Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control group financed by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has gone into mea culpa mode for claims it made about firearms dealers that turned out to be wrong — and that may lead at least one to file a lawsuit.
The group issued a report a few days ago that said more than 1,000 online gun ads in Vermont were posted by unlicensed dealers and therefore, leading potential buyers to bypass background checks. But Everytown for Gun Safety wrongly identified 48 ads by dealers.
At least one misidentified Vermont dealer — Bobby Richards, owner and operator of CrossFire Arms in Mount Holly — is threatening a lawsuit, The Blaze reported.
Mr. Richards, who advertises firearms sales at the online venue Armslist, said he requires every potential buyer to fill out a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Form 4473 and undergo a screening by the FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System, The Blaze reported.
Everytown for Gun Safety, meanwhile, has issued an apology for the error.
“A previous version of this report incorrectly stated that we identified 1,106 ads posted by unlicensed Vermont sellers offering firearms for sale. We inadvertently included 48 ads posted by licensed dealers in Vermont in this total. This version of the report reflects data based on the updated total of 1,058 gun ads posted by unlicensed sellers,” the group said in a statement.
This isn’t the first time the gun group’s been under fire for inaccurate reporting. Politifact and Factcheck.org called out Everytown for Gun Safety months ago for repeating the incorrect number of school shootings that have taken place since the Sandy Hook incident.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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