Gun Violence Reduction Program (GVRP)

The Budget Act of 2021 makes available a total of $10 million to be awarded by the California Department of Justice (Department) to support eligible local law enforcement agencies in conducting activities related to the seizure of weapons and ammunition from persons who are prohibited from possessing them, including efforts based upon entries in the Department’s Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS)1.

1. Armed Prohibited Persons System means the Prohibited Armed Persons File described in Section 30000 of the Penal Code. ↩

Any county sheriff’s department within the State of California that conducts activities related to the seizure of weapons and ammunition from persons who are prohibited from possessing them is eligible to receive funds.

Priority shall be given for the following:

  • Counties with the highest per capita population of armed prohibited persons residing in the county;
  • Counties that do not have a Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms field office within their boundaries;
  • Proposals that include innovative techniques or approaches to prohibited persons investigations and seizures that differ from existing efforts by the Department, other law enforcement agencies, or other grant applicants;
  • Proposals that include integration of prohibited persons investigations and seizure operations into existing patrol and investigatory functions;
  • Proposals that demonstrate the greatest likelihood of firearm and ammunition seizures from persons who are prohibited from possessing them.

The amount of funds awarded to an applicant shall be commensurate with the scope of the applicant’s proposal.

The APPS database contains information on firearms purchased or registered in California and the owners of those firearms. Consistent with legislative mandates, the database is the result of records and information originating from Dealer Records of Sale (DROS) (firearms purchases/transfers through a California firearm dealer), various firearm ownership self-reporting forms, and assault weapon registrations. Combined, those records represent all individuals who purchased or transferred firearms legally within California and all known firearms associated with those individuals. Individuals are moved to the Armed and Prohibited File within the APPS database when they have subsequently become prohibited.

Armed and prohibited individuals, while the primary focus of the DOJ’s enforcement efforts, are a subset representing less than one percent of the APPS database. As of January 1, 2022, there were 3,199,394 known firearm owners in APPS, of which 24,509 are prohibited from owning firearms. The Department encourages applicants to consider innovative strategies to reduce the amount of armed and prohibited subjects in their areas of responsibility.

The Department provides the following sample goals and objectives to help guide applicants and provide ideas upon which to build. Applicants may incorporate goals and objectives to help solve local problems, specifically. The Department also encourages applicants to develop their own strategies for addressing local issues pertaining to APPS individuals. Other resources applicants may find helpful include the California Department of Justice, BOF website; https://oag.ca.gov/firearms.

  • Identify and target subjects immediately as they become prohibited from owning or possessing firearms, ammunition, or magazines, i.e. at the time of conviction, a court order being served, probation orders, etc.
    Note: The Department will consider this innovative technique/approach as a priority.
  • Increase communications with the local court and prosecution offices in an attempt to have APPS individuals surrender their firearms and ammunition upon when the individuals become prohibited during court proceedings.
    Note: The Department will consider this innovative technique/approach as a priority.
  • Conduct probation and/or parole compliance checks on APPS individuals within their specific area of responsibility.
  • Conduct enforcement operations with the BOF.
  • Collaborate with the BOF to remove subjects from the APPS database. For example, support enforcement activities with BOF’s Special Agents, in the capacity of transportation of subjects, complete lost or stolen firearms reports, residential searches, etc.
  • Develop and implement a multi-agency task force and/or a multi-jurisdiction task force to address APPS individuals within their area of responsibility.
  • Develop and implement a policy that ensures firearms which have been reported stolen, lost, found, recovered, held for safekeeping, surrendered, relinquished, or under observation are entered into the Automated Firearms System (AFS) within seven calendar days after being notified' of one of these events, pursuant to Penal Code section 11108.2, subdivision (a)."
  • Prepare written reports (i.e. criminal reports of lost or stolen firearm reports) and statistical reports (i.e. number of APPS individuals contacted, subjects’ pertinent information, firearms seized, ammunition seized, etc.).
  • If the applicant does not have a CLEW account established, the applicant will apply for a CLEW account through the Department.

County Sheriff’s Departments within the State of California.

A total of $10 million is available to be awarded through a competitive process to eligible local law enforcement entities in two grant cycles.

  • $5 million to be awarded in each of 2022 and 2023, by January 1, 2022 and January 1, 2023.
  • Eligible local law enforcement agencies may apply for funding in an amount between $250,000 and $1,000,000 per grant cycle;
  • A minimum of 10 grants will be awarded per grant cycle;
  • Grant funds shall be available for encumbrance or expenditure for two years from the date awarded.
  • The Gun Violence Reduction Program is a competitive grant. The Department will fund selected agencies based on the evaluation of the grant proposals.
  • Selected agencies will be required to obtain a resolution from their governing body authorizing acceptance of the grant funding.
  • Selected agencies may not use awarded funds to supplant existing state, local, or federal funds used for the same purpose.

