PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release:

May 4, 2005

Ohio Newspapers Declare Cease Fire on Gun Ads

The Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole announced today that at least four Ohio newspapers have recently implemented policies to restrict firearms advertisements to licensed firearms dealers only. Newspapers that have changed their policies include The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Cincinnati Post, The Delphos Herald, and The Ironton Tribune.

The Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole (www.gunloophole.com) is a grassroots movement that asks newspapers to voluntarily restrict firearms advertisements to licensed firearms dealers only, and to not take classified ads for guns from unlicensed sellers. Since the campaign was launched in November 2001, at least 22 newspapers across the country with a combined circulation of 4.8 million have changed their firearms advertising policies.

Said John Johnson, coordinator of 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.”

Under federal law (the Brady Law), federally licensed firearms dealers are required to conduct criminal background checks on all buyers and maintain records of their transactions. However, unlicensed sellers who sell firearms from a “personal collection” are not required to conduct background checks or keep records. 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 have changed hands at least once on the secondary market before being used in a crime.

Said Johnson, “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.”

Regarding the campaign’s recent successes, Johnson noted, “Closing the newspaper loophole is an easy thing to do because it doesn’t take an Act of Congress. All it takes is a management decision.”

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