Anti-Gun Group Opposes So-Called 'Newspaper Loophole'
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Congressional Bureau Chief
August 08, 2003
Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Gun control activists nationwide are pressuring
newspapers to stop accepting legal classified advertising of firearms for sale
by private citizens. Advocates of gun owners' rights said Thursday that
anti-gun forces apparently aren't content with ignoring the Second Amendment
and now want to ignore the First Amendment as well.
"The issue is not guns, but the way guns are sold," claimed John Johnson,
coordinator of the so-called National Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole,
in a press release Wednesday. "In an age of increasing concern for public
safety, we find it difficult to defend a newspaper's part in the private sale
of firearms by unlicensed sellers without a criminal background check of the
would-be buyer."
The campaign acknowledges that it is completely legal for private citizens to
sell guns to other private citizens but wants to use privately owned newspapers
to inhibit such sales.
"We recognize that classified ads for guns are perfectly legal under federal
and [your State] state law," the campaign writes in a sample letter for
activists to send to newspaper publishers. "But just because something is legal
doesn't mean that it is good policy."
Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, first disputed the
campaign's use of the word "loophole" in its name.
"'Loophole' is Washington-ese for 'freedom,'" Pratt said. "And some of these
folks would probably be happier if we got rid of all of the 'loopholes' in the
Constitution because that would entail getting rid of the Bill of Rights."
Ted Novin, spokesman for the National Rifle Association (NRA), dismissed the
campaign's efforts.
"This is an annual exercise by a politically irrelevant gun-ban group to
circumvent the legislative process and curtail the sale of a perfectly legal
product by law-abiding Americans," he said.
While enemies of the Second Amendment have mostly been unsuccessful in
convincing elected legislative bodies to curtail the rights of gun owners, this
campaign has seen some victories, according to its website. Since it began in
November 2001, the Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Miami Herald,
Sandusky (Ohio) Register, Willoughby (Ohio) News-Herald, Denver Post, Rocky
Mountain News, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Dubuque (Iowa)
Telegraph-Herald, Houston Chronicle and, most recently, the Dallas Morning News
have limited classified advertising of guns for sale by private citizens at the
campaign's request.
Campaign cites case of white supremacist
As justification for opposing classified advertising of guns for sale by
private citizens, the campaign highlights the case of Benjamin Nathaniel Smith,
a member of a white supremacist group, who illegally tried to buy two 9mm
handguns and a shotgun from a federally licensed gun dealer in Peoria Heights,
Ill., on June 23, 1999.
"The purchase was denied by the dealer after a background check revealed that
Smith was under a court restraining order secured by an ex-girlfriend," the
campaign reports on its website. "Three days later, Smith purchased two
guns...from [a private citizen] through a classified ad...in the Peoria Journal
Star newspaper."
Smith later used those guns to kill two people and wound nine others in
Illinois and Indiana. But the campaign fails to mention that federal law makes
it illegal to even attempt to purchase a firearm if the intended buyer is
disqualified from such a purchase. Smith was not arrested for that crime, which
left him free to obtain the other weapons he purchased.
Neal Knox, chairman of the Firearms Coalition, believes Smith could have easily
found similar guns on the black market even if classified advertising of guns
had been banned by the local newspaper.
"It'd make it, maybe, a little bit more difficult," Knox said. "It's going to
irritate him but - as far as not being able to buy illegally - no, it's not
going to affect him."
That having been said, Knox believes he understands the motivation behind the
campaign.
"It makes people like these 'close the loophole' types, it makes them feel
better," he said. "They think that they will have cut off another point of
access."
But Pratt compared the premise - that banning classified advertising of private
gun sales would hinder criminal access to weapons - to similar theories behind
Britain's gun laws.
"England has banned all the legal handguns, they're just gone. And yet,
criminals have mostly handguns, some 3,000,000 of them, police estimate," Pratt
explained. "So, if you can't keep guns out of the wrong hands on an island with
a total handgun ban and on virtually every other gun, then I'm just not
impressed with anything that the gun controllers are going to try to do."
Campaign accused of 'stepping all over the First Amendment'
Gary Mehalik, director of communications for the National Shooting Sports
Foundation, said the problems he perceives with the campaign extend beyond its
Second Amendment implications.
