[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3143 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3143
To establish a gun buyback grant program.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 12, 2021
Mr. Deutch (for himself, Mr. Connolly, and Mr. Quigley) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a gun buyback grant program.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Buyback Our Safety Act''.
SEC. 2. GUN BUYBACK GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--The Attorney General, through the Assistant
Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs of the Department
of Justice, shall establish a gun buyback grant program under which the
Assistant Attorney General may make grants to law enforcement agencies
of States, units of local government, and Indian tribal governments to
assist in funding gun buyback programs carried out by such agencies.
(b) Gun Buyback Program Defined.--For purposes of this section, the
term ``gun buyback program'' means, with respect to a law enforcement
agency of a State, unit of local government, or Indian tribal
government, a program carried out by such agency under which guns are
purchased or surrendered to such agency.
(c) Applications.--A law enforcement agency described in subsection
(a) desiring a grant under this section shall submit to the Assistant
Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs an application for
the grant, in accordance with subsection (d) and which shall be in such
form and contain such information as the Assistant Attorney General may
require.
(d) Requirements.--The Assistant Attorney General may make a grant
under this section to a law enforcement agency described in subsection
(a), with respect to a gun buyback program, only if the application
submitted under subsection (c) by such agency provides assurances
that--
(1) the law enforcement agency will adequately advertise
such program to the public;
(2) such program will be administered by law enforcement
personnel;
(3) all guns received through such program will remain in
the possession of law enforcement personnel;
(4) adequate safeguards will be established and followed to
prevent the occurrence of fraud in such program;
(5) the law enforcement agency will have in place a process
to test on site a gun purchased from an individual through such
program before payment is provided to such individual; and
(6) an adequate process will be in place to destroy all
guns received through such program.
(e) Matching Requirement.--
(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), to be eligible
for a grant under this section, a law enforcement agency must
certify that the law enforcement agency will match all Federal
funds provided under such grant with an equal amount of cash or
in-kind goods or services from other non-Federal sources.
(2) Waiver.--The Assistant Attorney General for the Office
of Justice Programs may waive, wholly or in part, the matching
requirement under paragraph (1) with respect to a grant made
under this section to a law enforcement agency for a gun
buyback program if such program provides for obtaining only the
guns identified by the National Academy of Sciences pursuant to
subsection (f).
(f) National Academy of Sciences Standards.--The Attorney General,
through the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice
Programs, shall enter into an arrangement with the National Academy of
Sciences to develop standards for identifying, and identify, guns that
are the most likely to be used in violent crimes and establish a
pricing scale for purchasing guns so identified through gun buyback
programs receiving grants under this section.
(g) Reports.--
(1) Reports required by grantees.--In the case of a law
enforcement agency described in subsection (a) receiving a
grant under this section with respect to a gun buyback program,
such agency shall submit to the Assistant Attorney General for
the Office of Justice Programs--
(A) not later than 90 days after receipt of such
grant and every 90 days thereafter during the period
for which the program is carried out, a report
including--
(i) the number and types of guns collected
and destroyed through such program during such
period; and
(ii) recommendations for improving future
gun buyback programs in the jurisdiction of
such agency; and
(B) not later than 90 days after the last day of
such program, a final report including the information
described in each of subclauses (I) and (II) of clause
(i) with respect to the duration of the program.
(2) Reports by the office of justice programs.--Not later
than one year after the date of the enactment of this section
and annually thereafter, the Assistant Attorney General for the
Office of Justice Programs shall submit to Congress a report
on--
(A) the number of gun buyback programs that
received funding under this section;
(B) the number of guns received through each such
gun buyback program;
(C) the total number of guns purchased through all
such gun buyback programs; and
(D) recommendations on improving the grant program
under this section and gun buyback programs.
(h) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
(1) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the 50 States,
the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the
United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the
Northern Mariana Islands.
(2) Unit of local government.--The term ``unit of local
government'' means a county, municipality, town, township,
village, parish, borough, or other unit of general government
below the State level.
(3) Violent crime.--The term ``violent crime'' means
murder, non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and
aggravated assault, as reported by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation for purposes of the Uniform Crime Report.
(i) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this section $15,000,000 for the period of
fiscal years 2022 through 2026.
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