LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/wires/20010702/tCB00V3033.html

Monday, July 2, 2001

Background Checks Cut Into Gun Buys

Associated Press Writer

    WASHINGTON-- Fewer people tried to buy guns from licensed firearms
dealers last year than in 1999, and most of those who were refused a
purchase had felony convictions or indictments, new government figures
show.
    Altogether, background checks conducted under the authority of the
Brady hangun law stopped 153,000 of the nearly 7.7 million prospective gun
sales in 2000, the Justice Department's statistical agency reported
Sunday.
    Significantly fewer Americans tried to buy firearms last year, it
said. Analysts attributed that mostly to the general decline in overall
crime rates during the 1990s, saying that may have caused people to feel
less need for self-protection weapons.
    "These are the long-term positive repercussions of a lower crime
rate," said James Alan Fox, criminal justice professor at Northeastern
University in Boston. "People see that streets are safer and they are not
as compelled to go out and purchase a gun."
    Government researchers cautioned, however, that the overall decline
in applications for guns does not necessarily mean fewer weapons were
sold. In some states, they noted, people can buy more than one gun with a
single application.
    "It's not a measure of whether gun sales are up or down," said
Lawrence Greenfeld, acting director of the Justice Department's Bureau of
Justice Statistics.
    Between 1999 and 2000, there was an 11 percent drop in the number of
Americans who tried to purchase guns from federally licensed firearm
dealers -from 8.6 million to 7.7 million.
    Nearly all the 19 states listed in the report as providing complete
statewide data for applications and rejections in 2000 had declines last
year; the largest were in Indiana (25.8 percent) and California (24.8
percent).

    Nearly 58 percent of applicants rejected by state and local
authorities had felony convictions or indictments, down from 73 percent in
1999, the report said.
    The second most common reason for rejection was a domestic violence
misdemeanor conviction or a restraining order. Those accounted for about
11,000 applications, or 12 percent of rejections.
    Background checks to see if prospective gun buyers have criminal
records have been required since February 1994 under the Brady Handgun
Violence Prevention Act.
    Through 2000, the report said, the FBI or state and local police had
rejected 689,000 of nearly 30 million applications, or 2.3 percent, since
the effective date of the law on March 1, 1994. That is compared with the
2 percent rate of rejection in 2000 and a 2.4 percent rate in 1999. The
checks are done electronically.
    Last year, the FBI processed 4.3 million applications and state and
local agencies processed 3.5 million, the report said.
    State and local agencies did not approve 86,000, or 2.5 percent of
applicants; the FBI rejected 67,000, or 1.6 percent of those who applied
in 2000.
    Greenfeld, the Justice Department official, attributed the difference
to state agencies' access to more detailed criminal history records than
the FBI's. "They may have other databases they check that the FBI couldn't
check," he said.
    Attorney General John Ashcroft said the report shows that the Brady
law is working, but more needs to be done to prosecute people who try to
purchase guns illegally.
    "While the Brady law has helped us stop convicted felons and other
dangerous individuals from buying guns easily, violations of the law are
not being prosecuted adequately," he said.
    The 19 states presenting complete 2000 data, followed by the
percentage change in applications from 1999 to 2000 where available:
    Arizona, minus 13.0; California, minus 24.8; Colorado, 1999 data
incomplete; Connecticut, minus 20.9; Florida, minus 3.4; Georgia, minus
15.7; Illinois, minus 10.6; Indiana, minus 25.8; Maryland, plus 3.9;
Nevada, minus 19.5; New Hampshire, minus 5.0; New Jersey, plus 1.1;
Oregon, minus 7.9; Pennsylvania, minus 15.9; Tennessee, minus 13.5; Utah,
minus 12.0; Vermont, minus 6.8; Virginia, minus 9.6; Wisconsin, minus
12.3.

Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times

Here is the CNN version.
===============================================================
http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/07/01/firearms.applications/index.html

Firearms applications drop, as do rejections
July 1, 2001 Posted: 8:23 PM EDT (0023 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Federal, state and local authorities last year
rejected about 153,000 of some 7.7 million applications for firearms
transfers or permits, the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Statistics
said Sunday.
The 2000 rejection rate, about two percent, represented a 7.7 percent drop
from the previous year. The Justice Department said the total number of
applications for firearms declined in 2000, down from 8.6 million in 1999.

Experts said the statistics reflected efforts to reduce crime and
violence, according to the Associated Press.

"These are the long-term positive repercussions of a lower crime rate,"
James Alan Fox, a criminal justice professor at Boston's Northeastern
University, told the AP. "People see that streets are safer and are not as
compelled to go out and buy a gun."
But while the number of firearms-related applications went down, Lawrence
Greenfield, the Bureau of Statistics' acting director, told the Associated
Press that does not necessarily mean gun sales went up or down. People may
have used one application to buy multiple firearms, Greenfield explained.
Checks began in 1994
The background checks grew out of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention
Act, enacted in March 1994. The act requires people wishing to own
firearms (long guns and handguns) undergo a criminal history check when
they apply for a transfer or permit.
From the Brady bill's inception to December 31, 2000, state, local and FBI
authorities have rejected about 689,000 of almost 30 million applicants.
Agencies in 16 states conducted checks in 2000, while firearms dealers in
the other 34 states are required to contact the FBI directly each time a
transfer or permit application is filed.
The FBI processed 4.3 million firearms applications in 2000, rejecting
about 1.6 percent.
State and local authorities accounted for about 86,000 -- or roughly half
-- of last year's rejections, 2.5 percent of its 3.5 million checks.
Instant checks yield most rejections
Felony convictions or indictments led to 58 percent of those state and
local rejections, down from 73 percent in 1999.
Domestic violence misdemeanor convictions or restraining orders was the
second most common reason for rejection, amounting to 12 percent of total
rejections.
The largest decreases in firearm applications were in California and
Indiana, with each state's overall numbers dropping about 25 percent.
The highest rejection rates occurred in states that have implemented an
instant check system since the Brady Act took effect seven years ago,
according to the Bureau of Statistics. Those states included Tennessee at
7.2 percent and Colorado at 5 percent.
States that had background checks already in place by 1994 generally had
lower rejection rates, paced by California (1 percent) and Virginia (1.4
percent).

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Apparently those "analysts" didn't notice the surge of pre-Y2K gun buying in 1999.  Gun sales declined in 2000 because the market was saturated.

I see the Brady bill is working just as we intended. [smoke]

Yup, Bill.  Hate to admit it, but us little people have engaged in a lot more private party transactions. [:D]

Are you saying your an unlicensed dealer? [smoke]

Living in occupied territory and knowing we were about to be "pacified" we purchased all the hardware we were interested during 1999.

My only purchases in 2000 were an M1 Garand a Mossberg M44 (thank you CMP) and a Remington PSS in .223 (1/9 twist)

No new exciting handgun has entered the market in the past year.

Regards

ACK