U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT NOON EDT BJS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1997 202/633-3047 BRADY ACT BACKGROUND CHECKS PREVENT 173,000 ILLEGAL HANDGUN PURCHASES SINCE FEBRUARY 1994 IMPLEMENTATION Handgun Figure is Subset of More Than 250,000 Firearm Sales Blocked Since February 1994 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In its first analysis of a subset of the estimated 250,000 illegal firearm sales blocked by the Brady Act since it took effect in February of 1994, the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today that an estimated 173,000 illegal handgun sales were blocked by Brady background checks. Approximately 70,000 of the illegal handgun sales were blocked in 1996, BJS reported. The handgun sales are only a subset of all firearm sales that were blocked under the background check provision of the Brady Act. A previous BJS statistical report, "Presale Firearms Checks," estimated that 6,600 firearms application were rejected each month, totaling more than 250,000 illegal firearms--including rifles and other long guns in addition to handguns--blocked between the establishment of Brady background checks and June 1997. The Brady Act requires federally licensed firearm dealers to submit handgun purchase applications for a buyer background check, either under the provisions of the act or under the terms of a comparable state statute. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could not require states to conduct background checks, although almost every state continues to do such checks. Altogether last year, dealers throughout the United States obtained background checks for almost 2.6 million handgun purchase applications. Of these, 2.7 percent were rejected following checks by state or local law enforcement officials. Approximately 47,000 handgun sales were denied because the applicants had been indicted for felony offenses or had felony convictions; 4,200 were fugitives from justice; 3,900 were prohibited because of state laws; 2,700 were the subjects of restraining orders; and 1,000 had mental disabilities. The remainder of the handgun sale rejections were because the individual attempting to make the purchase was either a juvenile, an illegal alien, a person dishonorably discharged from the armed services, a person who had renounced citizenship, or someone who had been convicted of a domestic violence offense. When doing background checks either following the Brady Act procedures or under state laws, 49 states searched criminal history files, 45 checked for fugitives, 32 checked restraining order files and 16 check for a mental disability. State governments, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have identified about 5,200 state and local law enforcement agencies within the United States and designated their heads as Chief Law Enforcement Officers (CLEOs). Data was collected from 311 agencies, including 21 with state-wide jurisdiction. These 21 states contain 65 percent of the United States residents. The data collected by BJS refer only to attempted handgun purchases from federally licensed firearms dealers. More specific details are available in the BJS bulletin, "Presale Handgun Checks, 1996" (NCJ-165704), written by BJS staff members Donald A. Manson and Darrell K. Gilliard. It and "Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, 1996" (NCJ-163918) are available on the BJS fax- on-demand system at 301-519-5550 and on the Internet home page at: 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 # # # BJS97109 After hours contact: Stu Smith at 301/983-9354 (END OF FILE)