⚠️IMPORTANT: Bill text and status can change after filing. Check the current version on https://capitol.texas.gov before you rely on any summary, including this one. This is informational and not legal advice. Advanced Triggernometry is a training business. It does not sell, transfer, or broker firearms and is not an FFL.⚠️
Status:
Rep. Lalani (District 76) represents a portion of Fort Bend County, including Sugar Land, Stafford, Meadows Place, Richmond, and parts of Houston and Mission Bend. He filed HB 613 on 9 Nov 26 for the 90th Texas Legislature. Rep. Lalani currently leads the pack in the number of bills filed proposing new firearm restrictions. Several of his bills deserve consideration like HB 576 that bars sex-offender registrants from purchasing a firearm.
HB 613 Texas Private Gun Sale Background Check Bill would require a dealer-run NICS check before a private firearm transfer in Texas. No registry. No buyer offense. Filed, not law. It does not ban private sales. The bill is two sections long, and most of what is being said about it online is not in either one.
Where it goes:
SECTION 1 adds a new Chapter 205, “Regulation of Private Firearm Transfers,” to Title 6 of the Business & Commerce Code. It is not a Penal Code amendment. Section 205.001 defines two terms. “Firearm” uses the Penal Code 46.01 definition. “Licensed firearms dealer” means a person licensed as a dealer under 18 U.S.C. 923. Nothing else is defined.
The rule: 205.051:
Proposed 205.051(a): a person may not sell or otherwise transfer a firearm to another person unless one of these is true.
- The person transferring is a licensed firearms dealer, 205.051(a)(1).
- The person is not a dealer, and sells or transfers the firearm to a licensed dealer, 205.051(a)(2)(A).
- The person is not a dealer, and before delivering the firearm: asks a licensed dealer to run a national instant criminal background check (NICS) “in the manner required by 18 U.S.C. Section 922,” and verifies that the recipient may lawfully possess a firearm, 205.051(a)(2)(B).
That’s the whole rule.
What falls outside it:
A transfer by a licensed dealer is outside the rule, (a)(1). A sale or transfer to a licensed dealer is outside the check requirement, (a)(2)(A).
Because “firearm” takes the Penal Code 46.01 definition, an antique or curio firearm made before 1899, and certain replicas of one, are not firearms under this chapter, 205.001(1).
Every bill above is still at Filed. Text and status can change. Check the current version on Texas Legislature Online before relying on any detail.
The dealer’s part:
Proposed 205.052(a): a dealer who receives the request shall run the check in the manner required by 18 U.S.C. 922 and notify the person transferring of the results.
205.052(b): the dealer may collect a reasonable fee from the person who requests the check. The bill gives no amount and does not define reasonable.
The bill doesn’t explain how a dealer runs that check on a sale it isn’t part of. It does not say the dealer takes possession of the firearm, that the recipient appears in person, or what records the dealer keeps.
The penalty:
205.051(b): a violation is a Class A misdemeanor. The prohibition in 205.051(a) is on the person who would sell or otherwise transfer the firearm. That is the only offense in the bill.
There is no buyer or recipient offense. There is no penalty on a dealer who does not run a requested check. Section 205.052 says “shall” and attaches no offense.
What’s not in the text:
The filed text has no family, gift, inheritance, loan, range, or training exception. It has no peace officer or military exception. The words “gift,” “family,” “inheritance,” “loan,” “range,” “class,” and “license to carry” do not appear.
Giving a gun to your adult child: a gift is a transfer of the firearm, and the text has no family or gift exception. As written, giving a gun to your adult son or daughter falls under the rule.
A physical handoff with no change of ownership only appears to be covered, because “transfer” is undefined. That includes a temporary handoff during a class or at a range. Whether it is covered is a question for an attorney, not for a blog post.
An LTC doesn’t count:
This is the part my students will ask about. The bill never mentions a License to Carry. Holding one is not listed as an alternative to the dealer check. The only ways around the check written in the text are that the person transferring is a licensed dealer or that the firearm goes to one. Whether a court would later treat an LTC as satisfying the “verifies” language is not answered by the filed bill.
Questions the bill leaves open:
These are questions the text does not answer. They are not predictions about how anyone would read it.
- What counts as a “transfer”? The bill does not define it.
- What counts as “verifies” that the recipient may lawfully possess a firearm? The bill does not define it, 205.051(a)(2)(B)(ii).
- Must delivery wait for a NICS proceed? The bill does not say. It does not mention a proceed, delay, or deny.
- What mental state applies? The offense in 205.051(b) does not state one.
Filed, not law:
You may have seen posts saying HB 613 is universal gun registration. The bill itself adds no registry and no record-keeping requirement. It requires a dealer-run NICS check before a private transfer, or a transfer to a dealer, 205.051(a).
You may have seen posts saying HB 613 outlaws private transfers. The filed text does not ban them. It requires that, before delivery, the person transferring asks a licensed dealer to run a NICS check and verifies the recipient may lawfully possess a firearm, 205.051(a)(2)(B). Selling or transferring to a licensed dealer is outside that requirement, 205.051(a)(2)(A).
You may have seen posts saying HB 613 means background checks on private gun sales. That part is accurate. What those posts usually leave out: the check also applies to gifts and other transfers, there is no family or loan exception, an LTC is not an alternative, and the Class A misdemeanor falls on the person transferring, 205.051(b). The bill creates no buyer offense.
You may have seen posts treating HB 613 and HB 659 as the same bill. They are not. HB 659, by Rep. Moody, is a separate bill about a licensed dealer reporting certain sales or transfers of multiple firearms or firearm magazines to law enforcement. HB 613 is the private-transfer check. Both filed texts propose a new Chapter 205 of Title 6 of the Business & Commerce Code, for two different laws. That is a numbering overlap in the two drafts as filed.
What’s the “So What”?
Under the filed text, it reads like giving your adult son or daughter a gun, loaning a rifle to a hunting buddy, or handing a pistol to a student or range partner for a few minutes becomes a Class A misdemeanor unless you first find a licensed dealer willing to run a NICS check and you “verify” the other person can lawfully possess a firearm.
The bill creates no family, gift, inheritance, loan, range, or training exception. It does not list an LTC as a substitute. The Class A falls on the person transferring, not the recipient. “Transfer” is undefined.
That is the filed text. It is not a registry and it does not ban private sales. It is a new criminal offense that reaches ordinary, non-commercial handoffs Texas law currently does not criminalize.
References:
- HB 613 bill history: https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=90R&Bill=HB613
- HB 613 bill text: https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=90R&Bill=HB613
⚠️Bill text and status can change after filing. Check the current version on https://capitol.texas.gov before you rely on any summary, including this one. This is informational and not legal advice. Advanced Triggernometry is a training business. It does not sell, transfer, or broker firearms and is not an FFL.⚠️
