![handle is hein.crs/goveiti0001 and id is 1 raw text is: * Congressional Research Service
Informing the legislitive diebate since 1914
September 9, 2022
Firearms Eligibility: Domestic Violence and Dating Partners
On June 25, 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the
Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA; P.L. 117-159).
Section 12005 of this law amends the Gun Control Act of
1968 (GCA; 18 U.S.C. §§921-934) to expand the
misdemeanor crime of domestic violence (MCDV) firearm
prohibition to include dating partners, in addition to
spouses, former spouses, and cohabitants. The aim of this
provision is to reduce firearms-related intimate partner
violence (homicide and injury). Advocates for this
provision see it as partially closing gaps in federal law in
terms of firearms eligibility and persons with a history of
domestic violence, otherwise known as the boyfriend
loophole. Notably, the House-passed Violence Against
Women Act (VAWA) Reauthorization Act of 2021 (H.R.
1620) would have expanded the GCA's domestic violence
protective order (DVPO) firearm prohibition to include
dating partners and persons similarly situated to spouses,
but those specific provisions were not included when H.R.
1620 was enacted as part of the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2022 (P.L. 117-103).
Prohibted Persons Under the GCA
Under the GCA, there are nine categories of persons
prohibited from receiving and possessing firearms or
ammunition (18 U.S.C. §§922(g)(1) through (9)). They
include (1) convicted felons, (2) fugitives from justice, (3)
unlawful drug users, (4) mentally incompetent individuals
deemed to be a danger to themselves or others, (5)
unlawfully present aliens, (6) persons discharged from the
U.S. military under dishonorable conditions, (7) persons
who have renounced their U.S. citizenship, (8) persons
subject to domestic violence protection orders; and (9)
domestic violence misdemeanants.
As to DVPOs, in 1994, Congress adopted an amendment
offered by Senator Paul Wellstone that prohibits individuals
who are subject to protection orders or court-order
restraints related to harassing, stalking, or threatening an
intimate partner or child of such intimate partner from
receiving or possessing firearms or ammunition (S.Amdt.
1179 to S. 1607, a bill folded into P.L. 103-322; codified at
18 U.S.C. §§922(d)(8) and (g)(8)).
As to MCDVs, in 1996, Congress adopted an amendment
offered by Senator Frank Lautenberg to prohibit persons
convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence
from receiving or possessing a firearm. Ineligible domestic
violence misdemeanants include any current or former
spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim, a person with
whom the victim shares a child in common, a person who is
cohabiting with or has cohabited with the victim as a
spouse, parent, or guardian, or a person similarly situated to
a spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim (S.Amdt. 5241 to
H.R. 3756, a bill folded into P.L. 104-208; codified at 18
U.S.C. §§922(d)(9) and (g)(9)).
Under a parallel subsection, it is also unlawful for anyone
under any circumstances to sell or otherwise dispose of a
firearm or ammunition to any prohibited persons, if the
transferor (seller) has reasonable cause to believe that the
transferee (buyer) is a person prohibited from receiving
those items (18 U.S.C. §§922(d)(1) through (9)). Violations
are punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment. In 1986,
Congress amended the GCA felony prohibition, which
previously prohibited persons under felony indictment from
receiving or possessing firearms, to prohibit such persons
from receiving, but not possessing, firearms or ammunition
(P.L. 99-308; 18 U.S.C. §922(n)). Violations are punishable
by up to five years' imprisonment.
Current or Recent Former Dating
Relationsh ip
Section 12005 of the BSCA amends and expands the GCA
definition of misdemeanor crime of domestic violence to
include any person who has a current or recent former
dating relationship with the victim (18 U.S.C.
§921(a)(33)(A)). Under this subparagraph, as amended (in
italics), a qualifying offense must meet two conditions:
(i) is a misdemeanor under Federal, State, Tribal,
or local law; and
(ii) has, as an element, the use or attempted use of
physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly
weapon, committed by a current or former spouse,
parent, or guardian of the victim, by a person with
whom the victim shares a child in common, by a
person who is cohabiting with or has cohabited with
the victim as a spouse, parent, or guardian, by a
person similarly situated to a spouse, parent, or
guardian of the victim, or by a person who has a
current or recent former dating relationship with
the victim. [Emphasis added]
Correspondingly, the BSCA amends the GCA at 18 U.S.C.
§921(a)(37), to define dating relationship as
(A) a relationship between individuals who have or
have recently had a continuing serious relationship
of a romantic or intimate nature.
(B) Whether a relationship constitutes a dating
relationship under subparagraph (A) shall be
determined based on consideration of-
(i) the length of the relationship;
(ii) the nature of the relationship; and](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/goveiti0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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