Firearm Due Process Protection Act of 2025

The bill would amend 18 U.S.C. § 925A to expand the circumstances under which a person can seek judicial relief related to a firearm transfer. Currently, that statute covers individuals who were erroneously denied a firearm. This bill would add a new ground: being aggrieved by a violation of the 60-day deadline for NICS to make a final disposition on a request to correct its records. In those court actions, the bill would require a hearing within 30 days of filing, place the burden on the government to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the individual is ineligible, and award attorney fees and litigation costs to a substantially prevailing complainant.

The bill would not restructure NICS itself or change the substantive eligibility criteria for firearm purchases. A separate provision would require the FBI Director to submit annual written reports to both Judiciary Committees detailing how many NICS record challenges were received, processed, reversed, and upheld each year, along with the average processing time. The bill also includes a non-binding Sense of Congress on due process and the right to bear arms.

Individuals who have been denied a firearm purchase or who have experienced a delay of more than 60 days in NICS processing a request to correct its records — and who then seek judicial relief. The government (as respondent in those actions) would bear new procedural burdens and potential attorney-fee liability. Federal courts would be subject to new mandatory hearing timelines.

Individuals who believe NICS has wrongly denied or stalled their firearm transfer would gain stronger tools: a guaranteed court hearing within 30 days, a government burden of proof rather than their own, and reimbursement of attorney fees if they win. For the government, these changes raise the cost and difficulty of defending prolonged NICS delays or erroneous denials in court.

Once a qualifying action is filed in federal court, the court would be required to hold a hearing within 30 days. At that hearing, the government — not the individual — bears the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that the person is ineligible to receive or possess a firearm. If the complainant substantially prevails (through a court order, consent decree, or unilateral government concession), the court must assess attorney fees and litigation costs against the government. Separately, the FBI Director must produce an annual report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees tracking NICS challenge volume, reversal rates, reasons for decisions, and average processing time.