Note:
This awardee has received supplemental funding. This award detail page includes information about both the original award and supplemental awards.
Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2014, $365,958)
The Regional Justice Information Service (REJIS), an officially recognized criminal justice agency, has served as the data collection agent for the Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS) Firearm Inquiry Statistics (FIST) program since the program's inception in 1994. REJIS was competitively awarded FY 2014 FIST funding to continue its efforts to administer the FIST survey and data collection schedule. Through FIST, BJS collects data on firearm background checks conducted by state and local agencies and combines this information with the FBI's NICS transaction data to produce a national estimate of the number of applications received and denied annually. The FIST collection also obtains information from federal, state, and local agencies on reasons for denial of firearm applications, appeals of denials, and actions taken against denied persons. The FIST data collection is currently administered through a survey to 32 state agency reporters (including Washington, D.C.) that serve an entire state population, a statewide census of local checking agencies in 6 states, and a sample of local checking agencies in 4 states. BJS publishes FIST data in its Background Checks for Firearm Transfers series, available on the BJS website. Under the FY 2014 FIST award, REJIS will continue to collaborate with BJS, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to complete the following tasks to implement the FIST data collection: 1) define the sampling plan and methodology for collecting and analyzing data on firearm background check activities; 2)obtain FBI NICS transaction data and produce a national estimate of the number of applications for firearm transfers or permits that are received and denied in calendar year 2014; 3) prepare statistical tables of the number of applications, denials, reasons for denial for state, local, and FBI background checks and referrals for investigation to ATF that occurred in calendar year 2014 and appendix tables for data obtained from state agency reporters on arrests and appeals and on background check functions by jurisdiction; and 4) produce the 2013 Enforcement of the Brady Act report to report on ATF investigations and U.S. Attorney prosecutions of persons who were denied a firearm in calendar year 2013 (prior year data is reported because data are collected in September to allow sufficient time for pending cases to be resolved after the end of the calendar year). REJIS will also be responsible for preparing FIST data for archival at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data. CA/NCF