S-1539 : Still Just a Bill

Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act of 2017

This bill amends the federal criminal code to:

• state that the term "intimate partner" includes a dating partner and any other person subject to a protection order under state domestic or family violence law; and
• expand the term "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" to include the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon, by a current or former intimate partner.

The bill makes it a crime to knowingly sell or dispose of a firearm to a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of stalking. It also makes it a crime for such convicted stalker to receive or possess a firearm.