those events prompted the publisher of the Herald-Tribune to announce that, as of Oct. 1, the paper will no longer accept classified ads for firearms.
The publisher will also no longer be accepting classified ads for autos, as those things are extremely dangerous.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030924/NEWS/309240569/1060
Herald-Tribune limits gun sale ads
By TOM BAYLES
[email protected]
SARASOTA -- A convicted felon with a restraining order for domestic violence, Mark Williams couldn't pass a federal background check to buy a gun.
Police say the Bradenton man found a way around that law in the pages of the Herald-Tribune. On April 27, Williams scanned the paper's classified ads and purchased a semiautomatic handgun from another individual. Private owner gun sales are exempt from federal rules.
Later that same day, police say Williams used the gun to kill his estranged wife, Raquel Soliz-Williams, in front of her 9-year-old daughter.
On Tuesday, those events prompted the publisher of the Herald-Tribune to announce that, as of Oct. 1, the paper will no longer accept classified ads for firearms.
"I believe strongly that this is the right thing to do," Publisher Diane McFarlin said. "We certainly don't want to make it easier for criminals to gain access to weapons."
The circumstances of Soliz-Williams' death are being cited by a group seeking to limit the number of weapons sold by unlicensed dealers.
"It is such a potentially repeatable incident," said Kirsten Meredith, a spokeswoman for Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence.
"He was a convicted felon with a restraining order so a purchase from an individual was the only way he could have gotten the gun."
The group's director, John Johnson, brought the issue to McFarlin's attention earlier this month.
The Herald-Tribune is the 16th paper in the country and the fifth in Florida to agree to tighter standards for firearms advertising.
Under the Brady Law, federally licensed gun dealers are required to conduct criminal background checks on all buyers, and maintain records of their transactions.
However, unlicensed individuals selling firearms from a "personal collection" are not required to conduct background checks or keep records.
In 2001, the Iowa group began its National Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole, which it says allows felons, domestic abusers, mentally ill people and others in prohibited categories to purchase firearms.
The Herald-Tribune has banned ads for the sale of combat weapons for years. The policy announced Tuesday imposes new restrictions.
The paper will only accept classified advertising for collectible antique firearms manufactured before 1898, and those ads must be published under the "Antiques" or "Collectibles" heading.
The "Guns & Rifles" category will cease to exist.
Retailers can still advertise firearms in display ads and inserts, but they must include their dealer's license number in the advertisement.
The Herald-Tribune also bans ads that suggest fraud or discrimination, such as credit cleanup services, or ads for housing available to a certain gender or race.
Other newspapers in Southwest Florida, including the Bradenton Herald, the Charlotte Sun-Herald and the Venice Gondolier, continue to accept classified ads for firearms.
The Herald-Tribune's reader advocate logged one call Tuesday from a subscriber unhappy with the decision after reading the gun sale notice in the classified advertising section.
"I think it's very poor -- the decision to remove gun advertising," Jim Harrison said. "The only thing that I can see that it will accomplish is stopping people who collect guns from interchanging their guns."
Harrison, a Herald-Tribune subscriber since 1957, said he is considering canceling his subscription over the paper's decision.
Editor & Publisher, a newspaper trade magazine, reported in June that when the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson decided to stop accepting classified ads from unlicensed gun dealers in early 2000, the policy shift prompted 400 subscription cancellations from angry readers.
The Herald-Tribune is owned by The New York Times. The Times' policy on firearms ads call those sold by mail order or at gun shows to be "unacceptable." It also bans ads for "contemporary handguns," but allows ads for rifles sold by retailers, or for antique firearms sold either by retailers or through auctions.
Meredith said the other papers that have restricted or tightened their classified advertising policies for firearms include the Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Enquirer, Sandusky (Ohio) Register, Willoughby (Ohio) News Herald, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Dubuque (Iowa) Telegraph-Herald, Houston Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News.
The Miami Herald, Diario Las Americas, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Orlando Sentinel also have changed their firearms advertising policies to limit sales between unlicensed individuals.
