HR 4198119th CongressIn Committee

Clean Hands Firearm Procurement Act

Introduced: Jun 26, 2025

Civil Rights & Justice

Standard Summary

Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs

The Clean Hands Firearm Procurement Act would require the Attorney General, through ATF’s National Tracing Center, to publicly publish an annual list of “covered firearms dealers.” A dealer is designated as covered if, in at least two of the prior three calendar years, ATF tracing shows that at least 25 firearms traced to that dealer had a time-to-crime of 3 years or less. Federal agencies would be prohibited from contracting with any dealer listed as covered for the current year or the two preceding years, with a possible national-security waiver in limited cases. The statute also sets a 180-day effective date after enactment and mandates regular publication of the list at least every year thereafter. The goal appears to be to steer federal procurement away from dealers with a history of rapid-crime-linked traces, by creating a transparency and exclusion framework tied to trace data.

Key Points

1Public list of covered firearms dealers: The Attorney General, via ATF, must publish or make publicly available a list of covered dealers within 120 days after enactment and annually thereafter.
2Procurement prohibition: Federal agencies may not contract with a covered dealer during the current calendar year or either of the two preceding calendar years.
3National security waiver: The Attorney General can waive the ban for a contract if requested by the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of Homeland Security to protect national security; such waivers require notifying the relevant House and Senate Judiciary Committee leaders (notice may be classified).
4Effective date: The ban and related provisions take effect 180 days after enactment.
5Definitions and criteria: A “covered firearms dealer” is a licensed dealer that, in at least two of the three calendar years before publication, had at least 25 firearms traced to its business with a time-to-crime of 3 years or less. Time-to-crime is defined as the period between the last known retail sale and recovery by law enforcement in relation to a crime.

Impact Areas

Primary group/area affected- Federally licensed firearms dealers who meet the defined trace criteria and are ultimately listed as “covered,” potentially limiting their eligibility for federal contracts.- Federal procurement and contracting agencies, which would need to screen vendors against the annual list and adjust contracting practices accordingly.Secondary group/area affected- ATF and the National Tracing Center, which would administer and publish the list, using its trace data to determine coverage status.- National defense and homeland security agencies, which could seek waivers to continue work with certain dealers for national security reasons.Additional impacts- Data transparency and accountability in federal procurement: The bill ties contracting eligibility to trace data, potentially increasing oversight of dealer quality by federal buyers.- Compliance and administrative burden: Agencies may need to update procurement processes to exclude covered dealers, and dealers may seek to monitor their status on the list.- Potential civil or legal concerns: The process relies on trace data and gatekeeping without an explicit due-process or appeal mechanism described in the bill, which could raise questions about accuracy, fairness, or error correction.- Market implications for dealers: Dealers flagged as covered could face reduced federal business, which may influence practices, record-keeping, and compliance with trace data reporting.

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