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Campaign Claims Success in Cutting Newspaper Gunad
Josey1
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Campaign Claims Success in Cutting Newspaper Gun Ads
8/26/2003
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Feature Story
by Dick Dahl
On April 27 of this year, Mark Williams of Bradenton, Fla., purchased a semiautomatic handgun from a private seller who had advertised it in the newspaper. Later that day, Williams allegedly used the weapon to kill his estranged wife, Racquel Soliz-Williams, who had filed a restraining order against him.
The incident is a tragic example of how an enormous loophole provides easy access to firearms for people like Williams. A former convicted felon who was also under a restraining order, Williams would not have passed the federally required background check were he to have attempted a purchase from a federally licensed dealer. But private transactions are not covered by federal laws and they're not covered by most states, including Florida. That exemption in the law is the reason why gun shows, which provide the combination of a wide choice of firearms offered from "private collections" with the absence of background checks, have achieved notoriety as venues of choice for disqualified buyers. But it is a loophole that also applies to the private sale of an individual gun like the one Williams spotted in the classified ad.
Racquel Soliz-Williams' death painfully confirms how disastrous the gun lobby's stubborn blockage of sensible reforms, such as required background checks on all gun sales, can be. But to John Johnson, executive director of Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence (IPGV), it also demonstrates another, often overlooked, problem: The role of newspaper classified advertisements in expediting questionable gun sales.
That is why he and his organization have launched a multi-state effort called the Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole. "We are saying that newspapers should not allow the unlicensed sales," Johnson said, "because they can't prevent them from going to criminals."
Created in November, 2001, the Campaign includes member groups in 16 states and has resulted in a total of 12 newspapers restricting or eliminating gun advertisements from their classified-ad sections. The most recent is the Dallas Morning News, which announced its new policy on July 6. As Frank Leto, the Morning News vice president, classified advertising, told Join Together Online, the newspaper no longer accepts ads from unlicensed individuals for "any type of assault or fully automatic weapon, handgun, silencer, or explosive material."
Leto said he'd heard little reaction, either pro or con, so far. But he said he was confident that the decision was the correct one. "Our policy decision was put in place to reflect the fabric of the community and the reader base," he said, "and they represent the values of the Dallas Morning News."
The Campaign started in 2001 with members conducting surveys of newspapers in the 16 states to determine what their policies were on classified ads for guns. The policies varied widely, Johnson said, with some accepting any gun ads, some papers requiring that the seller be federally licensed, and some refusing all gun ads.
Initially, Johnson said, the Campaign's goal was to ask newspapers to refuse gun ads. "But then we decided that the issue we were really raising was the background check, which was sort of our line in the sand. So we changed our request slightly to ask newspapers not to take ads from unlicensed sellers. That's where we want newspapers to go."
Among their first targets were the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press classified-advertising departments. Those papers stood apart from other large northern and eastern newspapers because they accepted gun classified ads of all sorts, and in a city with a high gun-homicide rate as well. Two local Million Mom March chapters took the lead in the effort to convince the Detroit papers to change their ways, and, according to Johnson, the result was a semi-victory. The papers adopted a policy of refusing to take ads for handguns and most assault weapons, but continued to take ads for rifles and shotguns regardless of whether or not the seller is federally licensed.
Since the Detroit papers changed their policies, the Campaign has convinced 10 others to alter their gun-ad practices: Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Miami Herald, Sandusky (Ohio) Register, Willoughby (Ohio) News-Herald, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Dubuque (Iowa) Telegraph-Herald, Houston Chronicle, and The Dallas Morning News.
Johnson says he makes it a practice to check back with the newspapers after they make the change to see how things are working out. "I ask them if they're sorry that they did it," he says, "and what I always get is, 'No we're not.' After they've done it, they all seem to be pleased and satisfied with the action they took." He says that some do report backlash from people who oppose the new policies. "But they tend to say, 'We got a little, but not much.'"
Johnson admits that reducing the number of classified ads for firearms is not going to solve the huge problem of gun violence in the U.S. But it is also more than just one small thing. "There are a lot of people who are involved in what I call the 'gun chain' from manufacturer to buyer," he says. "They're only peripherally involved, and I think newspapers are a classic example of that. The people who are peripherally involved in the chain should take voluntary action to ensure that the transfer is at least as good as from a licensed gun dealer."
Those peripheral players in the gun chain also include gun-show organizers and the owners of the facilities that are used for gun shows, Johnson says. In a similar vein, IPGV has launched an effort to halt what it claims is the illegal sale of firearms by Iowa consignment auction businesses. While auctioneers fit Johnson's category of a peripheral player in the gun chain, they're liable under federal law, which requires that a person must be licensed if they are "engaged in the business" of selling firearms.
Johnson believes that any step that addresses the problem of illegal gun sales is worth taking. Looking at existing data and estimates about gun sales, Johnson estimates that illegal purchasers obtain guns in the secondary market at least 100,000 times a year. He bases that estimate on the fact that about two percent of applications through licensed dealers result in rejections and applies it to the estimate of some 5 million annual transactions in the secondary gun market.
"I think the bottom line is that we shouldn't be doing anything that makes sales less regulated than they are through a licensed gun dealer," he says. "That draws a line in the sand."
