Press Releases

Contact: 

Nicole Y. Williams or Staci Cox (Moore)

(202) 225- 4572

 

Jodie Tabak (Barrett)

(414) 286-8504

 

Milwaukee, WI – Today, Congresswoman Gwen Moore (WI-4) along with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett sent a letter to Armslist LLC. This letter was in response to findings that Radcliffe Haughton illegally purchased the firearm that he used in a Milwaukee area shooting, killing three and injuring four. The letter urges greater self-regulation for online purchases of firearms and an increased partnership with elected officials to enact common-sense reforms.

 

The letter reads as follows:

 

October 26, 2012

Armslist LLC

Po Box 2125

Noble, OK 73068

 

To the owner(s) of Armlist, LLC:

 

I am joined in writing this letter with Mayor Barrett from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

 

Just two months after a deadly shooting rampage claimed six lives at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, our home state once again finds itself the victim of senseless gun violence. Three innocent people are dead and, regretfully, it has come to our attention that the crime gun was purchased from a private dealer on your website.

 

On Sunday morning, 45-year-old Radcliffe Haughton shot and killed three people in a Brookfield spa, including his wife. Though federal law barred Haughton from buying or possessing a firearm after his wife obtained a domestic violence restraining order against him, he was able to avoid an instant background check by purchasing a gun through a private, unlicensed seller on Armslist.com. While licensed gun dealers are required by federal law to conduct background checks, private sellers are not. For Haughton, this lethal loophole made breaking the law to buy a .40-caliber handgun as easy as searching the internet.

 

The alarming reality is that illegal gun purchases seem to occur too frequently on websites like Armslist.com. A 2011 investigation by the City of New York found that 62 percent of online sellers, including 54 percent of those on your site, were willing to sell firearms to buyers even after they said they could not pass a background check – a felony under federal law. In the last 100 days alone, according to Mayors Against Illegal Guns, there were more than 30,000 unique gun listings on Armslist.com, 86 percent of which were listed by private sellers.

 

Such an extensive, unregulated forum for firearm sales should have strong safeguards in place to help keep firearms out of the hands of dangerous individuals, including those who have committed domestic violence.  It is illegal for private dealers to sell a gun if they reasonably know, or should know that the buyer is listed as a prohibited person.  Unfortunately, the degree of anonymity on websites like yours can accompany gun sales that are made without full knowledge of the prospective buyer. We thank you for any steps you may have already taken to prevent illegal gun sales from occurring, however we also urge you to continue working towards preventing future senseless tragedies.  Potential steps forward could include requiring more transparency of buyers and sellers, facilitating reporting of suspicious behavior, conducting internal audits, and ensuring that individuals who use your site have the best resources and information available to safely sell their firearms.

 

We are hopeful we can arrange a meeting to discuss specific next steps, as we believe we can work together to fix our broken system through common-sense reforms.  Thank you for your attention to this critical public safety issue, and we look forward to continuing the conversation.

 

Sincerely,

s/                                                                                                            s/

Gwen Moore                                                                                     Tom Barrett

Member of Congress                                                                     Mayor of Milwaukee

 

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