U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is one of the “Anti-Gun Foursome,”
according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which
labels itself as “the trade association for the firearms industry.” He
joins Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi and U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein with that distinction.
Yet the foundation is currently partnering with the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), a federal agency
overseen by Holder, on a gun program in Tucson.
“No comment,” replies William Newell, of the ATF office in Phoenix,
about this apparent contradiction. “That’s a hot-button topic.”
But Newell has no reservations about expounding on the Don’t Lie for
the Other Guy program, which ATF, the NSSF and others are now
conducting in Tucson.
“The main purpose of the program,” Newell explains, “is to get guns
out of the hands of criminals and protect the rights (of law-abiding
gun owners).
Newell describes Don’t Lie for the Other Guy as a public-education
program in English and Spanish that spreads the message about the
penalties for so-called “straw gun purchases.” These are transactions
in which a third party buys guns for criminals, gang members or even
Mexican drug dealers.
“Putting guns in the hands of violent criminals is what we’re trying
to avoid,” Newell says.
As an example, three men were arrested last year in Phoenix for,
among other things, operating a straw-purchasing scheme. Their clients
were allegedly a Mexican drug cartel.
“A lot of people need the money,” Newell says about the middlemen in
these straw purchases, “and don’t realize the (impact).” He says one of
the objectives of the joint program is to educate these people “that
the money isn’t worth it.”
Others involved in straw gun purchases, Newell says, may simply be
duped into participating.
“We don’t want to put (the middlemen) in jail,” Newell continues,
“but start our investigation with them and work our way up. The penalty
can be five to 10 years in jail and up to a $250,000 fine.”
According to a recent ABC News report: “In the last five years, ATF
has arrested more than 6,000 people for participating in such scams.”
The agency also identified at least 700 instances in which dealers were
apparently selling guns illegally.
For nine years, ATF and the NSSF have co-sponsored the Don’t Lie for
the Other Guy program in cities around the country. Traditionally, the
two shared the cost, but this summer, the industry group is paying for
it in communities along the southern border of the United States.
In Tucson, in addition to numerous billboard advertisements and
public-service announcements, Newell met with dozens of local gun-shop
owners last month to explain the program; he also distributed education
kits.
In the past, some have noted that gun shows seem to be primarily
advertised on Tucson’s southside—and that appears to be the case
with Don’t Lie for the Other Guy. An analysis of a partial list of the
program’s billboard locations shows that more than half are on 22nd
Street or farther south. Those locations include a billboard on which
one panel promotes a gun show, the other the anti-straw purchase
program.
It’s unclear how successful the program has been; Newell
acknowledges there’s no way of judging the results. “It’s a good
question, about how you measure the impact,” he says.
Despite that uncertainty, Newell calls it a “great” program. He also
says: “I applaud the NSSF for their blitz along the Southwest border
this summer.”
Agreeing with Newell about both the program’s positives and its
uncertainties is Ted Novin, spokesman for the NSSF.
“In trying to quantify results,” Novin asks, “do you use the number
of people caught, or the fewer arrests made? It’s difficult to quantify
or determine success from that perspective.”
Novin also points out that federal research has shown that less than
10 percent of illegally possessed guns are acquired through straw
purchases. Most, he says, come from black-market buys or from family
members.
Yet in their joint Aug. 13 press release announcing the Tucson
program, the groups prominently proclaimed that the current campaign
would “reduce significantly the illegal straw purchases of firearms in
Tucson.”
Despite that contradiction, Novin says his industry wants to keep a
focus on straw purchases. To accomplish that goal, the NSSF has locally
put up more than $100,000. For four weeks—or possibly longer,
depending upon circumstances—these funds purchased about 90
billboards while also paying for public-service announcements and a
press conference.
After Tucson, the effort will move to San Diego.
After nine years, Novin says of the Don’t Lie for the Other Guy
program: “It’s done a tremendous amount to raise awareness.”
This article appears in Sep 3-9, 2009.
As a gun owner, maybe even gun freak, I wholeheartedly support this program. Less weapons in the hands of criminals is a great goal. If no criminals had guns, then no civilians would need them to protect themselves. Shooting anyone, even a criminal bent on destroying one’s own lifestyle, is a horrible event. I wish no one would ever have to go through that.
I know one fellow, who eight years ago, bought a pistol for an underage kid, thinking every one should own a gun. A year later, the kid pointed it at his girlfriend. My buddy still feels horrible about what he enabled.
A guy who buys for another should realize he is responsible for every thing that person, already being labeled as too unstable for a firearm, then does with said firearm.