Bill Text: TX HB883 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to requiring a licensed firearms dealer to report certain sales or transfers of multiple firearms or firearm magazines to law enforcement; creating a criminal offense.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-11-12 - Filed [HB883 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-HB883-Introduced.html

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89R4505 AJZ-D
By: Moody H.B. No. 883

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to requiring a licensed firearms dealer to report certain
sales or transfers of multiple firearms or firearm magazines to law
enforcement; creating a criminal offense.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Title 6, Business & Commerce Code, is amended by
adding Chapter 205 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 205. REPORTS OF CERTAIN MULTIPLE TRANSFERS
SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 205.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Department" means the Department of Public Safety
of the State of Texas.
(2) "Firearm" has the meaning assigned by Section
46.01, Penal Code.
(3) "Licensed firearms dealer" means a person who is
licensed as a firearms dealer under 18 U.S.C. Section 923.
SUBCHAPTER B. REQUIRED REPORTING OF CERTAIN MULTIPLE TRANSFERS
Sec. 205.051. REPORT BY LICENSED FIREARMS DEALER TO
DEPARTMENT. (a) This section applies only to a sale or transfer
that:
(1) is made to the same transferee, other than a
licensed firearms dealer, on a single occasion or on more than one
occasion during a period of five consecutive business days; and
(2) consists of:
(A) two or more firearms; or
(B) four or more detachable firearm magazines,
other than detachable firearm magazines that are originally
packaged with a firearm by the manufacturer and sold or otherwise
transferred in the original packaging.
(b) A licensed firearms dealer shall report to the
department, in the form and manner prescribed by the department
under Section 205.101, the multiple sales or transfers described by
Subsection (a).
(c) Before completing a sale or transfer of any firearm or
any detachable firearm magazine described by Subsection (a)(2)(B),
the licensed firearms dealer making the sale or transfer shall:
(1) review the items in the current sale or transfer
and any recent previous sales and transfers by the dealer to that
transferee to determine whether the reporting duties of this
subchapter apply to the dealer as a result of that sale or transfer;
and
(2) submit a report, if required, under Subsection
(b).
(d) Information in a report submitted by a licensed firearms
dealer to the department under this section:
(1) is confidential and not subject to disclosure
under Chapter 552, Government Code; and
(2) may not be transmitted, used, or preserved for the
purpose of a registry or other database of information relating to
firearm owners, firearms, or firearm magazines.
(e) Subsection (d)(2) does not apply to the transmission,
use, or preservation of report information for inclusion in the
following databases:
(1) the National Instant Criminal Background Check
System; and
(2) a database maintained by the Texas Crime
Information Center or the National Crime Information Center.
Sec. 205.052. REPORT BY DEPARTMENT TO SHERIFF. (a) Not
later than 24 hours after receiving a report from a licensed
firearms dealer under Section 205.051(b), the department shall
transmit the report to:
(1) the sheriff of each county in which the applicable
sales or transfers occurred; and
(2) the sheriff of the county in which the transferee
resides.
(b) Information in a report submitted by the department to a
county sheriff under Subsection (a):
(1) is confidential and not subject to disclosure
under Chapter 552, Government Code; and
(2) may not be transmitted, used, or preserved for the
purpose of a registry or other database of information relating to
firearm owners, firearms, or firearm magazines.
(c) Subsection (b)(2) does not apply to the transmission,
use, or preservation of report information for inclusion in the
following databases:
(1) the National Instant Criminal Background Check
System; and
(2) a database maintained by the Texas Crime
Information Center or the National Crime Information Center.
Sec. 205.053. OFFENSE. (a) A licensed firearms dealer who,
with criminal negligence, violates Section 205.051 commits an
offense.
(b) An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.
SUBCHAPTER C. FORMS
Sec. 205.101. FORM FOR SUBMISSION OF FIREARMS DEALER
REPORT. (a) For purposes of the report required by Section
205.051(b), the department shall require licensed firearms dealers
to use a form prescribed by the department.
(b) The form prescribed under Subsection (a) must:
(1) include:
(A) the dates and locations of the applicable
sales or transfers;
(B) the type and number of firearms or detachable
firearm magazines sold or transferred;
(C) the identity and location of the licensed
firearms dealer, including the locations where each applicable sale
or transfer occurred; and
(D) the identity of the transferee; and
(2) require the licensed firearms dealer to submit a
copy of the identification provided by the transferee for purposes
of the sale or transfer.
(c) The department shall post on the department's publicly
accessible Internet website:
(1) the form required by this section;
(2) an e-mail address or electronic portal that may be
used to submit the form and related documentation; and
(3) instructions for submitting the form and
documentation.
SECTION 2. Not later than September 1, 2025, the Department
of Public Safety shall develop and make available the form for
reporting multiple firearm or firearm magazine sales or transfers,
as required by Section 205.101, Business & Commerce Code, as added
by this Act.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to the sale or transfer of a firearm or firearm magazine that occurs
on or after the effective date of this Act. A sale or transfer of a
firearm or firearm magazine that occurs before the effective date
of this Act is governed by the law in effect immediately before the
effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for
that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.