The Responsible Retirement of Law Enforcement Firearms Act requires law enforcement agencies receiving federal Justice Assistance Grants to certify they will not buy from or sell firearms to gun dealers with a history of selling weapons that end up used in crimes. Specifically, the bill targets "covered licensed dealers"—those from which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has traced at least 25 firearms with short time-to-crime (firearms recovered in crimes within three years of retail sale) in at least two of the prior three years. The bill requires the federal government to publish a public list of these problematic dealers within 120 days of enactment and annually thereafter, while also notifying state and local law enforcement when firearms they transferred are used in crimes. Additionally, the bill repeals longstanding congressional restrictions that previously prevented the ATF from publicly releasing gun trace data, making this information more transparent to the public. The bill has no specified funding amount but affects all law enforcement agencies that receive federal grants and gun dealers across the country.
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