Proposed Law Bans Gun Purchases for Individuals on Pretrial Release If Court Orders Restrict Possession

The "Preventing Pretrial Gun Purchases Act" is a straightforward piece of legislation aiming to close a specific gap in federal gun prohibitions. Essentially, if you’re out on bail or pretrial release waiting for a trial, and the judge specifically orders you not to possess a firearm, this bill makes it a federal crime for you to buy, possess, or receive a gun. This prohibition applies whether the order comes from a federal, state, or local court (Sec. 2).

This change expands the existing list of people who are federally prohibited from owning guns. Right now, federal law mostly focuses on convicted felons, those subject to domestic violence restraining orders, or those dishonorably discharged. This bill adds a new category: anyone subject to a “pretrial release order” that explicitly forbids firearm possession. For everyday people, this is a public safety measure intended to keep guns out of the hands of people facing serious charges while they await their day in court, acknowledging that the time between arrest and trial can sometimes be lengthy.

The New Hurdle for Dealers and Courts

For licensed firearm dealers, this means another box they have to check. The bill updates the rules for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and the Gun Control Act, making it illegal for a dealer to sell a gun if the sale would violate this new pretrial prohibition (Sec. 2). This puts the onus on the background check system to flag these specific court orders. If you're a dealer, you now have one more layer of complexity to navigate to ensure compliance, potentially leading to more delayed checks if the court information isn't immediately available.

The real administrative lift falls on state and local courts. To make this prohibition effective, the language in the pretrial release order must specifically forbid the person from having a gun. If a judge simply says, “Don’t break the law,” that won’t trigger the federal prohibition. Courts now need to adopt standardized language for these orders to ensure they make it into the NICS database.

Federal Funding to Get the Word Out

Recognizing that getting local court data into the federal NICS system is a huge technical challenge, the bill includes a financial incentive. Section 4 authorizes the Attorney General to establish a grant program, setting aside $25 million annually from Fiscal Year 2026 through 2030, specifically to help states and tribal governments report these "covered pretrial release orders" into NICS. This is smart—it acknowledges that unfunded mandates often fail, and it provides the necessary resources to improve the completeness of the background check system.

This grant money is crucial because the prohibition is only as good as the data entered into NICS. If a local court in a small county issues a “no guns” pretrial order but doesn't have the resources to report it to the federal system, a person subject to that order could still potentially pass a NICS check at a gun store across state lines. The funding is designed to close that reporting gap. Overall, this bill is a technical but significant expansion of federal gun prohibition authority, directly linking the conditions set by local judges to the federal background check system.