OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced the opening of the application period for Gun Violence Reduction Program grants. Funding will be awarded by the California Department of Justice (DOJ) to county sheriff’s departments to support their activities related to seizing weapons and ammunition from individuals prohibited from possessing them. Sheriff’s departments may submit a completed grant proposal to DOJ through November 5, 2021.
“When it was deployed in 2006, the California Department of Justice’s Armed and Prohibited Persons System, or APPS, was a first of its kind system used to monitor individuals who legally purchased or acquired firearms and later became prohibited from owning or possessing them,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Today, the system is still the only one of its kind nationwide. Together with our law enforcement partners, our agents help prevent and reduce incidents of violent crime by using APPS to locate and disarm prohibited persons. Our hope is that the Gun Violence Reduction Program will help us reduce the number of individuals on the APPS list faster by increasing our collective resources and capacity to assist in keeping our communities safe.”
“The premise of the APPS program is to simply enforce the law and remove guns from individuals who have lost their right to own a firearm. I commend Attorney General Bonta for working to quickly get this grant program up and running. By recognizing the important role local law enforcement can play as a force multiplier, this program will help recover firearms more quickly from domestic abusers and other prohibited persons,” said Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin. “I encourage all County Sheriffs to apply for this grant program and take a more focused role in disarming dangerous people in our communities. California has seen success with even the smallest counties using state funds for APPS enforcement, and that is why I championed this expanded funding in the state budget.”
Funding for the Gun Violence Reduction Program was provided by the California Budget Act of 2021. A total of $10 million will be made available in two grant cycles: $5 million will be awarded by January 1, 2022, and another $5 million will be awarded by January 1, 2023. DOJ will award grants in amounts between $250,000 and $1 million per applicant, per year.
The Attorney General encourages all interested county sheriff’s departments to submit their proposals by November 5, 2021. The Request for Proposal package, which contains all of the information and forms agencies need to prepare and submit, is available at: www.oag.ca.gov/gvrp.
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