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![handle is hein.crs/govegds0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service
nforming the legislitive debate since 1914
Updated April 11, 2022
Firearms Eligibility: Stalking- and Domestic Violence-Related
Provisions in H.R. 1620
In March 2022, the 117th Congress passed the Violence
Against Women Act [VAWA] Reauthorization Act of
2022, by folding a Senate-introduced bill, S. 3623, into the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 (P.L. 117-103). The
VAWA reauthorization includes the NICS Denial
Notification Act of 2022, provisions of which require the
Attorney General to notify federal, state, tribal, territorial,
and local authorities about NICS denials within 24 hours,
and to cross-deputize those authorities to increase federal
investigation and prosecution of firearms-related eligibility
offenses tied to domestic violence.
In March 2021, the House passed a VAWA reauthorization
bill (H.R. 1620) that included similar NICS denial
notification provisions in a House-passed VAWA
reauthorization bill, H.R. 1620. However, the House-passed
bill included other provisions that were not enacted under
P.L. 117-103. Those House-passed provisions in H.R. 1620
would have amended federal law to (1) prohibit persons
convicted of misdemeanor stalking crimes from receiving
or possessing a firearm or ammunition; (2) revise related
provisions governing domestic violence protection orders;
and (3) redefine the term intimate partner to capture
former dating partners, as a means to close off the
boyfriend loophole. The House previously passed a bill
with provisions similar to those in H.R. 1620 in the 116th
Congress (H.R. 1585).
Prohibited Persons and Domestic
VoIlenCe
Current law (18 U.S.C. §922(g)) prohibits nine categories
of persons from receiving or possessing firearms or
ammunition; and (18 U.S.C. §922(d)) prohibits any person
from transferring or otherwise disposing of a firearm or
ammunition to any person if the transferor has reasonable
cause to believe the transferee would be prohibited under
one of those nine categories. Two of those categories speak
directly to domestic violence:
persons under court-order restraints related to
harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate
partner or child of such intimate partner (18 U.S.C.
§§922(d)(8) and (g)(8)); and
persons convicted of a misdemeanor crime of
domestic violence (18 U.S.C. §§922(d)(9) and
(g)(9)).
Intirate Partner Definition
Under current law, the term intimate partner means, with
respect to a person, the spouse of the person, a former
spouse of the person, an individual who is a parent of a
child of the person, and an individual who cohabitates or
has cohabitated with the person (18 U.S.C. §921(a)(32)).
H.R. 1620 would have expanded this definition to include
a dating partner or former dating partner (as defined
in section 2266 [of Title 18, United States Code]);
and
any other person similarly situated to a spouse who
is protected by the domestic or family violence laws
of the State or tribal jurisdiction in which the injury
occurred or where the victim resides.
Under 18 U.S.C. §2266(a)(10), the term dating partner
refers to a person who is or has been in a social relationship
of a romantic or intimate nature with the abuser; and the
existence of such a relationship is based on a consideration
of (1) the length of the relationship; (2) the type of
relationship; and (3) the frequency of interaction between
the persons involved in the relationship.
Misdemeanor Crime of Staking
H.R. 1620 would have made any person convicted of a
misdemeanor crime of stalking a tenth category of
prohibited persons. It would have defined such a crime as
any misdemeanor stalking offense under federal, state,
tribal, or municipal law; and one that (1) is a course of
harassment, intimidation, or surveillance of another person
that places that person in reasonable fear of material harm
to the health or safety of her or himself, an immediate
family member of that person, a household member of that
person, or a spouse or intimate partner of that person; or (2)
causes, attempts to cause, or would reasonably be expected
to cause, emotional distress to any of those persons.
The proposed definition would have been subject to certain
mitigating factors. A person would not have been
considered to have been convicted of a misdemeanor crime
of stalking, unless (1) the person was represented by
counsel in the case, or (2) they knowingly and intelligently
waived the right to counsel in the case. In the case of a
prosecution for a misdemeanor crime of stalking for which
a person was entitled to a jury trial, a person would not
have been considered convicted in the jurisdiction in which
the case was tried, unless (1) the case was tried by a jury; or
(2) the person knowingly and intelligently waived the right
to have the case tried by a jury, by guilty plea, or otherwise.
Protection Orders or Court-Order Restraints
H.R. 1620 would have also expanded the scope of
protection orders or court-order restraints under 18
U.S.C. §§922(d)(8) and (g)(8). Under current law these
provisions prohibit any person from firearms receipt,
possession, or transfer, who is subject to a court order that:](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govegds0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)