"I see this as stepping all over the First Amendment," he said. "The
mischaracterized 'gun show loophole' is now being called a 'classified gun ad
loophole,' and soon, it will be a 'free commerce loophole' because what's being
proposed is the cessation of the American way of doing business."
Anti-gun activists coined the term "gun show loophole" to denigrate lawful
sales between private citizens that occur at gun shows. Second Amendment
opponents have worked for years to require buyers to submit their names,
addresses and other personal information to the FBI's National Instant Check
System (NICS) before being allowed to make a purchase.
Some shooting enthusiasts fear their opponents will try to use the NICS system
to create a national registry of gun owners as a precursor to confiscation
attempts. They point to New York City and California as examples of
jurisdictions that have registered gun owners, promising not to infringe on
their rights, but later used those registries to confiscate lawfully purchased
firearms.
What about classified ads for 'getaway cars' and 'arson tools?'
Mehalik also wondered why the campaign is not targeting other products
routinely offered for private sale through classified ads.
"The fact of the matter is: Every day, newspapers carry advertisements for
products and services that criminals might misuse," he continued. "They sell
'getaway cars' in the used car section, 'arson tools' in the sports section,
whether it be lighters or gasoline or waterproof matches for sportsmen. There's
lots of stuff that can be misused."
The reason those products aren't being targeted, both Pratt and Knox argue, is
because cars and fires are "politically correct," while guns are not.
"This is one of the incremental ways that people who don't believe we ought to
be able to protect ourselves with guns are endeavoring to get rid of our guns,"
Pratt said. "Along the way, they'll also try to make it expensive to own guns
[and] to store guns."
Knox stressed that the campaign's members are entitled to their opinions but
should not be allowed to force those beliefs on others or to coerce newspapers
into submitting to their agenda.
"If they don't want to have a gun, that's their business. I'm not going to tell
them they have to have one," Knox said. "But they don't have any business
telling me or my wife or my daughters that they cannot defend themselves. And
that's what it's all about."
The consensus among the Second Amendment advocates contacted by CNSNews.com was
that gun owners who want to sell their firearms and potential buyers will meet
face to face at shooting ranges and other venues, or contact one another
through the Internet to conduct private sales. The only long-term effect they
predicted from the campaign was a loss of advertising revenue for the
newspapers that participate.
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Congressional Bureau Chief
August 08, 2003
Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Gun control activists nationwide are pressuring
newspapers to stop accepting legal classified advertising of firearms for sale
by private citizens. Advocates of gun owners' rights said Thursday that
anti-gun forces apparently aren't content with ignoring the Second Amendment
and now want to ignore the First Amendment as well.
"The issue is not guns, but the way guns are sold," claimed John Johnson,
coordinator of the so-called National Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole,
in a press release Wednesday. "In an age of increasing concern for public
safety, we find it difficult to defend a newspaper's part in the private sale
of firearms by unlicensed sellers without a criminal background check of the
would-be buyer."
The campaign acknowledges that it is completely legal for private citizens to
sell guns to other private citizens but wants to use privately owned newspapers
to inhibit such sales.
"We recognize that classified ads for guns are perfectly legal under federal
and [your State] state law," the campaign writes in a sample letter for
activists to send to newspaper publishers. "But just because something is legal
doesn't mean that it is good policy."
Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, first disputed the
campaign's use of the word "loophole" in its name.
"'Loophole' is Washington-ese for 'freedom,'" Pratt said. "And some of these
folks would probably be happier if we got rid of all of the 'loopholes' in the
Constitution because that would entail getting rid of the Bill of Rights."
Ted Novin, spokesman for the National Rifle Association (NRA), dismissed the
campaign's efforts.
"This is an annual exercise by a politically irrelevant gun-ban group to
circumvent the legislative process and curtail the sale of a perfectly legal
product by law-abiding Americans," he said.
While enemies of the Second Amendment have mostly been unsuccessful in
convincing elected legislative bodies to curtail the rights of gun owners, this
campaign has seen some victories, according to its website. Since it began in
November 2001, the Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Miami Herald,
Sandusky (Ohio) Register, Willoughby (Ohio) News-Herald, Denver Post, Rocky
Mountain News, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Dubuque (Iowa)
Telegraph-Herald, Houston Chronicle and, most recently, the Dallas Morning News
have limited classified advertising of guns for sale by private citizens at the
campaign's request.
