34 U.S.C. § 40913 — Implementation assistance to States

(a) Authorization: The Attorney General must give grants to states and Indian tribal governments. States and tribes use the money, together with local governments and courts, to build or upgrade systems that help decide if someone can legally have a gun. At least 3% and no more than 10% of each grant must go toward running a "relief from disabilities" program (a program letting people ask to get their gun rights back) under section 40915. Up to 5% of the total grant money can be set aside for Indian tribal governments, including tribal courts. (b) Use of grant amounts: States and tribes may only use the grant money for seven things: (1) building electronic systems with accurate, up-to-date records for NICS (the National Instant Criminal Background Check System), including court and corrections records; (2) helping states build or improve their own ability to run NICS checks; (3) sending the Attorney General accurate, timely final case outcomes for background-check databases, including work to double-check records ahead of time; (4) sending the FBI accurate, timely information about people banned from getting a gun under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(4), for NICS checks only; (5) sending accurate, timely court orders and domestic-violence misdemeanor records to law enforcement databases; (6) collecting and studying data to show how well states are following this law; and (7) running the relief-from-disabilities program, again capped at 3-10% of the grant. (c) Eligibility: To get a grant, a state must certify to the Attorney General that it has set up a relief-from-disabilities program under section 40915. (d) Condition: A state must say exactly which projects it will spend the grant on and can only spend it that way. A state that breaks this rule must pay back the entire grant to the Attorney General. (e) Authorization of appropriations: Congress authorized specific funding amounts for this section: $125 million for fiscal year 2009, $250 million for 2010, $250 million for 2011, $125 million for 2012, $125 million for 2013, and $125 million for each year from 2018 through 2022. For 2018 through 2022, the Attorney General must also create a priority funding area called the Domestic Abuse and Violence Prevention Initiative, focused on getting states to upload felony conviction and domestic violence records. The Attorney General may spend up to 50% of that funding on the initiative, and must give funding preference to states that have an implementation plan under section 40917 and will use the money to finish uploading felony and domestic violence records by September 30, 2022. (f) User fee: The FBI cannot charge a fee for background checks done under 18 U.S.C. § 922(t). (g) Technical assistance: The Attorney General must direct the Office of Justice Programs, the ATF, and the FBI to help states that don't yet qualify for grants become eligible, and to give technical help and training to states that already receive grants.