Category: OFF Alerts

02.28.2020

While the brave walkout by most Republican legislators has stalled (and we hope, killed) the worst anti-gun legislation for 2020, gun owners are still facing several hate driven gun confiscation ballot measures.

Today, Oregon Firearms Federation submitted a challenge to the “certified ballot title” for IP 60.

Our challenge covered many of the flaws in the ballot title and pointed out some of the absurdities of the measure itself.

As we pointed out in our petition;

“In addition to covering most semiautomatic rifles and certain semiautomatic handguns, IP 60 also includes other types of firearms within its catch-all definition of “semiautomatic assault firearms” that do not properly fit within that makeshift category. IP 60 also applies to shotguns with revolving cylinders even though they do not possess any semi-automatic functionality.”

Rest assured OFF will be doing everything in our power to put the brakes on this dangerous and ignorant ballot measure and others like it.

We are very grateful for the support you have provided to help us cover the cost of  these, and coming legal proceedings.  We are also extremely grateful for the courage of those Republicans who stood up at great personal cost to themselves to defend your liberties.

If ever there was a time to send a personal note of appreciation to legislators now is the time.

Please consider a brief “thank you” to the leaders of Oregon’s Republican House and Senate.

House Republican Leader Rep Christine Drazan:

Rep.ChristineDrazan@oregonlegislature.gov

Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr:

Sen.HermanBaertschiger@oregonlegislature.gov

Republicans Walk

02.24.2020 

As we hoped, the Oregon Senate Republicans have left the building.

After a testy hearing on SB 1530, the bill that will cost anyone who uses energy far more than many can afford, most Senate Republicans walked out.

It should be noted that Democrat Senator Betsy Johnson, the only pro-gun Democrat in the Senate voted against SB1530 and for amendments that would have made it less onerous.  Senate President Peter Courtney added himself to the committee for this one bill just to cancel out her vote.

The one Republican Senator who refused to leave was Tim Knopp.

Knopp, you will recall, also refused to leave during the first Republican walk out last year. After hearing from many of you, he did agree to walk out the second time the Senate Republicans left.

It was those walk outs that defeated some of the worst gun control bills in Oregon history.

It should be noted that last year, after we let our supporters know that Knopp stayed on the floor with the gun grabbing Democrats, Knopp told people who contacted him that he stayed behind to “represent Republicans” and “negotiate” for them.

None of this was true. We had some angry calls and emails from people who accused us of misrepresenting Knopp’s motivation.

If his office tells you that he, once again, stayed behind at the request of his caucus or leadership, we strongly recommend you ask them  whether that’s true.

So what does this mean?  First it means that your emails and calls to the Senate Republican leadership paid off. Unless one more Republican defects and joins Knopp on the Senate floor, they can conduct no business.

The anti-gun bill that is still in play in the House, HB 4005, the gun lock down bill, could still pass the House if the House Republicans don’t walk out. But it cannot become law unless it passes the Senate and it can’t pass the Senate if the Republicans are not there.

This is what makes Knopp’s decision to stay so dangerous. If the State Police are ordered to “compel” the missing senators to return to the floor, they only need to take one into custody, drag him (or her) back to chambers and the Democrats can pass anything they want. And they will.

We are, by no means, out of the woods yet.

The legislature may stay in session until March 8th (although it may legally end sooner.) That’s plenty of time for the Democrats to try to figure out a way to pass anti-gun bills and other dangerous legislation. But for now, the longer they stay out, the more deadlines will pass and the greater the chance we have of having this session end with no successful attacks on your rights.

Thank you  all you have done to protect gun rights in Oregon.

02.08.2020

This alert contains info on two bills. Please be sure to see the info on the second bill SB 1538 which could send you to prison for 5 years.

Yesterday the House Judiciary Committee heard HB 4005 the firearms lockdown bill. Gun rights supporters greatly outnumbered the Bloomberg shills who came to testify in opposition to your rights and common sense. We are grateful for everyone who showed up, testified or submitted testimony. You are heroes.

