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Model Legislation

Public Safety and Elections

Criminal History Record Check for Firearm Sales Act

Did you know the
NRA--the National
Rifle Association-was the corporate
co-chair in 2011?

Summary
This Act would require that, in addition to obtaining identification information, firearms
dealers make a criminal history check on potential buyers of firearms before sale or
transfer. The state Department of Public Safety would be required to establish a toll-free
number that could be accessed by the dealer. Rules and procedures would be
established to ensure confidentiality, efficiency, and accountability, and exemptions
would be granted for transfers between dealers, purchases by law enforcement officers,
and antique firearms.

Model Legislation
{Title, enacting clause, etc.}
Section 1. {Title.} This Act may be cited as the Criminal History Record Check for
Firearms Sales Act.

Section 2. {Requirements of firearms dealers.} No licensed importer, licensed
manufacturer, or licensed dealer shall sell or deliver from his inventory at his licensed
premises any firearm as defined in [cite appropriate state law] to another person, other
than a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector,
until he or she has:

(A) obtained a completed consent form from the potential buyer or transferee, which
form shall have been promulgated by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and
provided by the licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer, which shall
include only the name, birth date, gender, race, and social security number or other
identification number of such potential buyer or transferee;

ALEC’s’Corporate Board

(B) inspected identification containing a photograph of the potential buyer or transferee;

--in recent past or present

(C) requested, by means of a toll-free telephone call, that the DPS conduct a criminal
history record check; and

• AT&T Services, Inc.
• centerpoint360
• UPS
• Bayer Corporation
• GlaxoSmithKline
• Energy Future Holdings
• Johnson & Johnson
• Coca-Cola Company
• PhRMA
• Kraft Foods, Inc.
• Coca-Cola Co.
• Pfizer Inc.
• Reed Elsevier, Inc.
• DIAGEO
• Peabody Energy
• Intuit, Inc.
• Koch Industries, Inc.
• ExxonMobil
• Verizon
• Reynolds American Inc.
• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
• Salt River Project
• Altria Client Services, Inc.
• American Bail Coalition
• State Farm Insurance
For more on these corporations,
search at www.SourceWatch.org.

(D) received a unique approval number for that inquiry from the DPS, and recorded the
date and such number on the consent form.

Section 3. {Requirements of the Department of Public Safety.} Upon
receipt of a request for a criminal history record check, the DPS shall immediately,
during the licensee's call or by return call, forthwith:

(A) review its criminal history records to determine if the potential buyer or transferee is
prohibited from receipt or possession of a firearm pursuant to [state] or federal law;
(B) provide the licensee making the inquiry either:
(1) the information that its records demonstrate that the potential buyer or transferee is
so prohibited; or
(2) a unique approval number.

Section 4. {System failure procedures.} In the event of electronic failure or

similar emergency beyond the control of the DPS, the DPS shall immediately notify the
requesting licensee of the reason for, and estimated length of, such delay. After such
notification, the DPS shall forthwith, and in no event later than the end of the next
business day of the licensee, either:
(A) inform the licensee that its records demonstrate that the potential buyer or
transferee is prohibited from receipt or possession of a firearm pursuant to [state] or
federal law; or
(B) provide the licensee with a unique approval number. Unless notified by the end of
said next business day that the potential buyer or transferee is so prohibited, and

Exposed

By the Center for
Media and Democracy
www.prwatch.org

without regard to whether he has received a unique approval number, the licensee may
complete the sale or delivery and shall not be deemed in violation of this section with
respect to such sale or delivery.

Section 5. {Confidentiality of records.}
(A) Any records containing any of the information set forth in Section 2, Subsection (A)
pertaining to a potential buyer or transferee who is not found to be prohibited from
receipt or transfer of a firearm by reason of state or federal law, which are created by the
DPS to conduct the criminal history record check shall be confidential and may not be
disclosed by the DPS or any officer or employee thereof to any person or to another
agency. The DPS shall destroy any such records forthwith after it communicates the
corresponding approval number to the licensee and, in any event, such records shall be
destroyed 48 hours after the day of the receipt of the licensee's request.
(B) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the DPS may maintain only a log of
dates of requests for criminal history records checks and unique approval numbers
corresponding to such dates for a period of not longer than one year.
(C) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to allow the State of [state] to maintain
records containing the names of licensees who receive unique approval numbers or to
maintain records of firearm transactions, including the names or other identification of
licensees and potential buyers or transferees, including persons not otherwise prohibited
by law from the receipt or possession of firearms.

