Attorney General Bonta Announces $5 Million Available to Help Sheriff’s Departments Seize Weapons from Prohibited Persons

California Department of Justice to award grant amounts between $250,000 and $1 million; Proposals due by Sept. 2 

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced the opening of the application period for Gun Violence Reduction Program (GVRP) 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 who had previously legally purchased a firearm and have since become prohibited in the Armed and Prohibited Persons System (APPS). Armed and prohibited individuals are a subset of APPS representing less than one percent of the APPS database. As of January 1, 2022, there were nearly 3.2 million known firearm owners in APPS, of which 24,509 are prohibited from owning firearms. DOJ encourages applicants to consider innovative strategies to reduce the amount of armed and prohibited subjects in their areas of responsibility. 

“In the United States in 2022, there have been more mass shootings than days in the year. Gun violence is the number one cause of death of children and young adults in our nation. This is unacceptable,” said Attorney General Bonta. “The fact is, we know that more guns do not keep us safer, especially when they are in dangerous hands. The Armed and Prohibited Persons System is a first-in-the-nation program to help ensure individuals within our state who have become prohibited do not have access to life-threatening weapons. As California’s chief law enforcement officer, I am grateful for the work of our law enforcement partners and will continue to support them as we work together to keep our communities safe from the threat of gun violence.”  

A total of $10 million in GVRP funding was provided by the California Budget Act of 2021, of which $5 million was awarded in 2022, with the remaining $5 million currently available for award 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 September 2, 2022. 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.   

Attorney General Bonta stands with partners throughout the state to continue preventing gun violence strategically and aggressively by:

• Advocating for commonsense gun laws including by sponsoring Assembly Bill 1594 to increase accountability for the firearm industry, working to strengthen federal laws to protect the public from ghost guns, and successfully defending California’s laws to prevent gun violence;
• Seizing guns from prohibited persons in the Armed and Prohibited Persons System, and through multiagency sweeps in the Bay Area and Los Angeles County, conducting operations targeting individuals attempting to illegally purchase guns, and collaborating with local law enforcement partners; and
• Ending the sale of illegal firearms through litigation against ghost gun retailers, and by putting a stop to the sale of illegal assault weapons in Orange County.