The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) seeks applications for funding to administer the 2023–2026 Firearm Inquiry Statistics (FIST) program.
Donor Name: Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 06/05/2023
Size of the Grant: $1,600,000
Grant Duration: 48 months
Details:
With this solicitation, BJS seeks applications for the administration of the fiscal year (FY) 2023 Firearm Inquiry Statistics (FIST) Program which will cover the 2023-2026 calendar years as reference years. The aim of the FIST program is to provide national estimates of the total number of firearm purchase applications received and denied pursuant to the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 (Brady Act) and state laws. FIST collects counts of firearm transfer applications and permit checks conducted by state and local agencies and combines them with transaction data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
Goals
The goal of FIST is to provide reliable national and state estimates of the total number of purchase applications and denials resulting from the Brady Act and relevant state laws. The award recipient for this project will assist BJS in executing this project for the 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026 reference years.
Objectives
To achieve the goal of successfully administering FIST across multiple collection years, the award recipient will work closely with BJS on the following main objectives:
- Update and maintain a universe of all eligible checking agencies that should be included in the data collection. This universe should describe the level of NICS participation used by the state, the type of permits or checks conducted in the state, and whether local or state checking agencies conduct the check.
- Produce an updated survey customized to each state that reflects relevant laws and check types and minimizes respondent burden while obtaining desired data points from respondents.
- Field the FIST survey for the 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026 reference years, with efforts taken to maximize response rates.
- Evaluate the feasibility of supplementing the data collections with administrative and other publicly available data.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $1,600,000
- Award Ceiling: $1,600,000
- Award Floor: $800,000
- Period of Performance: 48 months
Eligible Applicants
- State governments
- Private institutions of higher education
- City or township governments
- Special district governments
- County governments
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- Small businesses
- For profit organizations other than Small businesses
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
