Self-Defense Pair Launches Offensive To Fight Gun Bias Internet Will Be Used To Collect Stories Of People Using Guns To Stop Crime

The Spokane couple who started a computer campaign against Tom Foley last fall are planning a nationwide effort to collect stories of people using guns to help themselves or others.

Richard and Mary Hartman are launching SelfDefense, an Internet discussion group that will gather reports of people using guns to stop crime.

The ultimate goal, Richard Hartman said, is a forum that will provide a more balanced view of guns in society.

“What you find, generally in the media, are the shoot-‘em-up stories with an emphasis on blood and gore,” said Hartman, an engineer for Output Technology, a Spokane firm producing computer printers.

He and his wife, who will administer the system, are not members of the National Rifle Association or other gun-rights groups.

But both oppose government efforts to restrict gun ownership. They also contend that national media coverage leads to a biased view of gun incidents and the role of firearms in American society.

The Self-Defense Internet forum, once it gets an Internet address and location, will be a way for people to influence how the media present news, Hartman said.

He said that change will occur as people inside the media learn of the forum and read messages from around the country.

Those with gun-related accounts for Self-Defense will first supply information to a screening area. Several group “editors” will determine if the account is factual.

Then the story would be posted publicly in Self-Defense for others to read.

“In effect, this is like turning people out there into a large body of reporters,” said Hartman.

Washington State University communications professor Glenn Johnson agreed that some bias against guns does exist within the American news media.

But Johnson suggested that much of that comes from journalistic habits - looking for gripping, dramatic details - rather than a bias against gun ownership.

The Hartmans discovered the vast, fairly inexpensive reach of the Internet during last fall’s FoleyGeorge Nethercutt congressional race.

They and two others created DeFoley-Ate Congress, a network of computer users who transmitted messages around the country. In addition to spreading information on campaign issues, the group raised almost $30,000 for advertising against Foley.

De-Foley-Ate Congress was seen by some members of the national media as the first valid political use of the Internet, the ungoverned, global chain of computer networks that can exchange data easily.

The idea of Self-Defense developed as the Hartmans and other gun advocates formed another, called No Ban. Its purpose was to generate support across the country, via electronic mail, for repeal of restrictions on some rifles and ammunition magazines adopted in last year’s crime bill.

Congress won’t likely vote on the proposed repeal before May. Trying not to be too aggressive, those behind No Ban will wait until a vote is scheduled before lobbying members of Congress, Hartman said.

Self-Defense, in part, is a way to use the more than 5,000 people whose names have been collected through the No Ban network, Hartman said.

He added that Self-Defense would disseminate stories such as the one involving a Spokane Valley store owner who shot and killed a would-be robber last year.

The owner ended up using his own revolver to kill an armed intruder during a struggle inside the store.

“If the owner had been killed, it would have been covered all over the place. But because it ended the way it did, it never got national attention,” Hartman said.

Allowing citizens to carry weapons is a part of - but not the entire - solution to reducing crime, he said.

WSU Campus Police Chief Bob Wilson, a veteran of more than 30 years, disagreed.

Having more citizens armed is a sure way to increase the number of gun episodes, not decrease them, Wilson said.

Most citizens don’t have the maturity and training to handle firearms responsibly in moments of stress, he said.

“I’ve seen many cases of people ending up shot because they pulled a gun on people they’ve confronted. That’s not the solution,” Wilson said.