cuchulainn
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from the Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Apr/04112003/utah/47008.asp
http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Apr/04112003/utah/47008.asp
Makers of Guns Targeted
By Ashley Broughton
The Salt Lake Tribune
Gun makers and dealers, including Utah's Browning Arms Co., continue to feed the illegal gun market by allowing illicit firearm sales, according to a report released Thursday by a national anti-gun violence group.
The report, "Smoking Guns: Exposing the Gun Industry's Complicity in the Illegal Gun Market," was released by the Washington, D.C.-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. It "shows that U.S. firearms manufacturers and gun dealers maintain a distribution system that gives felons access to unlimited arsenals of violence," said Michael Barnes, the campaign's president.
But a Utah gun-rights advocate said the organization is misinformed about the firearms distribution process and questioned whether the report's release was retaliation for a Wednesday vote by the U.S. House granting gun manufacturers immunity from lawsuits for damages resulting from their products.
"They lost that battle," said Janalee Tobias, founder and president of Women Against Gun Control. "Now they're trying to blame the gun manufacturers and dealers."
The Brady group said its report was culled from gun industry documents, statements from whistle-blowers and court testimony by industry executives, including Browning's Charles Guevremont.
Citing testimony given by Guevremont in a 2001 California lawsuit, the report said he admitted "his company will continue to sell guns to any dealer, even if it has overwhelming proof that the dealer is egregiously irresponsible, as long as the dealer still has its Federal Firearms License."
The report also said Browning was among gun manufacturers that "circled their wagons" and shunned Smith & Wesson, the nation's largest gun dealer, after it agreed in March 2000 to install gun locks on all its firearms and prohibit sales of its weapons at gun shows without background checks.
Officials at Browning did not return a phone call Thursday seeking comment. But in a 1999 press release on the company's Web site (www.browning.com), Chief Executive Officer Don Gobel notes, "It is a small percentage of the total gun users who are committing crimes."
The industry, he adds, is strictly regulated -- all manufacturers are forbidden to ship guns to anyone not possessing a Federal Firearms License, and retailers cannot sell a gun to anyone who fails to meet federal criteria or who does not pass a computerized background check.
To obtain a Federal Firearms License, an applicant must be over 21, must not have broken certain laws, such as the federal Gun Control Act, and must not be prohibited from possessing or transporting guns. Applicants must also have a premises for conducting business or collecting.
The Brady Campaign notes the report was released a day after the U.S. House vote to grant gun makers lawsuit immunity.
"It's unconscionable to think that the United States Congress is moving rapidly towards granting wide-ranging immunity to an industry that knows how to stop arming our nation's most dangerous criminals, but refuses to change," Barnes said.
Tobias said the report demonstrates the group has little understanding of the firearms distribution process. Gun manufacturers like Browning sell to their licensed distributors, who then sell to the individual gun stores, she said.
"They're basing this on flawed evidence," she said. "Why don't they go and talk to the gun store owners? Most of [them] . . . are so careful about who they sell to." She said she knows gun store owners who will refuse a sale if they get a bad feeling about a customer, even if the person passes a background check.
"If they sneeze, the BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) goes in there," Tobias said. "We continue to prove that gun owners, gun manufacturers and gun dealers are some of the most responsible people on the planet."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2003, The Salt Lake Tribune.