Category: OFF Alerts

10.29.18

There are just a few days left to vote in the 2018 general election. The stakes have never been higher.

The Democrat majority in the Oregon legislature has promised to introduce (and may very well  already have) a slew of anti-gun bills that will mirror the failed anti-gun ballot measures.

The current governor even went to court to keep secret the bills the Democrats are working on.

We are even seeing some Republicans talking about supporting new gun restrictions. So if you have not already, please take the time to fill in and return your ballot.

The Oregon Firearms candidate ratings are available here if you have not seen them already.

Many counties around Oregon have “Second Amendment Preservation Ordinances” on the ballot. We have received quite a few questions about these measures.

We do think they are far from perfect. Many of them allow the Sheriff of the county to decide what is or is not a constitutional gun law. We believe that is not the role of the sheriff and we certainly would not want a Bloomberg bootlick like Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese deciding what the law is.

That being said, we think they are a great step forward and will send a message to the Portland controlled legislature that the entire state does not support their gun grabbing schemes.  If we can pass many or all of them we can still come back and pass improved versions. And in each county that has placed them on the ballot there are now hard working independent patriots who have learned how to get this done. OFF supports these measures.

Please vote.

 

10.09.18

 

Oregon, like much of the country, is in turmoil.

The confirmation of a new Supreme Court Justice brought out some of the most vile threats from leftists ever seen on social media but no one was held accountable.

Violent thugs control the streets of Portland while the Portland Police stand by and do nothing.

Kate Brown is using taxpayer’s money for her personal projects and her office is mired in corruption scandals.

It all looks like Germany in the thirties.

The top two contenders for the office of Governor, as well as the leader of the House Republicans, have all called for more restrictions on your gun rights.

The Democrats in charge have promised to enact the draconian attacks that were included in ballot measures 43 and 44, which you helped defeat. And of the very few pro-gun Democrats most have been cowed and intimidated into switching sides and working with the gun grabbers.

At a time when you and your family are most at risk, the power structure funded by leftist billionaires is doing all it can to make sure you are disarmed. It is truly terrifying.

We know we can never counter their millions. But we need to do everything we can to build as big a war chest as possible. And we are going to need your help.

And you can actually make a big difference for free.

Our state is in a very, very dangerous place right now. The question really comes down to how many legislative seats we can keep or pick up.

While Oregon has long been controlled by anti-gun, anti-rights Democrats, year after year we beat them back, but now we are seeing Republicans join them in efforts to attack your ability to protect your family.  I can’t sugar coat this. We have some mighty battles ahead. Expensive battles.

Imagine waking up one day and finding out you are a felon because a rifle you bought (with police “permission”) has suddenly been banned. Imagine being charged with a crime because you got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and left a pistol on your nightstand.  This is not some conspiracy theory fantasy. This is what the anti-gunners have already demanded. And there are plenty of elected officials who are eager to make it happen.

As you know, we are working overtime to pass a ballot measure to protect your gun rights, but no matter how successful we are, it won’t take effect until after the 2020 elections, and the 2019 Legislature can do a world of damage by then.

Make no mistake, we WILL have an anti-gun governor. There is no way around that. But we still have a chance to elect good legislators to the House and Senate. And if we don’t? Well I have no good news for you.

Together we defeated anti-gun measures 43 and 44. I want to thank you for that. It was an amazing victory. But unlike legislative battles, those were all about money and paying lawyers. And as you know, good lawyers are not cheap. We really need every single dime we can raise for the coming battles and to help elect good pro-gun legislators.

But you can help at no cost.   Just take advantage of Oregon’s Political Action Committee tax credit.

You can actually get a credit for money you donate to our Political Action Committee. That’s not a “deduction” it’s an actual credit.

If you file as an individual, you can  take up to $50.00 off any taxes you owe the state. And you can take up to $100.00 if you file jointly. (Of course, you can give more if you want to.) That means you can help us help you and it could not cost you a dime.

