[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 141 (Monday, July 23, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38301-38302]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-18331]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-4451-N-08]


Notice Terminating Funding Availability for Public Housing Drug 
Elimination Program Gun Buyback Violence Reduction Initiative

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian 
Housing, HUD.

ACTION: Notice terminating funding availability for public housing drug 
elimination program gun buyback violence reduction initiative.

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SUMMARY: On November 3, 1999, the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development (HUD) published in the Federal Register a Notice of Funding 
Availability (NOFA) announcing funding for its Gun Buyback Violence 
Reduction Initiative. On February 3, 2000, HUD amended and republished 
this NOFA. The purpose of the notice published today is to announce 
that HUD is terminating funding under its Gun Buyback Violence 
Reduction Initiative NOFA. HUD is also announcing that it will 
recapture and reprogram any PHDEP matching gun buyback funds that are 
not expended by Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) by the termination 
date of their grant agreements.

DATES: Termination of funding for the PHDEP Gun Buyback Violence 
Reduction Initiative is effective immediately.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sonia Burgos, Director, Community 
Safety and Conservation Division, Office of Public and Indian Housing, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., 
Room 4206, Washington, DC 20410, telephone (202) 708-1197 ext. 4227. 
Hearing or speech-impaired individuals may access this number via TTY 
by calling the toll-free Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-
877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  On November 3, 1999, HUD published in the 
Federal Register (at 64 FR 60080) a Notice of Funding Availability 
(NOFA) for the Public Housing Drug Elimination Program Gun Buyback 
Violence Reduction Initiative. The NOFA provided funding information 
and program guidelines for gun buyback initiatives. The NOFA stated 
that Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) may reprogram a portion of their FY 
1999 PHDEP grant dollars in order to devote such resources to gun 
buyback violence reduction initiatives. The Department through the NOFA 
also made an additional $4.5 million available for gun buyback 
initiatives to PHAs that reprogrammed PHDEP funds for gun buyback 
violence reduction initiatives. This $4.5 million was to be awarded on 
a basis of $43 for every $100 of FY 1999 PHDEP funds reprogrammed for 
gun buyback violence reduction initiatives.
    On February 3, 2000, HUD published in the Federal Register (at 65 
FR 5400) a Notice of Amendment and Republication of the NOFA for the 
PHDEP Gun Buyback Violence Reduction Initiative. The amendment made 
clear that while HUD's matching funds are to be drawn only from the FY 
1999 PHDEP set-aside, PHA's expenditures were not restricted to FY 1999 
grant funds, but may come from PHDEP grant funds regardless of fiscal 
year.
    The notice published in today's Federal Register, announces that 
HUD is terminating funding under its Gun Buyback Violence Reduction 
Initiative NOFA and, consequently, will no longer accept applications 
for funding. HUD is also announcing that it will recapture and 
reprogram any PHDEP matching gun buyback funds that are not expended by 
Public Housing Authorities by the termination date of their Grant 
Agreements.

Basis for Termination

    Despite their good intentions, gun buyback initiatives are limited 
in their effectiveness as a strategy to combat violent and gun-related 
crimes, particularly in public and assisted housing communities. 
Buyback initiatives are likely to have more impact on reducing the 
number of gun-related accidents and deaths in homes than gun violence 
in public and assisted housing communities. There are several reasons 
why buyback projects are ineffective in reducing gun-related violent 
crimes in these neighborhoods.
    First, the most effective strategies to combat gun violence are 
locally developed solutions initiated by PHAs working in partnership 
with state and local law enforcement agencies. In light of the top-down 
nature of this gun buyback initiative, PHAs across the nation have 
shown little interest in applying for or reprogramming PHDEP funding 
for gun buyback activities. This is underscored by the fact that only 
100 PHAs out of 1,000 have reprogrammed and used $2,256,029 in PHDEP 
funding set-aside for gun buyback purposes out of $10.5 million that 
was available. Additionally, only $970,192 of the $4.5 in PHDEP 
technical assistance funding was used for gun buybacks.
    Second, as an effort targeted at public and assisted housing, the 
results of gun buybacks are minimal. The buyback initiatives that are 
open to the general public have no guarantee of decreasing the supply 
of guns available to criminals who commit gun violence and related 
crimes that adversely impact residents living in public and assisted 
housing communities. At best, these buybacks may marginally be 
effective in reducing the at-large supply of guns held by the public. 
However, in light of the sheer volume of guns available in the United 
States and the tactics criminal use to acquire firearms, buybacks 
remove generally no more than 1 or 2 percent of the guns estimated to 
be in the hands of citizens across the nation.
    Moreover, studies show that lawbreakers rarely surrender their 
weapons to buyback programs and many people who sell their guns have 
other firearms at home, or soon purchase new ones. In general, the age 
and type of guns turned in as a part of buyback programs are older 
guns. For example, in 1999, more than half the 2,912 weapons bought by 
the District of Columbia police for $100 apiece were 15 years old. 
These are not the same firearms as those used by youth or adult 
offenders to commit violent or drug-related criminal activity. The guns 
of choice for young offenders are fast, firing 9 millimeter or .380 
caliber semiautomatic pistols that more often show up in crime records 
than at sites

[[Page 38302]]

where buyback programs take place. According to the Bureau of Alcohol, 
Tobacco and Firearms, more than one-third, and it is estimated that 
possibly as many as one-half, of all guns seized from young adults 
nation-wide are new guns purchased legally within the previous 3 years.

Conclusion

    HUD acknowledges the importance of raising awareness regarding gun 
safety and supporting law enforcement efforts to decrease gun-related 
violent crimes that impact the general public and, more particularly, 
public and assisted housing communities across the nation. However, the 
Department strongly believes other State and local resources and 
federally-supported gun control and crime-prevention efforts should be 
targeted toward getting guns out of the hands of criminals. Equally 
important, HUD believes the Department's limited appropriations should 
be targeted to more conventional drug elimination and crime prevention 
activities that are consistent with the core HUD mission and are more 
effective in reducing gun violence in neighborhoods surrounding public 
and assisted housing communities. As a result, HUD has decided to 
terminate the gun buyback initiative as a special set-aside under 
PHDEP.

    Dated: June 29, 2001.
Paula O. Blunt,
Acting General Deputy Assistant, Secretary for Public and Indian 
Housing.
[FR Doc. 01-18331 Filed 7-20-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-33-P