In the early morning hours today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the FY2015 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, which funds, among other agencies, the Department of Justice and the ATF.
Included in the bill was a $3 million competitive grant program for firearms safety kits and gun locks. Additionally, the report that accompanied the bill included a section that expressed the need for ATF to dedicate more resources to their customer service branch to address the backlog of forms for NFA items, marking variances, and imports.
An amendment to add an additional $19.5 million FBI NICS was also approved. The Senate is expected to begin consideration of their version of the bill at the subcommittee level next week.