Campaign cites case of white supremacist
As justification for opposing classified advertising of guns for sale by
private citizens, the campaign highlights the case of Benjamin Nathaniel Smith,
a member of a white supremacist group, who illegally tried to buy two 9mm
handguns and a shotgun from a federally licensed gun dealer in Peoria Heights,
Ill., on June 23, 1999.
"The purchase was denied by the dealer after a background check revealed that
Smith was under a court restraining order secured by an ex-girlfriend," the
campaign reports on its website. "Three days later, Smith purchased two
guns...from [a private citizen] through a classified ad...in the Peoria Journal
Star newspaper."
Smith later used those guns to kill two people and wound nine others in
Illinois and Indiana. But the campaign fails to mention that federal law makes
it illegal to even attempt to purchase a firearm if the intended buyer is
disqualified from such a purchase. Smith was not arrested for that crime, which
left him free to obtain the other weapons he purchased.
Neal Knox, chairman of the Firearms Coalition, believes Smith could have easily
found similar guns on the black market even if classified advertising of guns
had been banned by the local newspaper.
"It'd make it, maybe, a little bit more difficult," Knox said. "It's going to
irritate him but - as far as not being able to buy illegally - no, it's not
going to affect him."
That having been said, Knox believes he understands the motivation behind the
campaign.
"It makes people like these 'close the loophole' types, it makes them feel
better," he said. "They think that they will have cut off another point of
access."
But Pratt compared the premise - that banning classified advertising of private
gun sales would hinder criminal access to weapons - to similar theories behind
Britain's gun laws.
"England has banned all the legal handguns, they're just gone. And yet,
criminals have mostly handguns, some 3,000,000 of them, police estimate," Pratt
explained. "So, if you can't keep guns out of the wrong hands on an island with
a total handgun ban and on virtually every other gun, then I'm just not
impressed with anything that the gun controllers are going to try to do."
Campaign accused of 'stepping all over the First Amendment'
Gary Mehalik, director of communications for the National Shooting Sports
Foundation, said the problems he perceives with the campaign extend beyond its
Second Amendment implications.
"I see this as stepping all over the First Amendment," he said. "The
mischaracterized 'gun show loophole' is now being called a 'classified gun ad
loophole,' and soon, it will be a 'free commerce loophole' because what's being
proposed is the cessation of the American way of doing business."
Anti-gun activists coined the term "gun show loophole" to denigrate lawful
sales between private citizens that occur at gun shows. Second Amendment
opponents have worked for years to require buyers to submit their names,
addresses and other personal information to the FBI's National Instant Check
System (NICS) before being allowed to make a purchase.
Some shooting enthusiasts fear their opponents will try to use the NICS system
to create a national registry of gun owners as a precursor to confiscation
attempts. They point to New York City and California as examples of
jurisdictions that have registered gun owners, promising not to infringe on
their rights, but later used those registries to confiscate lawfully purchased
firearms.
What about classified ads for 'getaway cars' and 'arson tools?'
Mehalik also wondered why the campaign is not targeting other products
routinely offered for private sale through classified ads.
"The fact of the matter is: Every day, newspapers carry advertisements for
products and services that criminals might misuse," he continued. "They sell
'getaway cars' in the used car section, 'arson tools' in the sports section,
whether it be lighters or gasoline or waterproof matches for sportsmen. There's
lots of stuff that can be misused."
The reason those products aren't being targeted, both Pratt and Knox argue, is
because cars and fires are "politically correct," while guns are not.
"This is one of the incremental ways that people who don't believe we ought to
be able to protect ourselves with guns are endeavoring to get rid of our guns,"
Pratt said. "Along the way, they'll also try to make it expensive to own guns
[and] to store guns."
Knox stressed that the campaign's members are entitled to their opinions but
should not be allowed to force those beliefs on others or to coerce newspapers
into submitting to their agenda.
"If they don't want to have a gun, that's their business. I'm not going to tell
them they have to have one," Knox said. "But they don't have any business
telling me or my wife or my daughters that they cannot defend themselves. And
that's what it's all about."
The consensus among the Second Amendment advocates contacted by CNSNews.com was
that gun owners who want to sell their firearms and potential buyers will meet
face to face at shooting ranges and other venues, or contact one another
through the Internet to conduct private sales. The only long-term effect they
predicted from the campaign was a loss of advertising revenue for the
newspapers that participate.
