[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 96 (Thursday, June 16, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S4320]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 4759. Mr. BOOZMAN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
by him to the bill H.R. 2578, making appropriations for the Departments
of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal
year ending September 30, 2016, and for other purposes; which was
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
Sec. ___. (a) Congress finds that not addressing appeals of
determinations made by the National Instant Criminal
Background Check System (commonly referred to as ``NICS'')
deprives law-abiding citizens of their--
(1) right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment
to the Constitution of the United States; and
(2) due process rights under the Fifth Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States.
(b) The Federal Bureau of Investigation (referred to in
this section as the ``FBI''), in accordance with the
commitment of the President to hire more than 230 new NICS
examiners and staff, announced on January 4, 2016, shall use
amounts made available for salaries and expenses of the
Bureau, and may not use any other amounts made available to
the Bureau--
(1) to pay NICS examiners to process new appeals of NICS
determinations and make a final disposition of each appeal
not later than 90 days after the date of receipt of the
appeal; and
(2) to pay NICS examiners to--
(A) eliminate the current backlog of appeals not later than
1 year after the date of enactment of this Act; and
(B) continue to add individuals to the voluntary appeal
file (commonly referred to as the ``VAF'') to prevent
subsequent delays and erroneous denials.
(c) The FBI may not cease the review or final disposition
of appeals of NICS determinations on or after the date of
enactment of this Act.
(d) The FBI shall submit to Congress an annual report on
the disposition of appeals of NICS determinations during the
previous year that includes--
(1) the number of NICS checks on individuals that were--
(A) conducted by the FBI; or
(B) conducted by a Point of Contact (commonly referred to
as ``POC'') State or local agency;
(2) with respect to the NICS checks described in paragraph
(1), the number of denials of firearm transfers that resulted
from checks--
(A) conducted by the FBI; or
(B) conducted by a POC State or local agency;
(3) with respect to the denials of firearm transfers
described in paragraph (2), the number of denials resulting
from NICS checks conducted by--
(A) the FBI that were appealed; or
(B) a POC State or local agency that were appealed--
(i) to the POC State or local agency; or
(ii) to the FBI;
(4) with respect to the appeals described in--
(A) subparagraph (A) or (B)(ii) of paragraph (3), that
number that were reversed by the FBI for--
(i) FBI denials; or
(ii) POC State or local agency denials; or
(B) subparagraph (B)(i) of paragraph (3), the number that
were reversed by the POC State or local agency; and
(5) the number of FBI denials that involved a VAF
application without a preceding appeal of a NICS denial.
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