Funding and Administration

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, administers the Project ChildSafe program. Congress appropriated $50 million for the project in fiscal year (FY) 2002 to distribute 20 million firearm safety kits, $25 million in FY 2003 to hand out an additional 10 million kits, and $5 million in FY 2004.

Project ChildSafe is managed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), a trade association for the firearms and recreational shooting sports industry. NSSF was chosen to implement Project ChildSafe because of its experience and expertise in providing gunlocks and safety education to firearm owners through Project HomeSafe, which NSSF launched in 1999 to promote safe handling and storage of firearms. Project ChildSafe is an expansion of Project HomeSafe and puts an emphasis on keeping children from accessing loaded firearms in the home.