Preventing Pretrial Gun Purchases Act
The Preventing Pretrial Gun Purchases Act would tighten firearm background checks by ensuring that anyone who is legally prohibited from possessing a firearm due to a court-ordered pretrial release cannot buy, possess, or receive a gun. The bill adds pretrial release orders to the categories that bar firearm transfers and aligns various gun-law provisions to reflect this new prohibition. It also creates a federal grant program to help States and Indian Tribes report pretrial release orders to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), aiming to improve the accuracy and reach of checks nationwide. In short, if a person is subject to a lawful pretrial release order that bans firearm possession, the background check system would be required to deny their purchase, and States would be funded to report such orders to NICS to support that denial.
Key Points
- 1Adds “pretrial release order” to the list of conditions that can prohibit firearm possession and strengthens the background check process to deny purchases by individuals under such orders.
- 2Amends 18 U.S.C. (the Gun Control Act) to treat a pretrial release order as a bar on purchasing, possessing, or receiving firearms, and makes licensees (gun sellers) aware that transfers to such individuals would violate the law.
- 3Makes conforming changes to related gun laws and reporting frameworks (including sections 923, 925A, the Brady Act, and the NICS Improvement Amendments Act) so that pretrial-release-based prohibitions are consistently applied across statutes.
- 4Establishes a new grant program for States and Indian Tribes to report covered pretrial release orders to NICS, defining eligible uses and ensuring these orders feed into background checks.
- 5Authorizes $25 million per fiscal year (2026–2030) to fund the State/Tribe reporting grants, in addition to existing historical reporting programs.