Section 6. {Toll-free number.} The DPS shall establish a toll-free number, which

shall be operational seven days a week between the hours of [hours] for the purposes of
responding to inquiries as described in this Act from licensed manufacturers, licensed
importers, and licensed dealers. The DPS shall employ and train such personnel as are
necessary to administer expeditiously the provisions of this Act.

Section 7. {Right to petition the DPS.} Any person who is denied the right to

receive or purchase a firearm as a result of the procedures established by this Act may
request amendment of the record pertaining to him by petitioning the DPS. If the DPS
fails to amend the record within seven days, the person requesting the amendment may
petition the circuit court of the county of residence for an order directing the DPS to
amend the record. The court shall award the petitioner an attorney's fee if it determines
that the record should have been amended by the DPS. If the record as corrected
demonstrates that such person is not prohibited from receipt or possession of a firearm
by [state] or federal law, the DPS shall destroy any records it maintains which contain
any information derived from the criminal history records check set forth in Section 2
Subsection (A).

Section 8. {Regulations to ensure confidentiality.} The DPS shall promulgate
regulations to ensure the identity, confidentiality, and security of all records and data
provided pursuant to this Act.

Section 9. {Conditions that allow exemptions from compliance.} A licensed
importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer is not required to comply with the
provisions of this Act in the event of:
(A) unavailability of telephone service at the licensed premises due to:
(1) the failure of the entity that provides telephone service in the state, region, or other
failure of the entity which provides telephone service to the premises of the licensee is
located of said premises, or;
(2) the interruption of telephone service by reason of hurricane, tornado, flood, natural
disaster, or other act of God, or war, invasion, insurrection, riot, or other bona fide
emergency, or other reason beyond the control of the licensee; or
(B) failure of the DPS to comply reasonably with the requirements of Sections 3 and 4 of
this Act.

Section 10. {Liability protection.} Compliance with the provisions of this section

shall be a complete defense to any claim or cause of action under the laws of this state
for liability for damages arising from the importation or manufacture, or the subsequent
sale or transfer of any firearm which has been shipped or transported in interstate or
foreign commerce to any person who has been convicted in any court of a crime
punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.

Section 11. {Firearms that are exempted.} The provisions of this Act shall not
apply to:

(A) any firearm (including any firearm with a matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or
similar type of ignition system) manufactured in or before 1898;
(B) any replica of any firearm described in Subsection (A) of this Section if such replica:
(1) is not designed or redesigned to use rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed
ammunition; or
(2) uses rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition which is no longer
manufactured in the United States and which is not readily available in the ordinary
channels of commercial trade;
(C) firearms transacted at a gun show; and
(D) firearms purchased or transferred by buyers or transferees who are holders of valid
permits/licenses to carry concealed deadly weapons pursuant to state law.

Section 12. {Penalty for misuse of the toll free number.} Any licensed
dealer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed importer who willfully and intentionally

dealer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed importer who willfully and intentionally
requests a criminal history record check from the DPS for any purpose other than
compliance with Section 2, or willfully and intentionally disseminates any criminal history
record information shall be guilty of a [highest degree] misdemeanor.

Section 13. Any person who, in connection with the purchase, transfer, or attempted

purchase or transfer of a firearm pursuant to Section 2, willfully and intentionally makes
any materially false oral or written statement or willfully and intentionally furnishes or
exhibits any false identification intended or likely to deceive the licensee shall be guilty of
a [lowest degree] felony.

Section 14. {Penalty for violation of this Act.} Any licensed importer, licensed

manufacturer, or licensed dealer who willfully and intentionally sells or delivers a firearm
in violation of this Act shall be guilty of a [highest degree] misdemeanor.

Section 15. {Annual report.} The DPS shall provide the Judiciary Committees of the
Senate and House of Representatives an annual report including the number of inquiries
made pursuant to this section for the prior calendar year. This report shall include, but
not be limited to, the number of inquiries received from licensees, the number of
inquiries resulting in a determination that the potential buyer or transferee was
prohibited from receipt or possession of a firearm pursuant to [state] or federal law, the
estimated costs of administering this section, the number of instances in which a person
requests amendment of the record pertaining to such person pursuant to Section 7, and
the number of instances in which the circuit court issues an order directing the DPS to
amend a record pursuant to Section 7.

Section 16. {Severability clause.}
Section 17. {Repealer clause.}
Section 18. {Effective date.} This Act shall become effective at such time as the

DPS has notified all licensed importers, licensed manufacturers, and licensed dealers in
writing that the procedures and toll-free number described in this section are
operational. This Act shall remain in effect only during such times as the procedures
described in Section 3 remain operational.

ALEC's Sourcebook of American State Legislation 1995
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