You know you do not get an endless barrage of messages from us asking you to “chip in”  5 or 10 dollars. But the fact is, the situation in Oregon is the worst it has ever been, and stopping the madness may really be cheaper then going to prison for exercising a God given right.

Please take a moment to use our candidate ratings to learn where your candidates stand on gun rights.

If you are not sure who your candidates are, please use this tool to find out.

And please, please, consider donating as much as you can (and taking advantage of the  tax credit) to put the brakes on the train that is running over our freedoms and our ability to keep our families safe from the violent leftists who are taking over the streets of our cities.

You can use this link to make a donation to OFFPAC and get a tax credit. (Please use the drop down menu that says “Donation Category” to indicate your contribution is for the PAC.). If you prefer to donate using PAY PAL you can use this link. (Please note in the Paypal window that you want your donation to go to the PAC.)

But most importantly, PLEASE be sure to vote. It has never been more critical that your voice be heard.  Thank you.

 

9.20.18

We have collected enough signatures for our “Common Firearms Protection Act” to qualify for a draft ballot title and expect to have one soon. When we do, any registered voter in Oregon can comment on the title and then be qualified to challenge the wording of the draft title.

Great efforts were made to craft this measure in a way to get the best possible title, but the Attorney General, who writes the title, has made no secret of her hostility towards gun owners, so be prepared.

We are now collecting signatures for our “Firearms Safety Act.”  This ballot measure would require basic firearms safety be taught in the sixth grade. It neither promotes nor discourages firearms ownership, its sole purpose is to prevent firearms accidents by young people because of ignorance.

As you can imagine, the anti-gun zealots are falling all over themselves trying to attack this common sense safety measure.   But let’s not forget, groups like CeaseFire Oregon see every firearms accident as a fundraising opportunity and the last thing they want is kids learning to be safe around guns.

We’ll need one thousand signatures to get a ballot title for this measure and you can help us. Download a single signer sheet, print on white paper. sign it and send it to:

“Firearms Safety”

2570 Greenwood Road S

Independence OR

97351

Please leave the “sheet number” field blank and do not check the box that says “No circulators for this petition are being paid.”

Please encourage your friends and family to do the same.

And please consider any financial support you can for the inevitable battles ahead.

09.14.18

The elections have not even taken place and Oregon Democrats are already announcing their plans to attack gun rights.

OFF  has obtained audio of House Rep Brad Witt, (D district 31) discussing his plans to ban the purchase or possession of common firearms and magazines for adults aged 18-20.

Witt is claiming he has “bi-partisan” support for this new attack on rights.

18 to 20 year olds can drive cars, hunt, serve and die in the military, and vote. Witt believes that people who are old enough to help elect him cannot be trusted with firearms.

There is no rational reason for this kind of legislation, it is nothing more than a pointless knee jerk reaction to a single event.

Steven Paddock, the murderer in the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay murders, was 64. By Witt’s twisted logic we should not allow anyone under 65 to own or purchase guns.

It would make far more sense for Witt to prohibit young adults from driving than take away firearms they may have owned for years.

Anyone who has ever participated in a hunter safety program has seen countless young adults safely and competently handling firearms. Now Witt wants to make them all criminals.

If Witt has his way, we will see young men and women who are issued fully automatic weapons in the military be prohibited from possessing common firearms in their own homes.

This is just one more nail in the coffin of gun rights in Oregon.

Please contact Witt today and express your outrage with his efforts to steal the rights and property of Oregonians whose only crime was not being born earlier.

You can take action here.

08.31.18

 

We are pleased to inform you that today the first set of signatures was turned in for our ballot measure to protect common firearms.

1000 valid signatures were needed to get a “ballot title” from the Attorney General. Approximately 2000 signatures were turned in.

 

 

 

This measure is a constitutional amendment that would prevent the regulation of common firearms by the state or by ballot measure. It would prevent restrictions on firearms because of their action type, stock configuration, or magazine capacity among other safeguards.