Each grantee shall, by no later than the February 1 immediately following each calendar year in which grant funds were used, report to the Department, in a format prescribed by the Department all of the following information for the immediately preceding calendar year:

  1. The total number of individuals in the APPS within its jurisdiction and the number of cases that are active and pending, as follows:
    1. For active cases, the agency shall report the status of each case for which the agency has initiated an investigation. This information shall include, at a minimum, the number of cases that have not been actively investigated for 12 months or longer, along with a breakdown of the time period that has elapsed since a case was added to the system. "Investigation" means any work conducted by sworn or nonsworn staff to determine whether a prohibited person possesses one or more firearms, whether to remove the person from the database, or whether to shift the person to the pending caseload; and
    2. For pending cases, the department shall separately report the number of cases that are unable to be cleared, unable to be located, related to out-of-state individuals, related to only federal firearms prohibitions, and related to incarcerated individuals.
  2. The number of individuals within the county added to the APPS database.
  3. The number of individuals within the county removed from the APPS database, including a breakdown of the basis on which they were removed. At a minimum, this information shall separately report those cases that were removed because the individual is deceased, had prohibitions expire or removed, or had their cases resolved as a result of firearm seizure activities.
  4. The degree to which the backlog in the APPS has been reduced or eliminated within its jurisdiction. For purposes of this section, "backlog" means the number of cases for which the agency did not initiate an investigation within six months of the case being added to the APPS or has not completed investigatory work within six months of initiating an investigation on the case.
  5. The number of individuals within the county in the APPS before and after the relevant reporting period, including a breakdown of why each individual in the APPS is prohibited from possessing a firearm.
  6. The number of deputies and other staff hired for or tasked with enforcement of the APPS.
  7. The number of firearms recovered / unaccounted for due to enforcement of the APPS and confirmation that the recovered firearms were entered into AFS
  8. The number of contacts made during the APPS enforcement efforts.
  9. Personal Information of prohibited subject (ie. Name, Date of Birth, California Driver's License, etc.)
  10. Agency report number.
  11. Disposition of case.
  12. Prohibited subject disposition in the APPS data base (Via CLEW).

The prescribed reporting template can be found at: https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/gvrp-annual-reporting-sample.xlsx.

This RFP has been extended: Eligible agencies must submit a completed proposal, and supporting documentation, to the Department by September 16, 2022. Only electronic (email) submissions will be accepted, and must be submitted to the following email address:

GVRPGrants@doj.ca.gov

Email submissions must be received by 11:59 p.m. on the due date noted above. The subject line for email submissions must include the following information:

“GVRP_RFP_PROPOSAL_22-23_[Agency Name]”

Proposals received after the deadline shall not be eligible for consideration. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the proposal is received by the specified deadline. The Department will not be responsible for late delivery of a proposal due to mistakes or delays of the applicant or the electronic mail service used by the applicant.

The Department will not notify applicants regarding omissions or accept any late additions to the proposals. All proposals will be rated solely on the timely-submitted content.

A grant proposal must include the following:

  • Grant Proposal Application Template, pdf
    (Fill-in form required for all applications. Please download the template to view the fillable PDF version. You may be required to use a current version of the Adobe Reader software to use the fillable template.)
    This form now contains fields you can fill in electronically. To do so please:
    • Download the form by the right-clicking the link, Grant Proposal Application Template, pdf, a dropdown menu will appear
    • Click on the Save link as…
    • Save to your computer
    • Open it locally with Adobe Acrobat Reader.
    • Enter in the data into the fields.
  • Budget Detail Sheet, xlsx
  • Government Agency Taxpayer ID Form (Include contact information for agency’s Fiscal Officer or individual who should receive check, if awarded)

Incomplete grant proposals will be disqualified and not reviewed by the Merits Review Committee.

To learn more about the Gun Violence Reduction Program, or to obtain a copy of the Request for Proposals and view related informational documents, please see below.

Request for Proposal, pdf
(Applications must be received by Friday, September 2, 2022. Includes general information, instructions on preparing a proposal, and answers to frequently asked questions.)

Grantee Handbook, pdf
(Contains further instructions regarding Request for Proposals.)

Grant Proposal Application Template, pdf
(Fill-in form required for all applications. Please download the template to view the fillable PDF version. You may be required to use a current version of the Adobe Reader software to use the fillable template.)

Government Agency Taxpayer ID Form, pdf
(Fill-in form required for all applications. Please download the template to view the fillable PDF version. You may be required to use a current version of the Adobe Reader software to use the fillable template. Include contact information for agency’s Fiscal Officer or individual who should receive check, if awarded.)

Budget Detail Sheet, xlsx
(Fill-in form required for all applications. Please download the template to view Excel version.)

Proposal Checklist, pdf
(This checklist is offered as a tool for agencies who intend to submit an application; and should not be submitted with the application package.)

Questions regarding the application process may be directed to the Department at GVRPGrants@doj.ca.gov.