The publisher will also no longer be accepting classified ads for autos, as those things are extremely dangerous.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030924/NEWS/309240569/1060
Herald-Tribune limits gun sale ads
By TOM BAYLES
[email protected]
SARASOTA -- A convicted felon with a restraining order for domestic violence, Mark Williams couldn't pass a federal background check to buy a gun.
Police say the Bradenton man found a way around that law in the pages of the Herald-Tribune. On April 27, Williams scanned the paper's classified ads and purchased a semiautomatic handgun from another individual. Private owner gun sales are exempt from federal rules.
Later that same day, police say Williams used the gun to kill his estranged wife, Raquel Soliz-Williams, in front of her 9-year-old daughter.
On Tuesday, those events prompted the publisher of the Herald-Tribune to announce that, as of Oct. 1, the paper will no longer accept classified ads for firearms.
"I believe strongly that this is the right thing to do," Publisher Diane McFarlin said. "We certainly don't want to make it easier for criminals to gain access to weapons."
The circumstances of Soliz-Williams' death are being cited by a group seeking to limit the number of weapons sold by unlicensed dealers.
"It is such a potentially repeatable incident," said Kirsten Meredith, a spokeswoman for Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence.
"He was a convicted felon with a restraining order so a purchase from an individual was the only way he could have gotten the gun."
The group's director, John Johnson, brought the issue to McFarlin's attention earlier this month.
The Herald-Tribune is the 16th paper in the country and the fifth in Florida to agree to tighter standards for firearms advertising.
Under the Brady Law, federally licensed gun dealers are required to conduct criminal background checks on all buyers, and maintain records of their transactions.
However, unlicensed individuals selling firearms from a "personal collection" are not required to conduct background checks or keep records.
In 2001, the Iowa group began its National Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole, which it says allows felons, domestic abusers, mentally ill people and others in prohibited categories to purchase firearms.
The Herald-Tribune has banned ads for the sale of combat weapons for years. The policy announced Tuesday imposes new restrictions.
The paper will only accept classified advertising for collectible antique firearms manufactured before 1898, and those ads must be published under the "Antiques" or "Collectibles" heading.
The "Guns & Rifles" category will cease to exist.
Retailers can still advertise firearms in display ads and inserts, but they must include their dealer's license number in the advertisement.
The Herald-Tribune also bans ads that suggest fraud or discrimination, such as credit cleanup services, or ads for housing available to a certain gender or race.
Other newspapers in Southwest Florida, including the Bradenton Herald, the Charlotte Sun-Herald and the Venice Gondolier, continue to accept classified ads for firearms.
The Herald-Tribune's reader advocate logged one call Tuesday from a subscriber unhappy with the decision after reading the gun sale notice in the classified advertising section.
"I think it's very poor -- the decision to remove gun advertising," Jim Harrison said. "The only thing that I can see that it will accomplish is stopping people who collect guns from interchanging their guns."
Harrison, a Herald-Tribune subscriber since 1957, said he is considering canceling his subscription over the paper's decision.
Editor & Publisher, a newspaper trade magazine, reported in June that when the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson decided to stop accepting classified ads from unlicensed gun dealers in early 2000, the policy shift prompted 400 subscription cancellations from angry readers.
The Herald-Tribune is owned by The New York Times. The Times' policy on firearms ads call those sold by mail order or at gun shows to be "unacceptable." It also bans ads for "contemporary handguns," but allows ads for rifles sold by retailers, or for antique firearms sold either by retailers or through auctions.
Meredith said the other papers that have restricted or tightened their classified advertising policies for firearms include the Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Enquirer, Sandusky (Ohio) Register, Willoughby (Ohio) News Herald, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Dubuque (Iowa) Telegraph-Herald, Houston Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News.
The Miami Herald, Diario Las Americas, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Orlando Sentinel also have changed their firearms advertising policies to limit sales between unlicensed individuals.