The AG now has ten days to write a ballot title which will appear in the voters’ guide in the 2020 election. The measure was very, very carefully crafted to get the very best ballot title possible, but given our AG’s open hostility toward gun owners, we are still expecting a fight.

Only after all disputes over the ballot title are settled will we be able to start collecting the signatures we need for the next phase. The number of signatures required will be a percentage of the number of votes cast for governor in 2018.

With new  and well funded groups forming to attack your rights, this ballot measure is critical to preventing the gun grabbers from banning virtually all firearms.

“Wessinger and his backers talk of State of Safety as a missing voice in Oregon’s often fractious debate over firearms.”

While the leaders of this new anti-gun group have not said where they will get their money, they have close ties to New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg whose tentacles are all over Oregon politics.

Because of how broad the protections in this measure are, you can rest assured that we will be facing the full force of opposition from rights hating billionaires on both coasts. This is going to be a long, ugly and expensive battle with well funded extremists pulling out all the stops to  defeat us.

There is a long road ahead, but we have taken the first steps. Please consider the most generous support you can afford to put an end to the kind of dangerous attacks we saw in Measures 43 and 44.

You can support us using this link or through PAYPAL with the “Donate” button on this page.

Thank you for your support and activism and thanks to all who helped us get this far by gathering and turning in the signatures we needed for this first step.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

07.24.18

A very carefully crafted ballot measure to protect firearms and firearms’ owners has been filed for 2020.

Called “The Common Firearms Act” it is the product of a careful reading of previous firearms court decisions.  You can read the measure here.

The language of the measure was created to diffuse as many of the expected attacks as possible, help get the best ballot title and increase chances of passage.

The measure is a Constitutional Amendment designed to help thwart the kinds of hateful attacks we saw with the now defeated Measures 43 and 44.

Please stay tuned for updates on what you can do to insure it gets on the ballot and wins.

 

 

06.27.18

IP 43, the gun confiscation ballot measure is dead. Today the courts released their response to our challenge to the ballot title and agreed that the language in the title was misleading. 

The hateful bigots who wrote this outrageous attack on the rights and freedom of Oregonians had hoped to exploit fear and ignorance to ban virtually all firearms by labeling everything an “assault weapon.”  Under their deceitful definition, even some lever action rifles would be “assault weapons.”

The court took note of this rhetorical sleight of hand and also pointed out that the term “large capacity magazine” (also banned under this measure) had no real meaning, given that the standard capacity magazines for many firearms could be anywhere from 14  to 30 rounds. So to say anything over 10 rounds is “large capacity” is misleading at best.

It is a sad testimony that the people who were hoping to imprison their fellow Oregonians for exercising a God given right are charading as “people of faith.” The fact that one of them is a “rabbi” is even more astonishing knowing what happened to people of his religion after the Nazi’s implemented the very schemes he hoped to make law.

The 43 promoters made it clear that they were counting on duping the young and ignorant and expoliting the wave of anti-gun hysteria created by a complicit media to convince Oregonians to voluntarily give up their rights.

As with the promoters of IP 44, they failed. While they most certainly will be back, (hate never rests) this was a profound victory.

We want to thank everyone who was part of this battle and supported our work to stop these attacks. You have been very generous and we are deeply grateful. We also want to say a special thanks to our legal team who worked tirelessly to expose the truth behind these measures.

But given the billionaires who fund the gun grabbers we know there will be no shortage of attacks in the future.

You can help to keep us strong by supporting our efforts here.

 

06.18.18

In a very unusual move, the Oregon Supreme Court has certified the highly flawed ballot title for IP 44, the “lock up your self defense” measure, without even waiting for the Attorney General to defend her title language.

Once again the Court has demonstrated it is in the tank for the anti-gunners. This is what years of Democrat rule brings us. A total perversion of the established rule to benefit the people who contribute the most campaign cash.

Of course, our attorneys will be filing a motion to reconsider this clearly biased decision.

We know the supporters of both anti-gun ballot measures are planning an all out push in the next weeks to get the signatures they need to eliminate your liberties and make you a criminal for exercising God-given, Constitutional rights. Rest assured that with your help we will be standing in their way no matter what the establishment courts and legislators do.

