ADVANCE FOR RELEASE?? 4:30 PM EDT????????????????????????????????????????????????? BJS
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2002? ?? ??????????????????????? ??????????????????????? 202-307-0703
FIREARM SALES REJECTION RATE IN 2001 SIMILAR
TO PRIOR YEARS
An Estimated 8 Million Prospective Purchasers
Checked
WASHINGTON, D.C. ? The Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice
Statistics (BJS) announced today that nearly 2 percent of the 8 million
applications made by U.S. residents to purchase or transfer firearms were
rejected in 2001.
The 2001 rejection rate for firearms purchases is similar to the
rejection rate of prior years.? From the
beginning of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act on March 1, 1994,
through December 31, 2001, almost 38 million applications were made to federally
licensed dealers, of which about 840,000 or about 2 percent were rejected,
according to a new BJS bulletin on firearm sales and transfers.
The Brady statute requires state or local agencies or the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to conduct background checks on the eligibility
of applicants to buy or otherwise acquire handguns or rifles.? Applicants may be rejected for having a
criminal record or being otherwise ineligible under federal or state law.
The system of background checks established in the Brady Act was
implemented by the FBI as the National Instant Criminal Background Check System
or NICS.? The NICS is a partnership
between the states and the FBI.? About
half the applications for a firearm purchase are submitted to a state or local
agency as the point of contact to the NICS while the other half are directly
submitted to the FBI for processing.?
During 2001,
applications for firearms purchase and carry permits distributed as follows:
Submitted to:???????????????? Number
of Applications????? Number of
Rejections Rejection Rate
State/Local Agencies?????? ?????? 3,666,000??? ?????????????????????? ?????86,000
?????????????????? ???????2.3%
FBI?????????????????????????????? ?????? 4,292,000??????????????????????????
64,500????????? ?????????????????????? ???????1.5%
Total???????????????????????????? ?????? 7,958,000??????????????
151,000???????????????????? ?????? 1.9%
About 58 percent of rejections in 2001 were due to applicants? felony
convictions or indictments; 14 percent were rejected for a domestic violence
misdemeanor conviction or restraining order.
Other reasons for rejection included state or local law prohibitions
(7.5 percent); fugitives (6 percent); mental illness or disability (1 percent);
drug addiction (1 percent); and the remainder for other reasons (12 percent)
such as having a dishonorable discharge from the armed services or being an
illegal alien.??
Federal law prohibits the sale of firearms to any person who:
?
is a juvenile
?
is a fugitive
from justice
?
is under
indictment for, or has been convicted of, a crime punishable by imprisonment
for more than one year?
?
is an unlawful
user of a controlled substance
?
has been adjudicated
as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution
?
is an alien
unlawfully in the United States
?
was discharged
from the armed services under dishonorable conditions
?
has renounced
U.S. citizenship
?
is subject to a
court order restraining him or her from harassing, stalking or threatening an
intimate partner or child, or
?
is a person who
has been convicted of domestic violence.
Persons prevented by a background check from receiving a firearm or a permit
may be subject to arrest and prosecution if they are wanted in an outstanding
warrant or have submitted false information on their applications.? About 1,900 arrests were reported by 7
states providing data in 2001.? In
addition the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) reported 175
arrests in Fiscal 2001.?
The bulletin, ?Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2001"
(NCJ-195235), was written by BJS staff members Devon B. Adams and Matthew J.
Hickman, and Michael Bowling and Gene Lauver, of the Regional Justice
Information Service.? Single copies may
be obtained by calling the BJS Clearinghouse at 1-800-732-3277.? In addition, this document can be accessed
at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/bcft01.htm
For further information about the Bureau of Justice Statistics and
other OJP programs, please see the OJP Website at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov
Media calls should be directed to David Hess in OJP's Office of
Congressional and Public Affairs at [email protected] or 202-307-0703. After hours: 877-859-8704.
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