National Gun Violence Research Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 435 To provide for a coordinated national research program to examine the nature, causes, consequences, and prevention of violence and unintended injury and death relating to gun ownership, use, and trafficking, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 10, 2019 Ms. JOHNSON of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Science, Space, and Technology, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To provide for a coordinated national research program to examine the nature, causes, consequences, and prevention of violence and unintended injury and death relating to gun ownership, use, and trafficking, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Gun Violence 4 Research Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H435.IH H435 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 435 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress makes the following findings: 2 (1) In the last 50 years, more individuals in the 3 United States have died from gunshots than in all 4 wars in which the United States was a combatant, 5 combined. 6 (2) The rate of gun violence deaths in the 7 United States is more than double that of other 8 high-income nations. 9 (3) Guns accounted for 74 percent of homicides 10 and 51 percent of suicides in 2016, totaling over 11 37,000 deaths in the United States. 12 (4) Gun violence disproportionately affects ra- 13 cial minorities, with African Americans comprising 14 nearly 60 percent of homicide victims and 22 per- 15 cent of unintentional injury deaths in 2016. 16 (5) Provisions in appropriations Acts dating 17 back to 1996 have had a chilling effect on Federal 18 funding for research on gun violence across the Fed- 19 eral Government and, as a result, research on gun 20 violence is significantly underfunded relative to other 21 leading causes of death. 22 (6) Research examining the nature, causes, con- 23 sequences, and prevention of gun-related violence, 24 suicide, and unintentional injury and death does not 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H435.IH H435 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 435 IH constitute advocacy in support of, or opposition to, 1 gun control policies or regulations. 2 (7) More research and high-quality data relat- 3 ing to gun violence are needed to inform the develop- 4 ment of effective strategies to reduce the incidence 5 of gun-related injury and death. 6 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 7 In this Act: 8 (1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 9 the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 10 Policy. 11 (2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 12 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 13 meaning given such term in section 101 of the High- 14 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 15 (3) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Program’’ means 16 the National Gun Violence Research Program estab- 17 lished under section 5. 18 SEC. 4. RESEARCH AND DATA RESTRICTIONS REPEAL. 19 (a) GUN TRACE DATA.— 20 (1) The matter under the heading ‘‘Bureau of 21 Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—Sala- 22 ries and Expenses’’ in title I of division B of the 23 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropria- 24 tions Act, 2012 (18 U.S.C. 923 note; Public Law 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H435.IH H435 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 435 IH 112–55; 125 Stat. 609–610) is amended by striking 1 the 6th proviso. 2 (2) The 6th proviso under the heading ‘‘Bureau 3 of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—Sala- 4 ries and Expenses’’ in title II of division B of the 5 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (18 U.S.C. 6 923 note; Public Law 111–117; 123 Stat. 3128– 7 3129) is amended by striking ‘‘beginning in fiscal 8 year 2010 and thereafter’’ and inserting ‘‘in fiscal 9 year 2010’’. 10 (3) The 6th proviso under the heading ‘‘Bureau 11 of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—Sala- 12 ries and Expenses’’ in title II of division B of the 13 Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 (18 U.S.C. 923 14 note; Public Law 111–8; 123 Stat. 574–576) is 15 amended by striking ‘‘beginning in fiscal year 2009 16 and thereafter’’ and inserting ‘‘in fiscal year 2009’’. 17 (4) The 6th proviso under the heading ‘‘Bureau 18 of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—Sala- 19 ries and Expenses’’ in title II of division B of the 20 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 (18 U.S.C. 21 923 note; Public Law 110–161; 121 Stat. 1903– 22 1904) is amended by striking ‘‘beginning in fiscal 23 year 2008 and thereafter’’ and inserting ‘‘in fiscal 24 year 2008’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H435.IH H435 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 435 IH (5) The 6th proviso under the heading ‘‘Bureau 1 of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—Sala- 2 ries and Expenses’’ in title I of the Science, State, 3 Justice, Commerce, and Related Agencies Appro- 4 priations Act, 2006 (18 U.S.C. 923 note; Public 5 Law 109–108; 119 Stat. 2295–2296) is amended by 6 striking ‘‘with respect to any fiscal year’’. 7 (6) The 6th proviso under the heading in title 8 I of division B of the Consolidated Appropriations 9 Act, 2005 (18 U.S.C. 923 note; Public Law 108– 10 447; 118 Stat. 2859–2860) is amended by striking 11 ‘‘with respect to any fiscal year’’. 12 (b) DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERV- 13 ICES.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, funds 14 made available to the Department of Health and Human 15 Services, including the Centers for Disease Control and 16 Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, may be 17 used to conduct research with respect to gun violence. 18 SEC. 5. RESEARCH PROGRAM. 19 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President, acting 20 through the Director, shall develop and implement a pro- 21 gram to improve public health and safety through research 22 on gun violence (to be known as the ‘‘National Gun Vio- 23 lence Research Program’’), through activities carried out 24 in collaboration with covered agencies that— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H435.IH H435 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 435 IH (1) support gun violence research; 1 (2) accelerate the translation of gun violence re- 2 search into effective policy interventions to reduce 3 the incidence of injury and death related to guns; 4 (3) expand the number of researchers and stu- 5 dents in the field of gun violence research; and 6 (4) improve interagency planning and coordina- 7 tion of Federal Government activities relating to gun 8 violence research. 9 (b) PROGRAM ACTIVITIES.