It is important to note that not everyone who fails a Brady background check has committed a crime, as in cases where the applicant is mentally ill, or makes an honest mistake in filling the Brady check form. According to the commission, the number of people prosecuted federally for illegally attempting to buy a gun is far higher than 604. It was unable, however, to put a specific number on those cases because the federal statutes covering illegal attempts to buy guns cover other crimes as well. No complete record is available of federal prosecutions of people attempting to buy guns illegally. Further, the federal government does not handle most gun prosecutions.
Many states prosecute people attempting to buy firearms under their own gun laws.
In fact, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that 90 percent of all weapons convictions occur in state courts. Because of varying laws in each state, and the vast number of state and local jurisdictions in the United States, there is no breakdown of state weapons convictions according to specific crimes. State and local authorities make the vast majority of arrests and undertake the vast majority of prosecutions. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there has been a steady increase in total state and federal firearms convictions since 1992. In 1996 there were 22 percent more criminals sent to prison for state and federal weapons offenses than in 1992.