Washington Hunter
Well-known member
Tacoma, WA - Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Mall shooting rekindles debate over gun ads
ADAM LYNN; The News Tribune
Last updated: December 12th, 2005 02:40 AM (PST)
Gun control groups are using the Tacoma Mall shooting to bolster their contention that unlicensed gun sellers should not be allowed to advertise their wares in newspaper classified ads.
Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence and Washington CeaseFire are working to close what they call the “newspaper loophole” by pressuring legislators and, increasingly, newspapers themselves to end the practice of selling guns through classified ads.
“The newspapers are really providing a marketplace for gun dealers to illegally sell firearms,” said John Johnson, director of Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence.
Groups that represent gun owners and their interests say banning the practice will do little to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and would lead to further erosion of Second Amendment rights.
“Government doesn’t solve crimes with gun control,” said Larry Pratt, executive director of the 300,000-member Gun Owners of America. “The only person who is going to be inconvenienced by banning guns in the classifieds is the good guy.”
The Iowa group says it has persuaded more than 60 newspapers across the nation to change their policies. In Washington state, most smaller weeklies accept such ads while the state’s four largest newspapers are split down the middle.
Neither The Seattle Times nor The Seattle Post-Intelligencer accept classified ads for guns for sale while The News Tribune and The Spokesman-Review of Spokane do.
On Nov. 30, Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence sent a news release nationwide calling for daily newspapers to stop carrying gun-for-sale ads in their classified sections.
The release cited the Tacoma Mall shooting and the fact that the alleged gunman, Dominick S. Maldonado, got one of the guns through a newspaper ad despite being prohibited from possessing guns because of felony convictions he received as a juvenile.
Maldonado, 20, is charged with 15 felonies in connection with the Nov. 20 rampage. Seven people were hurt in the shooting. One was paralyzed.
Maldonado bought one of the two guns used in the shooting through an ad in the Little Nickel want ads. Tacoma resident Joe Pasamonte purchased the ad, and told The News Tribune he sold the gun to Maldonado after the young man displayed what appeared to be a valid concealed-weapon permit.
Maldonado’s attorney, Sverre Staurset, said his client bought the other gun – a Tec-9 semiautomatic pistol – from someone on the streets of Tacoma.
Under federal law, licensed firearms dealers who peddle guns from stores, their homes or at gun shows must conduct criminal background checks on potential buyers. The goal is to keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons or others prohibited from possessing guns, including people with domestic-violence restraining orders against them.
Unlicensed gun sellers – such as private citizens looking to sell an old hunting rifle they no longer use – are not required to do the background checks, said Julianne Marshall, a spokeswoman with the Seattle field office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Unlicensed sellers only must check that the buyer is a resident of the same state as the seller and is over 18, Marshall said. If the seller suspects or has information that the buyer is ineligible to own a gun, he must abort the sale, she said. But the seller is not obligated to investigate.
Advocates of stricter gun regulations say that opens a market for those who can’t legally possess guns. It also allows some unscrupulous gun sellers to avoid the licensing requirement and its attendant accountings and regulations, they say.
Such people use the classified ads and the Internet to sell lots of guns, some of which wind up in the wrong hands, Johnson said.
On its Web site, Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence points to high-profile cases – like that of Benjamin Smith – to illustrate its position.
In 1999, Smith bought two handguns from a man who advertised the weapons in newspaper classifieds. Authorities say Smith, who was prohibited by a domestic-violence restraining order from legally possessing firearms, then used those guns to kill two people and wound nine in a rampage across Indiana and Illinois. Smith later committed suicide.
No one knows for sure how many guns from so-called “secondary markets” are used to commit violent crimes because such sales are unregulated, Marshall said, and Congress has been reluctant to require licensing of all gun owners or documentation of all gun transfers.
Those who oppose further gun control regulations say better enforcement of gun laws already on the books, and possibly an armed citizenry, are the best ways to reduce crime.
The contend that cases like those of Smith and Maldonado are anomalies, and argue that someone bent on committing violence will find a way to get a gun.
“Every once in a while, you’re going to find a criminal who gets a gun this way,” said Pratt, the Gun Owners of America director. “But criminals get guns even when there are no dealers, licensed or unlicensed.”
Joe Waldron, president of Washington Arms Collectors, agreed.
“It was very clear that Mr. Maldonado is a disturbed individual who was bound and determined to get his hands on a firearm,” said Waldron, whose group organizes regional gun shows.
