I
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4290
To assist State and local governments in conducting community gun buy
back programs.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 21, 1998
Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island (for himself and Mr. BLAGOJEVICH) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary
A BILL
To assist State and local governments in conducting
community gun buy back programs.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gun Buy Back Part-
nership Grant Act of 1998’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
(1) 36,000 Americans are killed each year by
the use of a gun;
(2) 16 children are killed each day by the use
of a gun;
(3) guns are present in almost 35 percent of all
American households; and
(4) according to studies, between 1985 and
1994, 709 law enforcement officers in the United
States were feloniously killed in the line of duty, and
more than 92 percent of such law enforcement offi-
cers were killed by the use of a gun.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to reduce
the number of guns on the streets by helping State and
local law enforcement departments conduct community
gun buy back programs.
SEC. 3. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.
(a) GRANTS.—The Director of the Bureau of Justice
Assistance may make grants to States or units of local
government to conduct community gun buy back pro-
grams.
(b) DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF FUNDS.—The Direc-
tor of the Bureau of Justice Assistance shall distribute
each grant made under subsection (a) directly to the State
or unit of local government involved, which shall use the
grant only to conduct a community gun buy back program.
(c) MINIMUM AMOUNT.—Unless all applications sub-
mitted by any State or unit of local government pursuant
to this Act have been funded, each qualifying State or unit
of local government shall be allocated in each fiscal year
pursuant to subsection (a) not less than 0.50 percent of
the total amount appropriated for the fiscal year pursuant
to this Act.
(d) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—During a fiscal year, the
Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance shall not,
under this Act, provide a qualifying State or unit of local
government with more than 5 percent of the total amount
appropriated for the fiscal year pursuant to this Act.
(e) MATCHING FUNDS.—A grant made under this
Act shall not be used to cover more than 50 percent of
the cost of conducting a community gun buy back pro-
gram, except to the extent that the Director of the Bureau
of Justice Assistance waives such requirement, in whole
or in part, after determining the existence of a fiscal hard-
ship on the part of the grant recipient.
(f) PREFERENTIAL CONSIDERATION.—In awarding
grants under this Act, the Director of the Bureau of Jus-
tice Assistance shall give preferential consideration to an
application from a jurisdiction which will conduct a com-
munity gun buy back program that will destroy all guns
received by the program. For purposes of the preceding
sentence a community gun buy back program which will
donate to a State or local museum for display any inoper-
able gun that is a curio or relic or that has historic signifi-
cance shall be treated in the same manner as a community
gun buy back program that will destroy all guns received
by the program.
SEC. 4. APPLICATIONS.
(a) STATE APPLICATIONS.—To request a grant
under this Act, the chief executive of a State shall submit
an application to the Director of the Bureau of Justice
Assistance, signed by the Attorney General of the State
requesting the grant, in such form and containing such
information as the Director may reasonably require.
(b) LOCAL APPLICATIONS.—To request a grant
under this Act, the chief executive of a unit of local gov-
ernment shall submit an application to the Director of the
Bureau of Justice Assistance, signed by the chief law en-
forcement officer of the unit of local government request-
ing the grant, in such form and containing such informa-
tion as the Director may reasonably require.
(c) RENEWAL.—A State or unit of local government
shall be eligible to receive a grant under this Act annually.
(d) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau
of Justice Assistance shall promulgate regulations to im-
plement this Act, which shall specify the information that
must be included and the requirements that the States
and units of local government must meet in submitting
the applications for grants under this Act.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) COMMUNITY GUN BUY BACK PROGRAM.—
The term ‘‘community gun buy back program’’
means a program conducted by State or local law
enforcement authorities under which such authori-
ties purchase or accept donations of guns from per-
sons desiring to dispose of them.
(2) GUN.—The term ‘‘gun’’ means a firearm
(as defined in section 921(a)(3) of title 18, United
States Code).
(3) QUALIFYING
STATE
OR
UNIT
OF
LOCAL
GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘qualifying State or unit
of local government’’ means a State or unit of local
government whose application for a grant under this
Act meets the applicable requirements prescribed by
or under this Act.
(4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of
the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico,
the United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa,
and the Northern Mariana Islands.
SEC. 6. LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA-
TIONS.
For grants under this Act, there are authorized to
be appropriated to the Director of the Bureau of Justice
Assistance not more than $15,000,000 for each fiscal
year.
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