (c) Definitions.--Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(38) The term `self-reported violation' means a violation by a 
licensee of any provision of this chapter or any implementing 
regulation thereof that the licensee reports to the Attorney General 
before the Attorney General discovers the violation during an 
inspection of the licensee under this chapter.
    ``(39) The term `willfully' has the meaning given the term in 
section 5336(h) of title 31, except that--
            ``(A) the term only includes conduct resulting from or 
        achieved through deliberate planning or specific intent;
            ``(B) willfulness shall not be inferred from previous 
        conduct; and
            ``(C) minor, clerical, or curable conduct is presumptively 
        not willful.''.
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