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06.18.11 WEEKEND WRAP-UP |
The
2011 Legislative session is nearing an end. Some say it may
happen as soon as this coming week. Because of the confusing
nature of the way gun bills were dealt with, we will try to
provide a summary of where we are now.
Although quite a few gun bills, both good and bad, were introduced,
only a few saw any action.
Here is a brief overview of the status of the bills that were
at least considered.
HB 2787 would have protected the privacy of
concealed handgun license holders. The bill passed by a wide
margin in the House. When it was sent to the Senate Judiciary
Committee, Chairman Floyd Prozanski scheduled it for a hearing
and then refused to hear it. It is now dead.
The House Republicans added CHL privacy language to SB 347,
which protects the privacy of domestic violence victims, and
passed it. It went back to the Senate for concurrence and we
have good reason to believe Senate President Peter Courtney
will not allow it to pass with the CHL privacy language in it.
When the CHL privacy language was added, militant anti-gunners
worked against the bill. They wanted protections for domestic
violence victims, but not if those victims took any action to
protect themselves. Privacy for CHL holders is almost certainly
dead this session. Miracles do happen, but that's almost what
it would take at this point.
We can only speculate on the motivations of the people who are
determined to make public the private, sensitive information
of CHL holders. Their stated reasons are nonsensical. But, since
they are convinced that centralized, public databases of personal
info are a good idea, we've created
one ourselves. As public figures, we're sure they would
approve.
HB 2791 would have replaced our current system
of gun purchase background checks. Our checks are done by the
Oregon State Police, cost $10.00, and are frequently mishandled,
causing countless unjustified delays. 2791 would have turned
this job over to the Federal NICS system which does not charge
a fee, does not retain info on the gun purchased (unlike the
OSP) and has had virtually no problems in the states that use
it. (Yes, odd for a Federal program, but true.)
That bill passed out of the House Judiciary Committee and was
sent to the Ways and Means Committee. A hearing was held there.
After testimony by public employees (who took the position that
if a few civilian employees of the State Police lost their jobs
because the Feds would do most background checks, the Oregon
economy would collapse), that bill was left there to die. While
not officially dead until the session ends, its chances of survival
are almost zero. Oregonians will continue to spend millions
on background checks from an agency that has admitted that it
is not getting the job done.
HB 2797 was supposed to define how you could
lawfully transport a handgun on a motorcycle, snowmobile or
ATV. It passed with no opposition in the House. It too
was sent to Prozanski's committee, where Prozanski added a few
other elements. He took the language he said he would not consider
in the CHL privacy bill and slipped that in there, which might
seem good except that he also added language banning guns in
all public schools and colleges and he added new restrictions
on those seeking to get their rights restored if they had a
felony conviction. Basically he created a whole class of people
who could never even ask to get their rights restored.
Prozanski never provided a single example of a dangerous felon
seeking rights restoration under the current law, which is working
quite well. He did accuse us of wanting to arm "murderers
and rapists" but never mentioned that he was responsible
for the change in the law in 2009 that allowed ex-felons to
petition the court for rights restoration. That bill passed
out of his committee, and although it was an awful bill, had
it gone to the floor for a vote, we would have a record of where
Senators stood on your rights and we could have killed it later
in the House. But Senate President Peter Courtney, being just
a bit wiser than Prozanski, instead sent the bill to Senate
Rules Committee for no reason other than to assure it would
quietly die and no Senate Democrats would be on record. Gamesmanship
to be sure, but evidence of Courtney's political acumen. He's
not ethical, but he is skilled.
HB 2792 started as a bill to recognize other
states' handgun licenses. After passing the House by a wide
margin, it too was sent to Floyd Prozanski's committee. There,
he stripped out all the recognition language and replaced it
with the language from HB 2797 dealing with motorcycles, snowmobiles,
and ATV's. Once again, that sounds good, but he added his favorite
poison pill, new restrictions on rights restoration.
That bill passed out of his committee with the support of both
Republicans(Jeff Kruse and Doug Whitsett) and was sent to the
Senate floor where it passed with only one "no" vote,
from Senator Larry George. We were informed by one Republican
Senator that the GOP caucus had no discussions about the bill
at all, so many of them probably had no idea what they were
voting on.
When that bill came back to the House for concurrence, the House
refused to agree to the Senate amendments. So as of Friday,
June 17, the bill was headed for a conference committee.
Prozanski desperately wants to end the possibility of rights
restoration for a whole class of people, in spite of the fact
that there is no evidence that dangerous people are either asking
for or receiving gun rights back. The Republicans will be in
a difficult political position because if they remove the bad
language from the bill, Prozanski and other Democrats will claim
(as they have of us,) that Republicans support "arming
murderers and rapists." There will be great political pressure
to cave at least partially to the Democrats.
We are close to the end of this session. Don't feel lonely if
you've been confused by the paths these bills have taken. We'll
keep you updated and it will all be over soon, for better or
worse.
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© 2000 - 2011, Oregon Firearms Federation. All Rights Reserved.
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