PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release:

October 20, 2005

Illinois Newspapers Shun Gun Ads as Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole Gains Momentum

At least 42 newspapers across the country, including eleven newspapers in Illinois, have recently adopted policies to restrict firearms advertisements to licensed firearms dealers

Chicago, IL – The Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence (ICHV) and the Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole announced today that at least eleven Illinois newspapers have recently implemented policies to restrict firearms advertisements to licensed firearms dealers only.

The Illinois newspapers that have adopted new policies include The Register Mail (Galesburg), The Dispatch (Moline), Mount Carmel Republican-Register, Pekin Daily Times, Journal Star (Peoria), The Rock Island Argus, and five daily newspapers that make up Suburban Chicago Newspapers: The Beacon News (Aurora), The Courier News (Elgin), The Herald News (Joliet), Naperville Sun, and The News Sun (Waukegan).

A classified ad in the Journal Star was the source for two handguns purchased by Benjamin Smith from an unlicensed seller in June 1999. Over the following July 4th weekend, Smith went on a shooting spree in Illinois and Indiana that killed two and wounded nine. In a letter to ICHV dated Oct. 4, 2005, the Journal Star said that the newspaper has decided to adopt a policy of “restricting firearms advertisements to licensed firearms dealers only.” The new policy will go into effect Nov. 1, 2005.   

Last July, ICHV mailed a letter to the publisher of all daily newspapers in the state asking the newspaper to restrict firearms advertisements to licensed firearms dealers only and to not take classified ads for guns from unlicensed sellers. The above newspapers changed their firearms advertising policies in response to ICHV’s letter.

The Illinois newspaper campaign was part of the national Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole. Since the campaign was launched, at least 58 newspapers across the country with a combined circulation of 7.7 million have changed their firearms advertising policies. At least 42 newspapers have changed their policy in 2005 as a result of state campaigns in Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Texas, and Illinois. The campaign’s goal is to conduct state campaigns in all 50 states (reaching approximately 1,500 daily newspapers).

Said John Johnson, coordinator for the Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole, “There is a demand for guns by people who can’t buy them from licensed firearms dealers because they are either too young or have a criminal record and can’t pass the mandatory criminal background check required on all dealer sales. We are pleased that the publishers of these newspapers recognize that the classifieds provide opportunities for prohibited purchasers to buy guns without a background check and have taken steps to prevent their newspaper from being used as a marketplace for illegal gun purchases.”

Thom Mannard, ICHV’s executive director added, “It is difficult to defend a newspaper’s role in the private sale of firearms without a criminal background check. We commend these newspapers for their leadership and encourage other newspapers in Illinois to join the growing number of newspapers in Illinois and across the country that have closed the newspaper loophole. We consider that this makes good policy not only for the general public, but also for the newspaper.”

Under federal law (the Brady Law), federally licensed firearms dealers are required to conduct criminal background checks on all buyers. However, unlicensed sellers who sell firearms from a “personal collection” are not required to conduct background checks. Sources of non-dealer sales include gun shows, flea markets, estate sales and garage sales, firearms sales over the Internet, and firearms sales through classified ads in newspapers.

Researchers estimate that about 40 percent of all firearms transfers (approximately 5.5 million transactions a year) occur on secondary markets not subject to Brady background checks. A 2000 government study found that about 90 percent of guns used in crimes changed hands at least once on the secondary market before being used in a crime.

Said Mannard, “We recognize that the classifieds represent only one part of the unregulated secondary gun market. But by changing its policy, a newspaper becomes part of the solution rather than part of the problem.”

According to a June 2005 telephone survey of Illinois newspapers conducted by the Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole, the following Illinois newspapers, in addition to the eleven newspapers identified above, do not take firearms advertisements from unlicensed sellers: Daily Herald newspapers (Paddock Publications, Arlington Heights), Benton Evening News, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Hoy Chicago, Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake), Star Courier (Kewanee), The Courier (Lincoln), Litchfield News-Herald, Morris Daily Herald, The Daily Leader (Pontiac), The Daily Southtown (Tinley Park), and The State Journal Register (Springfield).

Regarding the campaign’s recent successes, Johnson noted, “Closing the newspaper loophole is easy because it doesn’t take an Act of Congress. All it takes is a management decision. We expect more newspapers to change their policy as the campaign reaches all 50 states.”

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