NIJ FY23 Research and Evaluation on Firearms Violence and Mass Shootings | O NIJ 2023 171566

Opportunity Information: Apply for O NIJ 2023 171566

The NIJ FY23 Research and Evaluation on Firearms Violence and Mass Shootings opportunity is a discretionary grant program from the Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice (NIJ), under CFDA 16.560, aimed at strengthening the evidence base around what works to prevent and reduce intentional, interpersonal firearm violence and mass shootings in the United States. It sits within the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) priorities of advancing civil rights and racial equity, expanding access to justice, supporting victims and people impacted by the justice system, improving community safety, addressing evolving threats, and building trust between communities and law enforcement. The solicitation is explicitly research-and-evaluation focused, meaning NIJ is looking for rigorous studies and program evaluations that can directly inform policy and practice rather than general advocacy or service delivery.

NIJ is funding work in two main topic areas. The first is research or evaluation related to Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) laws, often called "Red Flag Laws." Projects in this category might examine how ERPOs are implemented in practice, what outcomes they are associated with, what barriers exist to their use, and how processes differ across jurisdictions. The second category is research on the sources of firearms used in crimes and how those sources relate to shootings and gun-related violence. This can include studying pathways by which guns move from legal commerce into illegal use (for example, theft, straw purchasing, private transfers where applicable, trafficking patterns, or other diversion mechanisms) and connecting those sourcing patterns to local shooting dynamics and violence prevention strategies. Across both categories, the intent is to generate actionable findings that practitioners and policymakers can use to reduce harm.

A major emphasis of the solicitation is meaningful engagement with people who have lived experience related to the subject matter. NIJ signals that proposals will receive special consideration when they are designed in ways that incorporate authentic input and participation from affected groups, such as justice practitioners, community members, crime victims, service providers, and individuals who have been involved with the justice system. This is more than a generic stakeholder list; it implies building research designs that include community-informed questions, collaborative interpretation of findings, and dissemination that reaches the people most likely to use the results. NIJ also encourages multidisciplinary research teams, reflecting a preference for projects that combine complementary methods and expertise (for example, pairing quantitative analysis with qualitative fieldwork, policy analysis, implementation science, criminology, public health, or behavioral science).

The solicitation also calls for applicants to explicitly consider and measure issues of diversity, discrimination, and bias when applicable. This includes attention to age, gender and gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation. In practice, that means NIJ is looking for proposals that do not treat firearm violence or policy interventions as one-size-fits-all, but instead examine differential impacts, access, enforcement patterns, or unintended consequences across different populations. For ERPO research, for instance, that could include studying who is subject to petitions, who files petitions, and whether there are disparate patterns in process or outcomes. For firearm sourcing research, it could mean examining how illegal markets and enforcement patterns intersect with community demographics and historical inequities.

For projects that involve partnerships with criminal justice agencies or other agencies, NIJ sets clear documentation and data responsibilities. Applications should include a letter of support from each partnering agency, signed by a decision-making authority. Importantly, those letters must acknowledge that any de-identified data derived from, provided to, or obtained through the NIJ-funded award will be archived with the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) at the end of the project. NIJ strongly points applicants and partners to review NIJ data archiving guidance, signaling that data management planning and long-term data sharing are core expectations, not optional add-ons. If selected, awardees are expected to have formal agreements in place with partnering agencies by January 1, 2024, and those agreements must include provisions ensuring the project can meet the NACJD archiving requirements.

Another central feature is a strong expectation for dissemination that actually changes practice. NIJ is asking for robust, creative, multi-pronged dissemination strategies, including strategic partnerships with organizations and associations positioned to translate research into policy and operational change. The solicitation goes further by offering special consideration to proposals that dedicate at least 15 percent of the requested award budget to dissemination strategies, and that commitment must be visible and justified in the Budget Worksheet and Budget Narrative. This makes dissemination a scored and resourced component of the project rather than a brief end-of-report plan. Applicants are effectively encouraged to build infrastructure for impact, such as practitioner toolkits, policy briefs, trainings, webinars, implementation guides, or partnerships with professional associations that can carry findings into the field.

From an eligibility and structure standpoint, the opportunity is open to a wide range of entities, including state, county, and local governments; tribal governments and tribal organizations; public and private institutions of higher education; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; public housing authorities; and for-profit organizations (including small businesses). While partnerships are encouraged, NIJ clarifies that only one entity may apply as the applicant. Any additional organizations that will use federal funds to help carry out the project must be included as subrecipients, and the applicant is expected to conduct the majority of the work. This is an important administrative constraint for consortium-style proposals: the lead applicant must retain primary responsibility, oversight, and substantive workload.

Key administrative details in the source information include the opportunity number (O-NIJ-2023-171566), a creation date of February 3, 2023, and an original closing date of April 20, 2023. The award ceiling is listed as $9,000,000, with an expected nine awards. Overall, the program is designed to fund high-quality, policy-relevant research and evaluations that not only study ERPO laws and firearm sourcing in relation to shootings and gun violence, but also elevate lived experience perspectives, examine equity implications, meet rigorous data archiving expectations, and invest meaningfully in dissemination so results are more likely to influence real-world decisions.

• The Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIJ FY23 Research and Evaluation on Firearms Violence and Mass Shootings" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.560.
• This funding opportunity was created on Feb 03, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 20, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $9,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 9 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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