FOR RELEASE ????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????BJS
SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2001
202/307-0784?????????????????
FIREARMS PURCHASE APPLICATIONS DECLINED DURING
2000
About 2 Percent
of the Requests Were Rejected
WASHINGTON,
D.C. ? About 153,000 of the approximately 7.7 million applications for firearms
transfers or permits were rejected last year, the Justice Department?s Bureau
of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today.
The Brady
Handgun Violence Prevention Act mandates criminal history checks for applicants
for firearms (long guns and handguns) transfers or permits.? Background checks at the time of a firearms
purchase are handled by agencies in 16 states.
For the remaining states, firearms dealers contact the FBI directly to
conduct the background check.
Since the
inception of the Act on March 1, 1994, through December 31, 2000, about 689,000
of almost 30 million applications were rejected by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) or state and local agencies.
State and local
agencies conducted 3.5 million checks last year and rejected 2.5 percent.?
The FBI processed 4.3 million
applications and rejected 1.6 percent.
The additional
requirement that background checks be conducted for long gun purchases
beginning on November 30, 1998, had the effect of nearly tripling the number of
checks
conducted.?? In 1997, just over 2.5 million checks were conducted; in 1999,
8.6 million checks were conducted and in 2000, nearly 7.7 million checks were
carried out, 11 percent less than in 1999.
Almost all states experienced declines last year.? The largest were in California and Indiana,
by about 25 percent.?
Of the 86,000
state and local rejections during 2000, felony convictions or indictments led
to 58 percent, down from 73 percent in 1999.
Among the other reasons state and local authorities turned down
applications during 2000 were: 9 percent for domestic violence misdemeanor
convictions; 3 percent for domestic violence restraining orders; state law
prohibitions, 5 percent; fugitive status, 4 percent; and mental illness or
mental disability, 1 percent.
The Federal Gun
Control Act, 18 U.S.C. ? 922, prohibits the transfer of a firearm to a person
who ?
? is under
indictment for or has been convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment? for more than one year
? is a fugitive
from justice
? is an
unlawful user or is addicted to any controlled substance
? has been
adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution
? is an illegal
alien or has been admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa
? was
discharged from the U.S. military service 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.?
? has been
convicted in any court of a felony or misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
In addition,
the statute makes it unlawful for any licensed importer, manufacturer, dealer
or collector to transfer a long gun to a person younger than 18 years old or
any other type of firearm to a person less than 21 years old.
During 2000 all
states had databases that recorded past felony convictions and many had data on
other disqualifying factors.? States
differ on the degree of automation in record searching and whether records are
in a central database or in databases maintained by county courts or
other state or local agencies.
BJS surveys
indicate that since the initiation of the Brady Act in March 1994 states have
made substantial gains in the quality and
accuracy of criminal history records.
(See http://ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/chrstat.htm.)
The report,
?Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2000"(NCJ-187985), was written
by Michael Bowling and Gene Lauver, of the Regional Justice Information
Service, and BJS statistician Sidra Lea Gifford and BJS program manager Devon
B. Adams.? Single copies may be obtained
from the BJS clearinghouse number: 1-800-732-3277.? Fax orders for mail delivery to 410/792-4358.?
After the release date this report will
be available at:
????????????????????????????? http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/bcft00.htm
?The BJS Internet site is:
???????????????????????????????????????????????? http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
Additional
criminal justice materials can be obtained from the Office of Justice Programs
homepage at:
? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/
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BJS01122
After hours contact: Stu Smith at
301/983-9354