FORT WORTH, Texas — The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will launch an anti-gun trafficking campaign in Fort Worth this month.
The program aims to highlight stiffened penalties for so-called "straw purchasing," buying a gun for someone who is ineligible to do so or someone who intends to use the weapon for a crime.
Fort Worth is one three cities selected for the campaign.
"We all want our children to be safe walking to and from school or going out with our families," Assistant U.S. attorney Rachael Jones said. "Lawful, responsible gun owners don't need someone else to purchase a weapon for them."
Through a partnership with the ATF, the firearms industry will pay $150,000 for each campaign. That money will pay for 38 billboards and posters that will go up in Fort Worth's high-crime and high-traffic areas, 372 radio commercials that will air on three stations and targeted social media ads designed to reach 3.3 million people.
"Firearm retailers... are literally the first line of defense against these illegal types of transactions," National Shooting Sports Foundation president Joe Bartozzi said.
Lawmakers targeted straw purchasing in the bipartisan gun safety law passed after the mass shooting in Uvalde. The measure gave attorneys a new way to pursue straw purchasing cases, which had previously been prosecuted mostly as paperwork crimes.
Now, a person convicted of straw purchasing faces up to 15 years in prison and hefty fines. If the weapon is used in drug trafficking or terrorism, the purchaser faces up to 25 years in prison.
"If you like sleeping in your own bed at night, if you like eating dinner with your children, or if you generally like your life outside the penitentiary, say 'No,'" Jones said.
Most weapons purchased illegally on behalf of someone else turn up in Mexico, ATF Special Agent In-Charge Jeff Boshek said.
"There's a reason why someone's asking you to purchase them a firearm, right?" he said. "They probably shouldn't have one."
Boshek said the ATF selected Fort Worth for its proximity to trafficking corridors.
"It targets local violent crime, but then on a larger scale, firearms trafficking that's going on across the southwestern border," he said.
The metroplex also has more than 7,000 federal firearms licensees, among the most of any ATF region. The message, then, should reach more people because the local firearms market is so large.
The ad campaign will run through the first week of December.