One of the bill’s Sponsors, Janeen Sollman  made the bizarre claim that forcing people to render their self defense firearms useless was like Oregon’s seat belt law. A far more accurate analogy would have been if Oregon had a law that prohibited you from using a seat belt until a crash was already about to happen. But do not expect reason from the twisted minds of the gun grabbers.

Oregon’s one trick pony, Ginny Burdick, testified that the gun owners in her district strongly supported locking up their guns and being responsible for the misuse of guns stolen from them.

In what was clearly a surprise to the Republican members of the committee, an amendment had been submitted.

The “dash-1” amendment removed some of the most onerous parts of the bill but retains most of the worst of the bill.

1) It still mandates trigger or cable locks which are extremely dangerous and can cause unintended discharges.

(Placing a trigger lock on a loaded gun is very dangerous but even when placed on an unloaded gun they do not prevent the gun from being loaded and a round being chambered and any movement of the lock can still result in the gun firing.)

2) Because it mandates trigger locks it is still unconstitutional under Heller vs District of Columbia.

3) It still contains “strict liability” language which, as we heard at the hearing, means a person can be held liable for another person’s misuse of a firearm no matter how much they may have (in good faith) attempted to comply with the law.

4) The amendment still has no protections for people who store their firearms, locked, in a building other than a “dwelling.”

5) The amendment still contains language that makes it impossible to comply with the bill. Please see Section 3 (1) (b) (A).  If ANY means exists to defeat a lock, the gun is not considered secured. Of course, there is no lock that can’t be defeated. Not even safes.

6) The amendment still prohibits the transfer of firearms to minors, even for organized shooting events, unless the minor has a “youth hunting license.” Section 6 (4)(a)(B)

Because the amendment still requires an adult to assume complete “strict liability” for any minor to whom a firearm is “transferred” at a sport shooting event, the amendment still devastates the very kinds of programs that introduce young people to safe firearms handling.

While OFF had a copy of the “dash-1” amendment  before the hearing, virtually no one else (including legislators) did, so almost no one could comment on it. The amendment is a “gut and stuff” which means it essentially replaces all the language in the bill.

On February 10th, the House Judiciary Committee will be holding another hearing on HB 4005, apparently to address the amendment no one knew about. But no public testimony will be allowed. The “invited” testimony will be by Jessica Minifie who is the person who wrote the bill and the amendment so it remains to be seen if we will be getting any real explanation about some of the aspects of the proposed legislation that make no sense.

Keep in mind, amendments can be added at any time and even if they completely change the nature of the bill you will not be allowed to testify on the final product before it is voted on in the house where it originated. It’s a game designed to keep those pesky voters out of the loop.

HB 4005 (gun lockdowns)  will receive a “work session” on Feb 12th. Like the “informational” hearing on the 10th, the public may attend but you will not be permitted to testify. Work sessions are where amendments are adopted and the final version is voted to the full house floor.

Also on February 12, the SENATE Judiciary Committee will be holding a public hearing for SB 1538. You can read the text of SB 1538 here. The short version is this; under this bill, any school or local government body can declared their property and surrounding property off limits to CHL holders. This is Burdick’s dream child and a bill she has introduced before.

Here is what’s important to know. If you, as a law abiding concealed handgun license holder, go into any building controlled by any school or government entity that has declare themselves off limits, you will face 5 years in prison. That’s five years for doing something you may have done lawfully, peacefully, while threatening no one, your entire adult life.

These are the buildings YOU pay for.  And the reason for this insane new law? Because peaceful, law abiding gun owners offend Ginny Burdick.

You also offend the other sponsors .

While gun owners have become accustomed to facing legislation designed to eliminate their rights, rarely have they faced legislation that is a product of such mindless, blind hatred.

What today is a lawful, common, and unremarkable tomorrow could send you to prison for far longer than Oregon imprisons many violent rapists. This is the heart of Oregon’s Democrat Party today.

The hearing for SB 1538  will be Feb.12th at 8am in Room 50. Rest assured legislative staff will send a warning to all employees of the Capitol that gun owners may be coming to the building and to contact the State Police if they feel “threatened.”  This has become standard practice in spite of the perfect behavior of gun owners at all Capitol events.

