PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
September 25, 2003
Newspaper Classified Ads Allow Prohibited Purchasers to Buy Firearms Without a Background Check
Sarasota Herald-Tribune ad was source of gun used by Bradenton man who was a convicted felon and domestic abuser to kill his estranged wife
Sarasota, FL – Mark Williams was involved in a contentious divorce and child custody dispute. A custody hearing was scheduled for April 28, 2003 and a divorce hearing on May 2. But neither hearing would be held.
On the morning of April 27, one day before the scheduled custody hearing, Williams bought a CZ-52 – 7.62x25mm Tokarev semiautomatic handgun in a private transaction through a classified ad in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Later on the same day that he bought the gun, Williams shot and killed his estranged wife, Raquel Soliz-Williams, in front of her nine-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.
Williams was a convicted felon and domestic abuser. In 1987 he served 6 months in prison of an 18-month sentence for aggravated battery – stalking another woman. In 1994 he was convicted of engaging in organized crime and was sentenced to 5 years probation. Last December, four months before the shooting, a judge issued a restraining order against Williams that was requested by his wife because of threats from Williams. Five weeks later, she asked the judge to vacate the order to make the situation between them less contentious. At the time of the shooting, Williams was also subject to a court restraining order secured by his first wife, Estella Martinez, who now lives in Illinois.
As a convicted felon and a person subject to a court restraining order for domestic violence, Williams was a prohibited firearms purchaser under federal law. As such, he could not buy guns from licensed firearms dealers because he could not pass the criminal background check mandated by the Brady Law on all gun store sales. However, a loophole in the federal law allows unlicensed individuals to sell firearms from their “personal collection” without conducting a criminal background check on the buyer. Williams evidently knew that he could avoid undergoing a background check by buying from an unlicensed seller in a private transaction – in this case by exploiting the “newspaper loophole”.
Williams has been charged with first-degree capital murder and is being held in the Manatee County Jail without bond. He goes on trial October 27.
Citing the above incident, the Florida Consumer Action Network and Florida Coalition to Stop Gun Violence issued a report today, Newspaper Loophole Endangers Safety of Floridians. The report provides the results of a survey of newspaper classified advertising policies of Florida newspapers.
The survey revealed that 15 out of 23 (65%) of Florida’s major newspapers accept classified ads for guns from unlicensed sellers. The eight Florida newspapers that don’t accept classified ads for guns from unlicensed sellers are the Sun Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale), Miami Herald, Diario Las Americas (Miami), Orlando Sentinel, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Bradenton Herald, Ocala Star Banner, and Northwest Florida Daily News (Ft. Walton Beach).
Four newspapers, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Bradenton Herald, Ocala Star Banner, and Northwest Florida Daily News changed their firearms advertising policies just this week after receiving a letter from the Florida Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and Florida Consumer Action Network. The letter, which was mailed to 19 newspapers in Florida, asked the newspaper to voluntarily adopt a policy of not taking classified ads for firearms from unlicensed sellers.
Under the Brady law, federally licensed gun dealers are required to conduct criminal background checks on all buyers and maintain records of their transactions. However, unlicensed individuals selling firearms from a “personal collection” are not required to conduct background checks or keep records.
Sources of unregulated firearm sales not subject to Brady background checks are gun shows, flea markets, estate sales, firearm sales over the Internet, and firearm sales through classified ads in newspapers.
“We call the unregulated sale of firearms through classified ads in newspapers the newspaper loophole,” said Phil Compton, program organizer for the Florida Consumer Action Network. “The newspaper loophole allows felons, domestic abusers, the mentally ill, minors, and other prohibited purchasers to buy guns with no criminal background check, no record of sale, no questions asked. This puts Floridians at increased risk of gun violence.”
“This country needs to do more to prevent prohibited purchasers like Mark Williams from gaining access to guns,” said Laurel Lynch, executive director of Hope Family Services in Bradenton. “Because of inaction by Congress and the Florida legislature, we need to look at non-legislative initiatives to reduce gun violence. Newspapers can play an important role in keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.”
The survey of Florida newspapers and letter writing campaign was conducted as part of the National Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole – a project by approximately 26 state and grassroots gun violence prevention organizations working in 16 states, including Florida.
John Johnson, executive director of Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence, and spokesperson for the national campaign, explained that the objective of the campaign is not to criticize newspapers for their current policy, but to explain the concern with the unregulated sale of firearms through classified ads in newspapers. “We are confident that other newspapers, like the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Bradenton Herald, Ocala Star Banner, and Northwest Florida Daily News will reconsider their classified advertising policy in the interest of public safety,” said Johnson.