02.18.15
Today has been a busy day for gun rights. Three counties, Curry, Columbia and Jackson all have scheduled action on pro-gun measures.
Jackson County has passed theirs.
We will report the other outcomes as they become available to us.
Also today, the Corvallis City Council Administrative Services Committee meets to discuss a “solution” to the totally manufactured “problem” of open carry.
Today was also the swearing in of Kate Brown as Governor. Brown’s agenda at this point is not known. What is known is she is a committed leftist who is every bit as anti-gun as Kitzhaber is. She is known to be totally in the pocket of special interest groups and is a shrewd political operator.
Whether attacking gun rights will be high on the agenda or if she will concentrate on continuing the policies that have Oregon ranked at, or near, the bottom of every metric, remains to be seen. Her acceptance speech today was mostly meaningless platitudes with no mention of who she would choose as her successor in the position of Secretary of State.
The immediate response from the Speaker of the House, Tina Kotek was: “I am also proud that Oregon has again made history as a leader in equality, with Kate Brown now serving as the nation’s first governor from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.“
Kotek did not mention that Brown wasn’t actually elected to the job.
Tomorrow at 8am, the House Committee On Agriculture and Natural Resources meets in HR D. On the agenda is HB2503. Just to be clear, while this bill deals with lead ammo, it is NOT a lead ammo ban. The bill seeks to prevent a lead ammo ban from being enacted by administrative rule or executive fiat.
It essentially adds, to our preemption statute, language giving only the legislature the right to make rules about about ammo, except for ammo used for hunting waterfowl. This is a good bill and we support it, more than ever now that the Obama administration and the ATF are trying to ban other types of ammo. Clearly the long term agenda is to ban all ammo. This bill provides some protections against that happening in Oregon law.
Remember, if you cannot attend these hearings you can watch them live on line. Here is a link to legislative video.
Also tomorrow, the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners will be hearing a pro-gun resolution. That meeting will be at 6pm. This resolution has been the target of the most outrageous attacks by the anti-rights crowd.
If you can be at this hearing, it is very, very important. The meeting will be held at 2015 Kaen Road in Oregon City.
Yesterday in Coos County a pro-gun resolution failed in a one-to-one vote. You can read about that here.
We are grateful for the support of Commissioner Bob Main. The other two commissioners clearly need to be repurposed come election time. Efforts have begun to go around them.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that in addition to Yamhill passing a pro-gun resolution, they have also sent a strongly worded letter to the legislature warning them to keep their hands off our gun rights.