The “work session” for this monstrosity will be the following day Feb 13th in Room C at 8am. (All dates are subject to change.)

You can take action to stop SB 1538 here.

As you know, HB 4005 will receive a hearing on Friday Feb 7 at 1pm.

The bill is currently scheduled to be heard in hearing room E in the Capitol.

Today the House Judiciary Committee released these “rules” for the hearing:

Public testimony before the committee will be limited to 2 minutes per person and will be heard until 4:00 pm.

Individuals intending to testify may sign up outside Hearing Room 50 beginning at 12:00 pm.

Individuals may sign up only one person at a time. Written testimony will be accepted until 5:00 pm, Friday Feb.7th.

You can email testimony against this bill to the House Judiciary Committee here: hjud.exhibits@oregonlegislature.gov

02.01.2020

They’re back.

As you know, in addition to a number of extreme anti-gun “bills” introduced in Salem for the “short” February session, there are several anti-rights ballot measures in play.

Oregon Firearms Federation is doing everything we can to derail them all as we have done in the past with your help.

The ballot measures filed with the intention of crippling your rights to defend and protect your family are:

IP 40

IP 60

IP 61 and

IP 62.

OFF has filed comments with the Secretary of State contesting the misleading draft ballot title language in all the measures. Furthermore we have filed an appeal for the “certified” ballot title of IP 40.

IP 40 is a mandatory gun incapacitation measure much like HB 4005 which is scheduled for a hearing on Feb 7th. (Remember, Feb 6th is the Timber Unity Rally on the capitol steps that gun owners are encouraged to join.)

IP 60 creates onerous new restrictions for modern firearms including banning  their possession by young Oregonians, eliminating private in-family transfers, requiring “training courses” before purchase (which most NRA instructors will not be allowed to teach) waiting periods and more.

The definitions in the measure for “semi-automatic assault weapons”  include not only fully automatic and select fire firearms, but firearms that are not in any way “automatic” such as shotguns with “revolving cylinders.”

It would ban the new sale, manufacture and possession of most ammunition magazines and outlaw the transportation of previously owned ones if loaded.

IP’s 61 and 62 contain parts of IP 60, with IP 61 having the restrictions on modern firearms contained in IP 60 and IP 62 having the ban on magazines.

It would appear that IPs 60 and 61 may very well also (inadvertently ) ban gun “turn-ins.”

IP 40 was filed by a  Bloomberg funded organization called  “State of Safety”.  To guarantee their safety they apparently have no phone number.

IP’s 60, 61 and 62 were filed by “Lift Every Voice” an organization that grew out of the failed “Ceasefire Oregon” and charades as religious leaders while working overtime to guarantee that the lessons of the Holocaust will be forever forgotten.

Laughably the “principles” they post on their website include:

“PRINCIPLE THREE:

Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice not people.

Nonviolence recognizes that evildoers are also victims and are not evil people.

The nonviolent resister seeks to defeat evil not people.”

Lift Every Voice clearly believes that  “evildoers” are not evil. But law abiding gun owners are.

As expected, the Democrats in Salem are wasting no time trying to ram through their anti-gun agenda.

HB 4005, mandatory gun lock ups, is now scheduled for Feb 7th at 1pm in Hearing Room E at the State Capitol by the House Judiciary Committee.

(Of course everything is subject to change.)

This bill not only forces you to lock up your self defense firearms, it punishes you even if you DO lock up firearms. While it penalizes gun owners if their firearms are stolen, it does nothing to penalize gun thieves.

The bill makes you strictly liable for misuse of guns that were stolen from you!

It requires that you use dangerous and easily defeated “trigger” or “cable” locks that violate every rule of gun safety but mandates that you  be prosecuted if you use them and a thief can defeat them, which of course any thief can.

The bill also virtually eliminates minor’s use of firearms even to protect themselves and their families in their own homes. Under this bill, a 17 year old with years of shooting experience would not be allowed to have access to a self defense firearm. Imagine how this will effect families in remote areas.

Needless to say this bill will have a devastating effect on youth shooting programs.

