Washington, D.C. — On Friday, U.S. Representative Jill Tokuda (HI-02) introduced the "Restoring Trust in Public Safety Act," legislation to address the government’s role in the proliferation of gun violence in communities by providing public agencies, including police departments, with greater resources to fully destroy seized and surrendered firearms.
A recent New York Times investigation found that hundreds of cities and towns have turned to private companies that offer to destroy firearms at no-cost to law enforcement agencies. Their inventories include firearms that have been forfeited in buybacks, used in crimes, or replaced by police department upgrades. However, these public-private arrangements have fueled a secondary arms market of “zombie guns,” where guns expected to be fully destroyed are instead recycled and sold online to civilians as individual untraceable parts often used to assemble ghost guns or marketed as repair kits without background checks.
The Restoring Trust in Public Safety Act would establish a $15 million grant program to help state, Tribal, and local governments and law enforcement agencies purchase equipment, hire staff, and conduct trainings to ensure the safe and complete destruction of firearms and firearm parts in their possession.
“Bottom line, there are too many guns and weapons on our streets and terrorizing our communities,” said Rep. Tokuda. “This bill gives our law enforcement agencies the resources to 100% destroy firearms that are seized, surrendered, or retired, and seeks to remove their reliance on gun disposal companies who have profited off a lack of government funding for proper disposal. This widespread practice of gun recycling is becoming a lucrative industry in our country that only further proliferates the spread of ghost guns in our communities.”
Under federal law, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) requires that all unwanted or unserviceable firearms be properly destroyed. In accordance with ATF guidelines, gun disposal companies crush or cut up only the frame or receiver. This is just one component of a few dozen firearm parts, depending on the model, that is destroyed. Often sold without the receiver, the remaining parts are typically sold to the public as gun assembly or repair kits without the need for background checks.
Rep. Tokuda and other members of Congress are attempting to close this loophole with the Destroy Zombie Guns Act, which they introduced in March.
“It is imperative that law enforcement have the resources to ensure they can safely and completely dispose of firearms recovered in crime without unwittingly supplying the criminal market with firearm components and accessories. Brady is grateful to Representative Tokuda for introducing legislation to provide law enforcement agencies with the funds to facilitate responsible firearm destruction so we can ensure the life cycle of a firearm ends once law enforcement seeks to dispose of it,” said Mark Collins, Director of Federal Policy at Brady.
“Representative Tokuda’s bill would help ensure that communities have the resources needed to properly dispose of seized firearms themselves, eliminating the risk of these weapons being resold. We thank Representative Tokuda for bringing attention to this important gap in funding and policy, and we encourage Congress to pass this important piece of legislation,” said Emma Brown, GIFFORDS Executive Director.
The full text of the bill can be found here.
Additional cosponsors include Reps. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Dan Goldman, Delia Ramirez, Rashida Tlaib, Jared Moskowitz, Kevin Mullin, Shri Thanedar, Jamie Raskin, Ed Case, Seth Magaziner, Chuy Garcia, Sylvia Garcia, and Joe Neguse.
The bill is supported by Brady: United Against Gun Violence, GIFFORDS, March for Our Lives, and Everytown for Gun Safety.
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