Campaign Claims Success in Cutting Newspaper Gun Ads. Feature article, Join Together Online (www.jointogether.org), August 26, 2003.
http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/features/reader/0,2061,566393,00.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878<P>
8/26/2003
Subscribe
Feature Story
by Dick Dahl
On April 27 of this year, Mark Williams of Bradenton, Fla., purchased a semiautomatic handgun from a private seller who had advertised it in the newspaper. Later that day, Williams allegedly used the weapon to kill his estranged wife, Racquel Soliz-Williams, who had filed a restraining order against him.
The incident is a tragic example of how an enormous loophole provides easy access to firearms for people like Williams. A former convicted felon who was also under a restraining order, Williams would not have passed the federally required background check were he to have attempted a purchase from a federally licensed dealer. But private transactions are not covered by federal laws and they're not covered by most states, including Florida. That exemption in the law is the reason why gun shows, which provide the combination of a wide choice of firearms offered from "private collections" with the absence of background checks, have achieved notoriety as venues of choice for disqualified buyers. But it is a loophole that also applies to the private sale of an individual gun like the one Williams spotted in the classified ad.
Racquel Soliz-Williams' death painfully confirms how disastrous the gun lobby's stubborn blockage of sensible reforms, such as required background checks on all gun sales, can be. But to John Johnson, executive director of Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence (IPGV), it also demonstrates another, often overlooked, problem: The role of newspaper classified advertisements in expediting questionable gun sales.
That is why he and his organization have launched a multi-state effort called the Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole. "We are saying that newspapers should not allow the unlicensed sales," Johnson said, "because they can't prevent them from going to criminals."
Created in November, 2001, the Campaign includes member groups in 16 states and has resulted in a total of 12 newspapers restricting or eliminating gun advertisements from their classified-ad sections. The most recent is the Dallas Morning News, which announced its new policy on July 6. As Frank Leto, the Morning News vice president, classified advertising, told Join Together Online, the newspaper no longer accepts ads from unlicensed individuals for "any type of assault or fully automatic weapon, handgun, silencer, or explosive material."
Leto said he'd heard little reaction, either pro or con, so far. But he said he was confident that the decision was the correct one. "Our policy decision was put in place to reflect the fabric of the community and the reader base," he said, "and they represent the values of the Dallas Morning News."
The Campaign started in 2001 with members conducting surveys of newspapers in the 16 states to determine what their policies were on classified ads for guns. The policies varied widely, Johnson said, with some accepting any gun ads, some papers requiring that the seller be federally licensed, and some refusing all gun ads.
Initially, Johnson said, the Campaign's goal was to ask newspapers to refuse gun ads. "But then we decided that the issue we were really raising was the background check, which was sort of our line in the sand. So we changed our request slightly to ask newspapers not to take ads from unlicensed sellers. That's where we want newspapers to go."
Among their first targets were the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press classified-advertising departments. Those papers stood apart from other large northern and eastern newspapers because they accepted gun classified ads of all sorts, and in a city with a high gun-homicide rate as well. Two local Million Mom March chapters took the lead in the effort to convince the Detroit papers to change their ways, and, according to Johnson, the result was a semi-victory. The papers adopted a policy of refusing to take ads for handguns and most assault weapons, but continued to take ads for rifles and shotguns regardless of whether or not the seller is federally licensed.
Since the Detroit papers changed their policies, the Campaign has convinced 10 others to alter their gun-ad practices: Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Miami Herald, Sandusky (Ohio) Register, Willoughby (Ohio) News-Herald, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Dubuque (Iowa) Telegraph-Herald, Houston Chronicle, and The Dallas Morning News.
Johnson says he makes it a practice to check back with the newspapers after they make the change to see how things are working out. "I ask them if they're sorry that they did it," he says, "and what I always get is, 'No we're not.' After they've done it, they all seem to be pleased and satisfied with the action they took." He says that some do report backlash from people who oppose the new policies. "But they tend to say, 'We got a little, but not much.'"
Johnson admits that reducing the number of classified ads for firearms is not going to solve the huge problem of gun violence in the U.S. But it is also more than just one small thing. "There are a lot of people who are involved in what I call the 'gun chain' from manufacturer to buyer," he says. "They're only peripherally involved, and I think newspapers are a classic example of that. The people who are peripherally involved in the chain should take voluntary action to ensure that the transfer is at least as good as from a licensed gun dealer."
Those peripheral players in the gun chain also include gun-show organizers and the owners of the facilities that are used for gun shows, Johnson says. In a similar vein, IPGV has launched an effort to halt what it claims is the illegal sale of firearms by Iowa consignment auction businesses. While auctioneers fit Johnson's category of a peripheral player in the gun chain, they're liable under federal law, which requires that a person must be licensed if they are "engaged in the business" of selling firearms.
Johnson believes that any step that addresses the problem of illegal gun sales is worth taking. Looking at existing data and estimates about gun sales, Johnson estimates that illegal purchasers obtain guns in the secondary market at least 100,000 times a year. He bases that estimate on the fact that about two percent of applications through licensed dealers result in rejections and applies it to the estimate of some 5 million annual transactions in the secondary gun market.
"I think the bottom line is that we shouldn't be doing anything that makes sales less regulated than they are through a licensed gun dealer," he says. "That draws a line in the sand."
Campaign Claims Success in Cutting Newspaper Gun Ads. Feature article, Join Together Online (www.jointogether.org), August 26, 2003.
http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/features/reader/0,2061,566393,00.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878<P>