H.R. 4224

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4224 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4224

To establish a grant program through the Department of Justice to 
incentivize States to establish point-of-contact systems for firearm 
sales subject to a background check, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

June 27, 2025

Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To establish a grant program through the Department of Justice to 
incentivize States to establish point-of-contact systems for firearm 
sales subject to a background check, 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 ``Background Check Point of Contact 
Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. GRANTS ESTABLISHED.

(a) In General.--
(1) Establishment.--The Attorney General may make an annual 
grant of not more than $1,000,000 to each eligible State that 
has conformed to the requirements of this Act. Such grant may 
be renewed for each year that the State remains in such 
conformity. The grant shall be used for the establishment, 
operation, and maintenance of a point-of-contact system as set 
forth in section 3.
(2) Authorization of appropriations.--There are authorized 
to carry out this program not more than $10,000,000 each fiscal 
year.
(3) Matching requirement.--The Federal share of the cost of 
a point-of-contact system carried out using grant funds may not 
exceed 25 percent.
(b) Preference for Other Grants.--The Attorney General shall give 
preference in awards of any discretionary grant administered by the 
Bureau of Justice Assistance to a State that has conformed its laws in 
accordance with this Act.

SEC. 3. POINT-OF-CONTACT SYSTEMS REQUIRED.

To be in compliance with this section, a State shall conform its 
laws to the following:
(1) A point-of-contact system for the sale or transfer of a 
firearm shall be established or maintained, under which a 
person licensed under section 923 of title 18, United States 
Code, may verify that the sale or transfer would be lawful.
(2) A sale or transfer of a firearm may not be completed 
unless the parties to the sale or transfer receive an approval 
number issued by the point-of-contact system not later than 10 
days after the sale or transfer is initiated.
(3) The point-of-contact system may not issue an approval 
number if the system cannot confirm that the sale or transfer 
would be lawful.
(4) A hotline shall be established, to be operated by the 
State, to be used by a person licensed under section 923 of 
title 18, United States Code, for purposes of contacting the 
national instant criminal background check system.
(5) A fund shall be established by the State for the 
operation of the point-of-contact system.
(6) An appeals process in the case of any failure by the 
point-of-contact system to issue an approval number, with the 
burden of proof on the State to prove that there was a valid 
basis for failure to issue shall be established.
(7) For each denial, the information will be transferred to 
the state or local law enforcement agency responsible for 
investigating the denial as a violation of law.

SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENT.

To be in compliance with this section, a State that receives a 
grant under this Act shall publish an annual report that contains 
information substantially similar to the information included in a NICS 
operations report made by the Director of the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation and additionally includes the following:
(1) The number of investigations resulting from failures to 
issue approval numbers.
(2) Results of investigations reported.
(3) Denied appeals that were overturned.
(4) Total number of hours where point of contact system was 
not functional resulting in a halt in processing checks.
(5) The number of persons arrestsed as a result of an 
information transfer under section 3(7).

SEC. 5. ANNUAL AUDIT.

To be in compliance with this section, a State shall submit to an 
annual audit by the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of 
the point-of-contact system established under section 3.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:
(1) The term ``firearm'' has the meaning given such term in 
section 921 of title 18, United States Code.
(2) The terms ``law enforcement agency'' and ``unit of 
local government'' have the meanings given such terms in 
section 901 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 
of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10251).
(3) The term ``State'' includes each of the several States, 
the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and 
any other territory of the United States.
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