OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced the opening of the application period for Gun Violence Reduction Program grants. Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin led a coalition of over 20 of her colleagues in the Assembly to secure this funding in the 2021 Budget Act. Funding will be awarded by the California Department of Justice (DOJ) to county sheriff’s departments to support activities related to seizing weapons and ammunition from individuals prohibited from possessing them.
“With the rise in gun violence in California, it is important that we leverage our resources to ensure community safety,” said Assemblymember Irwin. “By recognizing the role local sheriff offices play as a force multiplier, the APPS program will help recover firearms more quickly from domestic abusers and other prohibited persons. I commend Attorney General Bonta for working swiftly to get this grant program up and running. I encourage all County Sheriffs to apply for this grant program and to take a more focused role in disarming dangerous people in our communities.”
“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 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.”
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 departments to submit their proposals by November 5, 2021.
“Three years ago, I led efforts to secure $3 million in funding for sheriff’s offices in the counties of Alameda, San Diego, Santa Cruz, and Ventura to conduct APPS investigations and enforcement actions. Each county demonstrated innovative and proactive approaches to investigating and removing firearms from prohibited persons, including integrating this data into regular patrol functions and tightening collaboration with county courts, parole, and probation departments,” Assemblymember Irwin said. “Through frequent contact with members of the community, local officers are equipped with valuable, on-the-ground knowledge that aides in the investigation of APPS subjects, resulting in the successful confiscations of firearms.”
The Attorney General encourages all interested county sheriff 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.
Assemblymember Irwin’s website: http://asmdc.org/irwin
Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin represents California’s 44th Assembly District, which includes the communities of Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Camarillo, Moorpark, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, and Santa Rosa Valley.