[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 659 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 659

               To establish a gun buyback grant program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 17, 2019

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 2019 through 2023.
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