Reps. Kathleen Rice & Mike Turner Introduce Bill to Help Prevent Domestic Abusers from Buying Guns Bipartisan bill creates incentives for states to improve reporting of domestic violence records to federal background check systems

Press Release

U.S. Representatives Kathleen Rice (D-NY) and Mike Turner (R-OH) today introduced H.R. 4600, the Domestic Violence Records Reporting Improvement Act, to help prevent domestic abusers from purchasing firearms. H.R. 4600, which was introduced at the start of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, creates incentives for states to provide complete domestic violence records to federal background check databases.

Rep. Rice made the announcement at Bethany House in Baldwin, where she was joined by Linda Beigel Schulman, whose son Scott was killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida in 2018. Linda has become a tireless gun control advocate and was instrumental in helping pass New York State's red flag law. Rep. Rice was also joined by members of the Long Island chapter of Moms Demand Action, as well as representatives from Long Island Against Domestic Violence, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, Bethany House, and The Safe Center Long Island.

"We cannot ignore the lethal relationship between domestic violence and firearms. Research has shown that victims of domestic violence are five times more likely to be killed if their partner owns a gun," said Representative Rice. "That's why people convicted of certain domestic violence offenses are legally prohibited from buying a gun. But all too often, those convicted of such an offense are still able to pass a background check and buy a gun because their records haven't been reported. Our bipartisan bill would help fix that. It creates common-sense incentives for states to improve their reporting of domestic violence records so that we can enforce our laws, keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, and save lives."

"I am proud to be the Republican lead on this bill to take reasonable steps towards improving the way we report domestic violence, criminal history, and mental health cases to protect our citizens and save lives," said Representative Turner. "We continue to hear the same story after each mass shooting: there were warning signs that the shooter should not have had access to a firearm. The mass shooter in Dayton passed a background check. We need to do more to prevent these tragedies."

H.R. 4600, encourages states to improve domestic violence records in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) by making them eligible for NICS Act Record Improvement Program (NARIP) grants if the primary purpose of the grant is to improve the accessibility of domestic violence records in NICS. NARIP grants are available to states specifically to improve the reporting of criminal history, mental health, and protection order records to NICS for gun purchaser background checks. However, states are currently not eligible for these grants if they haven't implemented a program that provides a way for people subject to the mental health disqualifiers to regain their gun eligibility. H.R. 4600 removes that legal barrier so that states that want to improve domestic violence reporting are not denied funding that can help them to do so.

H.R. 4600 has been endorsed by broad coalition of gun violence and domestic violence prevention organizations including: Giffords, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NYSCADV), Joyful Heart Foundation, Newtown Action Alliance, Survivors Lead, Vision Quilt, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV), Ohio Domestic Violence Network (ODVN), Brady United Against Gun Violence, National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH), Everytown for Gun Safety, March for Our Lives, and the Violence Policy Center.

"Each year, more than 600 women in America are shot and killed by an intimate partner. That's one woman every 16 hours," said Robin Lloyd, Managing Director of Giffords. "This statistic should not only horrify us, it should motivate our elected leaders to do something about it. That's why I'm grateful to Representatives Rice and Turner for introducing the Domestic Violence Records Reporting Improvement Act. It's critical that we do everything in our power to ensure disqualifying records are put into the NICS system so domestic abusers cannot access guns, making violent situations even deadlier. This bill will help make it easier for states to ensure this happens, making women and families in every community safer."

"The presence of a gun increases the risk of fatality by 500% for people affected by domestic violence," said Katie Ray-Jones, CEO of the National Domestic Violence Hotline. "The Hotline commends the introduction of the Domestic Violence Records Reporting Improvement Act , which, if passed, will help close an important loophole to keep abusers from having access to guns and effectively save lives."

"We are proud to support Representatives Rice and Turner's bipartisan effort to reduce gun deaths in America with a bill that will help to keep guns away from domestic abusers," said Po Murray, Chairwoman of Newtown Action Alliance. "American women are 25 times more likely to be killed by guns than women in other high-income countries and most mass shooting incidents in our nation are related to domestic violence. We encourage all Members of Congress to support and pass this life-saving legislation to prevent domestic abusers from killing their intimate partners with guns."

"The relationship between domestic violence and gun violence cannot be overstated," said Brady president Kris Brown. "Convictions for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence is the third-most frequent reason for the denial of a Brady Background Check, behind only felony convictions and outstanding arrest warrants, and making sure that records in the system are complete and up to date is vital for saving lives."
"Most intimate partner homicides are committed by abusers wielding firearms," said the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence's President and CEO, Ruth Glenn. "Abusers should not have access to guns -- period. This important legislation builds on the Fix NICS Act by improving the submission of disqualifying protection orders and convictions into the firearms background check system. The mass shooting in a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas illustrated the deadly consequences of the failure to submit these records. It was a preventable tragedy. The Domestic Violence Records Reporting Improvement Act will help prevent future intimate partner homicides and mass murder."

The full text of H.R. 4600 is available here.

Additional Background on HR. 4600:

Research has shown that victims of domestic violence are at a much higher risk of being killed if their abuser owns or has access to a gun. In fact, of all women shot to death in the U.S each year, half are shot by their intimate partners. That's why federal law restricts gun ownership for individuals who have been convicted of certain domestic violence misdemeanors as well as individuals who are subject to certain kinds of restraining orders. However, domestic abusers who meet these criteria are still often able to pass background checks and buy guns because the federal background check system lacks sufficient information on domestic violence records.

The federal background check requirement involves a search through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), a group of databases maintained by the FBI using information provided primarily by states and local governments. The extent to which domestic violence records are accessible during a NICS background check varies significantly from state to state. Many states have no protocols to distinguish misdemeanor domestic violence convictions from other misdemeanor convictions in their records, and many states do not provide sufficient information to NICS about domestic violence restraining orders. Without this information, NICS cannot readily identify whether a conviction or restraining order disqualifies a person from possessing a gun, meaning that domestic abusers can still pass a NICS background check. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), inadequacies in the available records allowed domestic abusers to pass background checks and obtain guns more than 6,700 times between 2006 and 2015.

The Domestic Violence Records Reporting Improvement Act of 2019 would encourage states to submit domestic violence records to NICS. The bill would allow all states to be eligible for NARIP grants, if the primary purpose of the grant is to improve the accessibility of domestic violence records in NICS. Currently, twenty-one states are not eligible for NARIP grants because they do not have a qualifying program in place that provides individuals subject to the mental health disqualifiers a way to regain firearm eligibility.

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