Waldron also said newspapers have a First Amendment right to sell advertising for legal products as they see fit.
“If they voluntarily decide not to, that’s their choice,” he said. “But if they try to pass a law, I would hope the news media would object strenuously because that’s a slippery slope.”
That criminals get guns from different sources is indisputable, Johnson said, but he argues that doesn’t mean newspapers shouldn’t change their classified advertising policies related to guns. One criminal getting a gun through one classified ad is too many, he said.
“Why do you want to be in the business of dealing in firearms without background checks?” Johnson asked.
There is no consensus in the newspaper industry on how to handle firearms sales in classified ads.
“It’s strictly a judgment call for the publishers of the newspapers,” said Bill Will, general manager of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.
The association has about 115 members, most of which are weekly or twice-weekly community newspapers.
“I don’t know of any of the community newspapers in Washington that have that policy. It’s not a burning issue,” he said
Cathy Brewis, marketing director at The News Tribune, said the newspaper accepts classified ads for firearms because gun sales between private parties is legal in Washington. The newspaper trusts its advertisers not to peddle weapons banned by state or federal laws, Brewis said.
“We haven’t had any trouble with it,” she said. “In November, we published 53,000 classified ads. Of those, 10 were for firearms. Half of those were for antiques.”
The News Tribune might review its policy in response to the mall shooting, she said.
“Given the changing times and how long our policy has been in place, we will probably review it after the first of the year,” Brewis said.
The pressure is mounting.
On Wednesday, the gun-control group Washington CeaseFire sent an e-mail to The News Tribune, asking for a change in the paper’s policy to prevent it “from being a source of guns for prohibited purchasers like Maldonado.”
Johnson said his group will follow up with another letter later this month.
His group also plans in the near future to ask all the state’s daily newspapers to drop classified ads for guns.
Johnson said he hopes his message gets traction in the wake of the Tacoma Mall shooting.
“We tend to achieve our greatest success after someone is shot and killed or paralyzed,” he said.
Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644
[email protected]
Originally published: December 12th, 2005 02:30 AM (PST)
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1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 253-597-8742
© Copyright 2005 Tacoma News, Inc. A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company
Mall shooting rekindles debate over gun ads
ADAM LYNN; The News Tribune
Last updated: December 12th, 2005 02:40 AM (PST)
Gun control groups are using the Tacoma Mall shooting to bolster their contention that unlicensed gun sellers should not be allowed to advertise their wares in newspaper classified ads.
Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence and Washington CeaseFire are working to close what they call the “newspaper loophole” by pressuring legislators and, increasingly, newspapers themselves to end the practice of selling guns through classified ads.
“The newspapers are really providing a marketplace for gun dealers to illegally sell firearms,” said John Johnson, director of Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence.
Groups that represent gun owners and their interests say banning the practice will do little to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and would lead to further erosion of Second Amendment rights.
“Government doesn’t solve crimes with gun control,” said Larry Pratt, executive director of the 300,000-member Gun Owners of America. “The only person who is going to be inconvenienced by banning guns in the classifieds is the good guy.”
The Iowa group says it has persuaded more than 60 newspapers across the nation to change their policies. In Washington state, most smaller weeklies accept such ads while the state’s four largest newspapers are split down the middle.
Neither The Seattle Times nor The Seattle Post-Intelligencer accept classified ads for guns for sale while The News Tribune and The Spokesman-Review of Spokane do.
On Nov. 30, Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence sent a news release nationwide calling for daily newspapers to stop carrying gun-for-sale ads in their classified sections.
The release cited the Tacoma Mall shooting and the fact that the alleged gunman, Dominick S. Maldonado, got one of the guns through a newspaper ad despite being prohibited from possessing guns because of felony convictions he received as a juvenile.
Maldonado, 20, is charged with 15 felonies in connection with the Nov. 20 rampage. Seven people were hurt in the shooting. One was paralyzed.
Maldonado bought one of the two guns used in the shooting through an ad in the Little Nickel want ads. Tacoma resident Joe Pasamonte purchased the ad, and told The News Tribune he sold the gun to Maldonado after the young man displayed what appeared to be a valid concealed-weapon permit.
Maldonado’s attorney, Sverre Staurset, said his client bought the other gun – a Tec-9 semiautomatic pistol – from someone on the streets of Tacoma.