The bill requires (for no discernible reason) that firearms that are lawfully transferred (through gun dealers) are locked up during transfer and makes the transferor liable for two years for misuse of a legally transferred firearm if it was not locked. This assumes that for some reason the person to whom you lawfully transferred a firearm, with a background check, will not remove the required lock…for two years!

None of the components of this bill make anyone safer. In fact, these rules can easily get people killed in the event of a criminal attack.

Please use this form to contact the Oregon House members and demand that they vote this bill down in committee. You may alter the subject line and add your own message if you choose. (Not required.)

You can email testimony against this bill to the House Judiciary Committee here:  hjud.exhibits@oregonlegislature.gov

The day before this bill is scheduled, February 6th, gun owners are encouraged to join our friends from Timber Unity on the Capitol Steps at 9am to stand up for liberty. Oregon Firearms Federation has been invited and we hope to see you there.

01.28.2020

The 2020 pre-session anti gun bills are now available. There are no real surprises.

As expected, we have another attempt to force you to keep firearms locked and useless.

HB 4005 will not only force you you to keep your firearms unavailable to defend yourself and your family, the bill creates a virtual prohibition on firearms possession by persons under 18, no matter how competent and responsible they are.

If your 17 year old daughter is home alone and your home is invaded, well… sorry kid.

A careful reading of Section 3 of this bill will demonstrate that even if you wanted to comply with it, you cannot.

Once again, Oregon’s pre-emption law is under attack by the usual suspects.(Senators Burdick, Manning Jr, Hass, Senator Beyer, Dembrow, Frederick, Gelser, Golden, Monnes Anderson, Prozanski, Riley, Steiner Hayward, Taylor, Wagner.)

SB 1538  would allow cities, counties, metropolitan service districts, school districts, and colleges or universities to create their own rules for firearms possession.

Under this proposed legislation, carrying a firearm in a place where a person may have lawfully done so for their entire adult life can now result in 5 years in prison and a $125,000.00 fine.

Don’t even think about picking anyone up at an airport should this pass.

Given that there have been essentially no issues with license holders in any of these places, it is clear that the reason for this bill is pure hatred for lawful gun owners. The Governor has talked about looking forward to “revenge” and apparently most Democrat Senators are along for the ride.

HB 4036 creates new restrictions for CHL holders and police officers at airports. We have not yet determined what “problem” this is intended to fix, but as we have seen, no problem is necessary for the Oregon Democrats to find a way to attack your rights.

As these bills move through the process, we will keep you informed.

01.14.2020

The Senate Judiciary Committee has released its latest version of legislation to render your self defense firearms worthless.

Tomorrow at 2PM they will have an “informational hearing” to discuss “Legislative Concept 38.” It is a mash-up of several previous attempts and appears to include the worst provisions of all of them.

This is the latest effort to require you to lock up your firearms and only transfer them with locks engaged. You will be liable, for two years, for anything that happens with a firearm that wasn’t locked. The assumption of course, being, that if you sell, give away, or trade a firearm the recipient won’t be able to remove the lock for two years.

Once again, the Oregon Health Authority will decide if a lock is good enough to comply with the latest restrictions. (This is because of the OHA’s proven expertise in lock construction.)

At this time only those opposed to civil rights will be allowed to testify. Supporters of gun rights are currently being silenced. You may still attend the hearing tomorrow at 2PM in Hearing Room F, but in keeping with Democrat policy you may not testify.  However, nothing prevents you (yet) from submitting written testimony here:  sjud.exhibits@oregonlegislature.gov

The draft, as it exists now, regulates the circumstances under which you may transfer a firearm to a minor. However Section 6 (1)(b) strictly forbids possession of a firearm by a minor unless they are being supervised by an adult. So if your 17 year old daughter is alone out on your ranch, well tough luck.

Another “legislative concept” to watch is “LC 193” which will be presented in the Joint Transportation Committee today at 2PM.  The draft’s “relating clause” says “Relating To Transportation” but section 2 of the draft creates new restrictions for CHL holders at the Portland Airport. We’ll be keeping an eye on that one as well.