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 WHO
WE ARE |
The
Oregon Firearms Federation was founded in 1998. After several
years of watching other local “gun organizations”
give away the store, it became obvious that Oregon needed a
no-compromise voice for gun owners.
With the help of Gun Owners of America, OFF was created and
went to work in the 1999 legislative session. It was to be an
interesting year.
During that session Senator Ginny Burdick introduced legislation
(SB 700) to end the private sale of firearms at gun shows. Despite
our best efforts, the bill passed through the Republican controlled
Senate and was sent to the House, where Kevin Mannix, who was
then the head of the House Judiciary Committee, set out to “amend”
it. And amend it he did. Working with a group called “Oregon
Gun Owners,” Republican Mannix and then House Rep
Floyd Prozanski actually managed to make the bill worse. That
was the birth of HB 2535.
From that point on, OFF worked overtime to kill this awful legislation,
while “Oregon Gun Owners” pulled out all the stops
to promote the new gun control bill they had help craft. The
National Rifle Association withdrew from the battle altogether
and never said one word to their members about the bill as it
progressed through the legislative process.
On June 22, 1999, HB 2535 passed the House 34-26. Things looked
grim for gun owners. With both Republican and Democrat legislators
pushing new restrictions, the National Rifle Association refusing
to acknowledge that the bill even existed, and a supposedly
“pro-gun” organization promoting it, the chances
of beating it in the Senate seemed remote at best.
The original gun show bill had already passed the Senate. Mannix
and Prozanksi’s even worse version had passed the House
and now was headed for the Senate. We were uniformly warned
that we had no chance of killing it. But OFF never gave up.
With a constant stream of mail and electronic communication,
OFF reached out to gun owners across the state who in turn hammered
legislators. The Senate vote was scheduled for July 6. It was
postponed until July 7 and again till the 8th. OFF kept up the
pressure. The bill was postponed again until the 9th and again
until the 12th. The pressure was working. The powers that be
were scared. They needed one more vote and the actions of OFF
members were holding them at bay. The bill was moved to the
13th and the phone calls and emails poured in. “Oregon
Gun Owners” kept trying to sell their piece of garbage
as “good for gun owners” but the gun owners weren’t
buying it. Finally on the 16th the Senate held their vote. OFF’s
refusal to give up had won the day. The bill failed by one vote.
The Senate floor erupted into chaos as anti-gun legislators
like Kate Brown tried every trick they could think of to change
the outcome. (Brown actually reversed her “yes”
vote so she could try to have the bill reconsidered.) But it
was over. With NRA on the sidelines and a local faux gun group
pushing for gun control, OFF supporters alone killed the major
bill of the session.
Since then, there have been countless battles. We have seen
numerous attempts to ban modern firearms, efforts to force “lock-up-your-self-defense”
laws and constant attempts to ban guns anywhere school children
gather. But since 1999 OFF has defeated almost all of them.
OFF passed legislation to correct errors in Oregon law that
allowed some people to get their rights back to buy a gun but
then could still not own it and it was OFF’s efforts that
clarified how to legally transport a firearm in a vehicle or
motorcycle, and ended the ban on loaded carry on snowmobiles
and ATV’s.
When Oregon was forced into compliance with the Brady Campaign/NRA
mental health reporting legislation, it was OFF members whose
constant pressure forced over 10 amendments to provide protection
for the privacy of Oregon residents and it was OFF that convinced
the Psychiatric Security Review Board to remove some of its
more onerous impediments to firearms rights restoration.
OFF’s meetings with the Oregon State Police resulted in
widespread changes and improvements in their conduct during
firearms purchase background checks and OFF has led the fight
for CHL privacy and recognition of other states concealed handgun
licenses. OFF representatives have appeared on countless radio
and TV shows across the state and nation along with presentations
at numerous schools and universities.
OFF director Kevin Starrett has produced the most complete source
for information on Oregon’s gun laws. OFF volunteers staff
gun shows all around Oregon and provide up to the minute information
on pending and existing legislation.
OFF’s website is the single most in-depth source of vital
information on all aspects of gun ownership in Oregon and OFF’s
free email alerts provide breaking news and action items available
nowhere else.
OFF maintains a regular presence in the legislature, monitoring
bills and amendments and providing OFF supporters with the facts
they need to respond to threats. No other organization, nationally
or locally, can or will give you this information this quickly.
Several years after OFF was formed, we created the Oregon Firearms
Educational Foundation. OFEF is a 501c3 charitable organization.
In addition to funding many educational efforts across the state,
OFEF has been responsible for numerous important lawsuits. OFEF
has regularly taken on battles no one else will touch. OFEF
does not pick its fights based on how sure we are of winning.
We take them on because it needs to be done.
We sued the City of Portland when they held a New Years Party
and declared that CHL holders would not be welcome. After several
years of litigation the courts reached a bizarre and inexplicable
ruling that while the City could not ban CHL holders, a company
hired by the City could. However, Portland has since rescinded
that policy and has never attempted to ban license holders from
New Years events since.
When the Medford School district threatened a teacher because
she had a concealed handgun license, OFEF took on her case.
No one else would. At the time we were battling on behalf of
the teacher, the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre was giving speeches
claiming no adult except a police officer should be allowed
on school property with a firearm. Needless to say, we received
no help from NRA. While the courts ruled that a school could
disarm its employees, the case reaffirmed that they could NOT
disarm others.
When Western Oregon University had a student arrested and punished
for legally possessing a firearm on campus, OFEF stepped up
and had the charges against him dropped. Then we sued the Oregon
University System for having a rule that was clearly illegal.
In September of 2011, the Oregon Appeals Court ruled that OFEF
was right, and the rule was invalidated.
OFF’s PAC, the Oregon Firearms Political Action Committee
has donated thousands to solid pro-gun candidates across the
state and helped defeat anti-gun zealots like Judy Steigler.
OFF supporters are the most passionate and committed gun owners
in the state. They are also the best informed. We would be pleased
to have you among them. |
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Copyright
© 2000 - 2011, Oregon Firearms Federation. All Rights Reserved.
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