Under federal law, licensed firearms dealers who peddle guns from stores, their homes or at gun shows must conduct criminal background checks on potential buyers. The goal is to keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons or others prohibited from possessing guns, including people with domestic-violence restraining orders against them.
Unlicensed gun sellers – such as private citizens looking to sell an old hunting rifle they no longer use – are not required to do the background checks, said Julianne Marshall, a spokeswoman with the Seattle field office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Unlicensed sellers only must check that the buyer is a resident of the same state as the seller and is over 18, Marshall said. If the seller suspects or has information that the buyer is ineligible to own a gun, he must abort the sale, she said. But the seller is not obligated to investigate.
Advocates of stricter gun regulations say that opens a market for those who can’t legally possess guns. It also allows some unscrupulous gun sellers to avoid the licensing requirement and its attendant accountings and regulations, they say.
Such people use the classified ads and the Internet to sell lots of guns, some of which wind up in the wrong hands, Johnson said.
On its Web site, Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence points to high-profile cases – like that of Benjamin Smith – to illustrate its position.
In 1999, Smith bought two handguns from a man who advertised the weapons in newspaper classifieds. Authorities say Smith, who was prohibited by a domestic-violence restraining order from legally possessing firearms, then used those guns to kill two people and wound nine in a rampage across Indiana and Illinois. Smith later committed suicide.
No one knows for sure how many guns from so-called “secondary markets” are used to commit violent crimes because such sales are unregulated, Marshall said, and Congress has been reluctant to require licensing of all gun owners or documentation of all gun transfers.
Those who oppose further gun control regulations say better enforcement of gun laws already on the books, and possibly an armed citizenry, are the best ways to reduce crime.
The contend that cases like those of Smith and Maldonado are anomalies, and argue that someone bent on committing violence will find a way to get a gun.
“Every once in a while, you’re going to find a criminal who gets a gun this way,” said Pratt, the Gun Owners of America director. “But criminals get guns even when there are no dealers, licensed or unlicensed.”
Joe Waldron, president of Washington Arms Collectors, agreed.
“It was very clear that Mr. Maldonado is a disturbed individual who was bound and determined to get his hands on a firearm,” said Waldron, whose group organizes regional gun shows.
Waldron also said newspapers have a First Amendment right to sell advertising for legal products as they see fit.
“If they voluntarily decide not to, that’s their choice,” he said. “But if they try to pass a law, I would hope the news media would object strenuously because that’s a slippery slope.”
That criminals get guns from different sources is indisputable, Johnson said, but he argues that doesn’t mean newspapers shouldn’t change their classified advertising policies related to guns. One criminal getting a gun through one classified ad is too many, he said.
“Why do you want to be in the business of dealing in firearms without background checks?” Johnson asked.
There is no consensus in the newspaper industry on how to handle firearms sales in classified ads.
“It’s strictly a judgment call for the publishers of the newspapers,” said Bill Will, general manager of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.
The association has about 115 members, most of which are weekly or twice-weekly community newspapers.
“I don’t know of any of the community newspapers in Washington that have that policy. It’s not a burning issue,” he said
Cathy Brewis, marketing director at The News Tribune, said the newspaper accepts classified ads for firearms because gun sales between private parties is legal in Washington. The newspaper trusts its advertisers not to peddle weapons banned by state or federal laws, Brewis said.
“We haven’t had any trouble with it,” she said. “In November, we published 53,000 classified ads. Of those, 10 were for firearms. Half of those were for antiques.”
The News Tribune might review its policy in response to the mall shooting, she said.
“Given the changing times and how long our policy has been in place, we will probably review it after the first of the year,” Brewis said.
The pressure is mounting.
On Wednesday, the gun-control group Washington CeaseFire sent an e-mail to The News Tribune, asking for a change in the paper’s policy to prevent it “from being a source of guns for prohibited purchasers like Maldonado.”
Johnson said his group will follow up with another letter later this month.
His group also plans in the near future to ask all the state’s daily newspapers to drop classified ads for guns.
Johnson said he hopes his message gets traction in the wake of the Tacoma Mall shooting.
“We tend to achieve our greatest success after someone is shot and killed or paralyzed,” he said.
Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644
[email protected]
Originally published: December 12th, 2005 02:30 AM (PST)
Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Contact Us | About Us | Site Map | Jobs@The TNT | RSS
1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 253-597-8742
© Copyright 2005 Tacoma News, Inc. A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company
