Checks block 204,000 firearm sales  Report shows state, local police reject more purchases than FBI  June 5, 2000 BY MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- Background checks blocked 204,000 of the more than 8.6 million prospective gun sales last year, according to a Justice Department report. The report shows state and local police rejected a higher percentage of would-be gun buyers than the FBI. The 1999 figures brought the number of rejections since the Brady Act instituted background checks in February 1994 to 536,000 out of almost 22.3 million applications, the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics reported. That confirmed estimates of more than 500,000 rejections. The report provided the first hard numbers on the differences between checks by state and local police and those by the FBI. The FBI performed 4.5 million of the 8.6 million checks last year, compared with 4.1 million by state and local agencies. The rejection rate among state and local agencies was 3 percent, compared with 1.8 percent for the FBI. The report attributed this difference to state agencies' access to more detailed criminal history records. In 1999, 73 percent of rejections were because would-be buyers had been convicted of or indicted on felony charges. Last year, the report said, all state agencies had access to computer databases that record past felony convictions. Many accessed databases with other disqualifying information such as fugitive status, court restraining orders, mental illness and domestic violence misdemeanor convictions, it said. The Clinton administration long has argued that the states are better equipped than the FBI to do background checks, but some states have not wanted to pay the costs.  The overall national rejection rate has remained 2.4 percent since 1994, despite the Nov. 30, 1998, switch to computerized instant checks and the addition of checks on long-gun purchasers. Only handgun buyers were checked before. A second statistics bureau report largely recapped data released by the Justice Department during its gun control debate with the National Rifle Association during the past few months. The gun owners' group opposed President Bill Clinton's gun control proposals and argued that federal prosecutors were not enforcing existing gun laws. The administration said federal prosecutors were focusing on serious offenders and shifting smaller cases to state and local prosecutors. It also said combined gun prosecutions were up. The report said preliminary 1999 data showed 6,728 defendants were charged with federal firearms offenses, up from 6,287 in 1998. It also showed that between 1992 and 1997, the number of federal firearms defendants decreased 19 percent, from 7,621 to 5,993. The report attributed part of this decline to the Supreme Court's 1995 Bailey vs. United States decision limiting prosecutors' ability to charge defendants with using a firearm during a violent or drug offense. It estimated that 2,500 more defendants would have been charged with illegal gun possession between 1995 and 1998 if the court had ruled differently. The bureau said prosecutors compensated by seeking longer sentences for weapon use. MORE NATION & WORLD STORIES FREEP FRONT | NEWS FRONT