I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 724

To assist State and local governments in conducting community gun buy

back programs.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 11, 1999

Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island (for himself and Mr. BLAGOJEVICH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To assist State and local governments in conducting

community gun buy back programs.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gun Buy Back Part5 nership Grant Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

8 (1) 36,000 Americans are killed by guns every

9 year;
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1 (2) 10 children are killed by handguns every

2 day;

3 (3) guns are present in almost 35 percent of all

4 American homes, and the presence of a gun in a

5 home triples the risk of homicide in that home;

6 (4) nearly $4,000,000,000 is spent every year

7 on health care expenditures for firearms-related in8 juries; and

9 (5) according to studies, between 1985 and

10 1994, 709 law enforcement officers in the United

11 States were feloniously killed in the line of duty, and

12 more than 92 percent of such law enforcement offi13 cers were killed by the use of a gun.

14 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to reduce

15 the number of guns on the streets by helping State and

16 local law enforcement departments conduct community

17 gun buy back programs.

18 SEC. 3. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

19 (a) GRANTS.—The Director of the Bureau of Justice

20 Assistance may make grants to States or units of local

21 government to conduct community gun buy back pro22 grams.

23 (b) DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF FUNDS.—The Direc24 tor of the Bureau of Justice Assistance shall distribute

25 each grant made under subsection (a) directly to the State
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1 or unit of local government involved, which shall use the

2 grant only to conduct a community gun buy back program.

3 (c) MINIMUM AMOUNT.—Unless all applications sub4 mitted by any State or unit of local government pursuant

5 to this Act have been funded, each qualifying State or unit

6 of local government shall be allocated in each fiscal year

7 pursuant to subsection (a) not less than 0.50 percent of

8 the total amount appropriated for the fiscal year pursuant

9 to this Act.

10 (d) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—During a fiscal year, the

11 Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance shall not,

12 under this Act, provide a qualifying State or unit of local

13 government with more than 5 percent of the total amount

14 appropriated for the fiscal year pursuant to this Act.

15 (e) MATCHING FUNDS.—A grant made under this

16 Act shall not be used to cover more than 50 percent of

17 the cost of conducting a community gun buy back pro18 gram, except to the extent that the Director of the Bureau

19 of Justice Assistance waives such requirement, in whole

20 or in part, after determining the existence of a fiscal hard21 ship on the part of the grant recipient.

22 (f) PREFERENTIAL CONSIDERATION.—In awarding

23 grants under this Act, the Director of the Bureau of Jus24 tice Assistance shall give preferential consideration to an

25 application from a jurisdiction which will conduct a com-
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1 munity gun buy back program that will destroy all guns

2 received by the program. For purposes of the preceding

3 sentence a community gun buy back program which will

4 donate to a State or local museum for display any inoper5 able gun that is a curio or relic or that has historic signifi6 cance shall be treated in the same manner as a community

7 gun buy back program that will destroy all guns received

8 by the program.

9 SEC. 4. APPLICATIONS.

10 (a) STATE APPLICATIONS.—To request a grant

11 under this Act, the chief executive of a State shall submit

12 an application to the Director of the Bureau of Justice

13 Assistance, signed by the Attorney General of the State

14 requesting the grant, in such form and containing such

15 information as the Director may reasonably require.

16 (b) LOCAL APPLICATIONS.—To request a grant

17 under this Act, the chief executive of a unit of local gov18 ernment shall submit an application to the Director of the

19 Bureau of Justice Assistance, signed by the chief law en20 forcement officer of the unit of local government request21 ing the grant, in such form and containing such informa22 tion as the Director may reasonably require.

23 (c) RENEWAL.—A State or unit of local government

24 shall be eligible to receive a grant under this Act annually.
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1 (d) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days after the

2 date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau

3 of Justice Assistance shall promulgate regulations to im4 plement this Act, which shall specify the information that

5 must be included and the requirements that the States

6 and units of local government must meet in submitting

7 the applications for grants under this Act.

8 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

9 In this Act:

10 (1) COMMUNITY GUN BUY BACK PROGRAM.—

11 The term ‘‘community gun buy back program’’

12 means a program conducted by State or local law

13 enforcement authorities under which such authori14 ties purchase or accept donations of guns from per15 sons desiring to dispose of them.

16 (2) GUN.—The term ‘‘gun’’ means a firearm

17 (as defined in section 921(a)(3) of title 18, United

18 States Code).

19 (3) QUALIFYING STATE OR UNIT OF LOCAL

20 GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘qualifying State or unit

21 of local government’’ means a State or unit of local

22 government whose application for a grant under this

23 Act meets the applicable requirements prescribed by

24 or under this Act.
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1 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of

2 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico,

3 the United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa,

4 and the Northern Mariana Islands.

5 SEC. 6. LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA6 TIONS.

7 For grants under this Act, there are authorized to

8 be appropriated to the Director of the Bureau of Justice

9 Assistance not more than $15,000,000 for each fiscal

10 year.

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