H.R. 2255 would allow federal law enforcement officers to purchase their retired handguns at salvage value from the federal agency that issued their handgun. Salvage value is the value of an asset that is no longer of use or the estimated value of a disposed asset at the end of its useful life.

CBO expects that implementing the bill would increase administrative costs both for the General Services Administration to develop regulations to implement the program and for law enforcement agencies to participate in the program. Based on the cost of similar activities, we estimate that those costs would total less than $500,000 over the 2025-2030 period. Any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

Collections from handgun sales authorized under H.R. 2255 would be classified in the budget as offsetting receipts—that is, as reductions in direct spending—and deposited in the Treasury. CBO is unaware of any comprehensive information about the pace at which federal law enforcement agencies replace handguns or how many they expect would be sold rather than destroyed. However, using information about the number of law enforcement officers employed at federal agencies who potentially would be purchasers, CBO estimates that on-budget receipts from sales of those guns could exceed $500,000 over the 2025-2035 period. For example, if law enforcement agencies replaced 10 percent of their handguns every year and 10 percent of those guns were sold to law enforcement officers at salvage prices, receipts would total $2 million over the 2025-2035 period, CBO estimates.

The program under H.R. 2255 would include the Postal Inspection Service, a law enforcement agency within the Postal Service. Cash flows for the Postal Service are recorded in the federal budget in the Postal Service Fund and are classified as off-budget direct spending. CBO estimates that any receipts from handgun sales by the Postal Service would not be significant in any year or over the 2025-2035 period.

The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Matthew Pickford (for the General Services Administration and law enforcement) and Jeremy Crimm (for the Postal Service). The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.