—A covered agency, in car- 10 rying out activities described in subsection (a), shall— 11 (1) award grants to individual investigators and 12 interdisciplinary teams of investigators for projects 13 related to gun violence research; 14 (2) support projects funded under joint solicita- 15 tions by a collaboration of no fewer than two covered 16 agencies; 17 (3) establish interdisciplinary research centers 18 that are organized to investigate basic research 19 questions and inform policy decisions relating to gun 20 violence; 21 (4) provide for the education and training of 22 undergraduate students, graduate students, and 23 postdoctoral scholars in gun violence research; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H435.IH H435 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 435 IH (5) promote the development of voluntary con- 1 sensus gun safety technical standards. 2 (c) INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 4 the date of the enactment of this Act, the President, 5 acting through the National Science and Technology 6 Council, shall establish an interagency working 7 group on gun violence research. 8 (2) COMPOSITION.—The working group estab- 9 lished under this subsection shall be chaired by the 10 Director and include representatives from— 11 (A) the National Science Foundation; 12 (B) the National Institute of Standards 13 and Technology; 14 (C) the National Institutes of Health; 15 (D) the Centers for Disease Control and 16 Prevention; 17 (E) the National Institute of Justice; and 18 (F) any other Federal agency (including 19 an agency, department, or service thereof) that 20 the Director considers appropriate. 21 (3) DUTIES.—The Working Group shall— 22 (A) oversee the planning, management, 23 and coordination of the Program; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H435.IH H435 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 435 IH (B) provide for coordination among cov- 1 ered agencies of Federal gun violence research 2 and other activities undertaken pursuant to the 3 Program; 4 (C) establish and periodically update goals 5 and priorities for the Program; 6 (D) develop, not later than 12 months 7 after the date of enactment of this Act, and up- 8 date every 5 years, a strategic plan to guide the 9 activities of the Program to meet the goals and 10 priorities established under subparagraph (C). 11 (d) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 14 President, acting through the Director of the Office 15 of Science and Technology Policy, shall establish an 16 advisory committee on gun violence research. 17 (2) COMPOSITION.—The advisory committee es- 18 tablished under paragraph (1) shall be composed of 19 not less than 12 members, including representatives 20 of research institutions, institutions of higher edu- 21 cation, industry, law enforcement, and relevant non- 22 profit organizations who are qualified to provide ad- 23 vice on the Program. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H435.IH H435 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 435 IH (3) DUTIES.—The advisory committee estab- 1 lished under subsection (a) shall assess— 2 (A) the management, coordination, imple- 3 mentation, and activities of the Program; 4 (B) the balance of activities and funding 5 across the Program; 6 (C) whether the Program priorities and 7 goals developed by the working group estab- 8 lished under subsection (c)(3) are helping to 9 improve public health and safety; and 10 (D) the need to revise the Program. 11 (e) COVERED AGENCY DEFINED.—In this section, 12 the term ‘‘covered agency’’ means— 13 (1) the National Science Foundation; 14 (2) the National Institute for Standards and 15 Technology; 16 (3) the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- 17 tion; 18 (4) the National Institutes of Health; 19 (5) the National Institute of Justice; and 20 (6) such other Federal agency as determined 21 appropriate by the Director of the Office of Science 22 and Technology Policy. 23 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 24 are authorized to be appropriated to the Director to carry 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H435.IH H435 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 435 IH out this section $200,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 1 through 2024. 2 SEC. 6. AGENCY ACTIVITIES. 3 (a) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION.— 4 (1) RESEARCH.—The Director of the National 5 Science Foundation shall award grants, on a com- 6 petitive basis, to institutions of higher education or 7 nonprofit organizations (or consortia of such institu- 8 tions or organizations)— 9 (A) to support multidisciplinary research 10 to better understand the nature, causes, and 11 consequences of violence, including violence, sui- 12 cide, unintended injury, and death involving 13 guns; 14 (B) to examine the effects of gun policy 15 interventions on— 16 (i) rates of suicide, homicide, and un- 17 intended injury and death; 18 (ii) individuals’ ability to use guns for 19 self-defense, hunting, and recreation; and 20 (iii) the gun industry; and 21 (C) to educate and train researchers in the 22 field of violence, including gun violence, re- 23 search. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H435.IH H435 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 435 IH (2) NATIONAL CENTER FOR VIOLENCE RE- 1 SEARCH.—The Director of the National Science 2 Foundation shall award grants on a competitive 3 basis to institutions of higher education or nonprofit 4 organizations (or consortia of such institutions or or- 5 ganizations) to establish one or more centers to con- 6 duct multidisciplinary research and education activi- 7 ties in support of the goals and priorities of the Pro- 8 gram (to be known as ‘‘National Center for Violence 9 Research’’). 10 (3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 11 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 12 this subsection $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 13 2019 through 2024. 14 (b) NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND 15 TECHNOLOGY.— 16 (1) VOLUNTARY CONSENSUS STANDARDS.—The 17 Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director 18 of the National Institute of Standards and Tech- 19 nology, shall establish a program to promote the de- 20 velopment of voluntary consensus gun safety tech- 21 nical standards. Such effort shall include— 22 (A) outreach, coordination, and technical 23 support to relevant industry and nonindustry 24 stakeholders and standards development organi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H435.IH H435 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 435 IH zations to assist such entities in the develop- 1 ment of voluntary consensus gun safety tech- 2 nical standards; 3 (B) the conduct of research to support ef- 4 forts to develop and improve such standards 5 and conformity assessment; and 6 (C) the development of such standard ref- 7 erence material as the Director determines is 8 necessary to further the development of such 9 standards. 10 (2) PROHIBITION ON REGULATION.—Nothing in 11 this Act shall be construed as conferring upon the 12 Secretary of Commerce any authority to establish or 13 enforce mandatory gun safety standards. 14 (3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 15 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 16 this subsec [Text truncated for display. 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