We are very grateful for your generous support.

06.15.18

Yesterday, OFF filed a challenge to IP 44, the measure that would force you to lock up any firearm you are not actually carrying, require that you install a trigger lock before handing a firearm to another person, hold you liable for guns that were stolen from you and more.

As you know from a  previous alert, the Oregon Supreme Court had altered the time table for the other anti-gun measure, IP 43, to assist the gun grabber’s efforts to gather signatures.  Our attorneys filed an objection to this clear and unprecedented bias and the court relented…slightly.

You can view our challenge to IP 44 here.

These ballot measures serve no purpose but to harass and endanger gun owners. The dangers they present are incalculable.

Rest assured OFF will continue to do all we can to stand in their way. We are grateful for your continued support.

 

06.12.18

As you may know, the Oregon Supreme Court has fast tracked the challenges we filed against IP 43, the “firearms confiscation measure”, to benefit the supporters of gun theft.

We believe the court has chosen to ignore Oregon statutes and has grossly bent the rules to accommodate the gun grabbers who filed a very late ballot measure. Now we have the Oregon Supreme Court working  for the supporters of gun confiscation to do all they can to make sure this outrageous measure gets on the ballot.

OFF’s lawyers have drafted a “motion to reconsider” the court’s fast tracking and joined with other pro-rights organizations to file it with the court.

The Oregon Supreme Court is playing fast and loose with the law. Rest assured OFF will be standing in the way every single step to protect your rights against this tyranny.

If you believe you should be part of this fight you can help us with a a donation here.

06.01.18

Oregon’s Attorney General has released a “certified ballot title” for IP 44, the mandatory lock up ballot measure.

While this measure has received less attention than IP43, it is still an extraordinarily broad and dangerous measure. Gun owners would be strictly liable for injuries caused by someone who stole their firearm for five years after the theft if the gun was not locked with a cheap, easily defeated cable or trigger lock. The petitioners seem to actually believe that a thief  who could break into a home could not remove a cable lock for five years!

We have all heard the horror stories of minors dying at the hands of home invaders because mandatory lock up laws prevented them from having access to firearms they knew how to use.

We have all heard of attacks thwarted by young people with a parent’s firearm. 

We all know that the types of locks mandated by this measure are dangerous and unreliable.

Clearly, if passed this measure will cost lives.

The “certified” ballot title is released in response to comments filed by voters on the “draft”  ballot title.

As you can see, the AG made no changes to the “caption” and only minor changes to the “Results of Yes or No Votes” and the summary.

Appeals to this language must be filed by June 14th.

05.23.18

The Attorney General has submitted a “modified” ballot title for IP 43, the gun confiscation ballot measure drafted by liberal Portland “clergy”

As you know, this ballot measure would outlaw a vast collection of firearms and ammunition magazines. Some of the banned guns would not even be the dreaded “semi-automatics” that have become the things of legend and myth.

Under IP 43 you would be facing prison time for having a firearm or magazine that you had not “registered “ with the state police. You would have very limited ability to use those items and you can never purchase another one. If you don’t register them and submit to Oregon State Police rules on how you must store them you will be required to turn them into the police, sell them out of state, or destroy them.

The “modified” ballot title can be seen here. This includes the 15 word caption the Attorney General wants to appear in the voter’s guide and the “summary” and effects  of both a “yes” and “no” vote on the measure.

As you can see, the Attorney General still insists on using the meaningless, but still inflammatory term “assault weapon”  even though she admits that “an accurate definition of that term is impossible to convey in the allotted fifteen words, “

There is no question this is intended to create confusion and fear amongst voters who have no knowledge of firearms.  It will no doubt be successful.

Clearly the openly anti Second Amendment Attorney General is hoping to use misleading and incendiary language to encourage people to vote to steal your rights and property.

Rest assured Oregon Firearms will be challenging this dangerous and misleading language in court.