Are there ways to reduce illegal gun activity in addition to legislation? You betcha!
In fact, the former executive director of a Freedom States Alliance affiliate group, Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence, developed the “Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole”
What is the purpose of the Campaign? Quite simply it is to persuade American newspapers to stop the practice of allowing the sale of guns through classified ads.
“You mean a person can purchase guns through classified ads, without any assurance that the sale is legal?”
Unfortunately for far too many American newspapers, the answer is yes.
Citizen initiatives such as the “Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole” can be successful because the NRA’s perceived power is largely confined to legislative bodies. As a result, “since the campaign was launched in November 2001,” the site gunloophole.com notes, ” at least 76 newspapers across the country with a combined circulation of 8.1 million have changed their firearms advertising policy.”
Recently the “News Leader” of Staunton, Virginia, joined the growing number of newspapers who are showing that they are interested in enforcing laws by adopting the policies of the Newspaper Loophole Campaign.
In a recent editorial, the “News Leader” announced:
We recently instituted a policy that restricts the advertising of firearms to licensed firearms dealers only. We will not take classified ads for guns from unlicensed sellers. It’s a means of — literally — putting our money where our mouth is. If we advocate against unlicensed firearms dealers selling weapons at gun shows while allowing unlicensed firearms dealers to sell weapons through our classified pages, what does that make us?
Well said. The newspapers that have not yet adopted the policies of the “Newspaper Loophole Campaign” should take note of what the “News Leader” would become if it continued to allow the unlicensed selling of guns in its paper. They would become “hypocrites” the paper notes.
Exactly.
