Category: OFF Alerts

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BOQUIST/BURDICK GUN GRAB SCHEDULED FOR VOTE

4.26.17

Senate Bill 719A  is currently scheduled for a vote in the Oregon Senate on May 1st.

You will recall that this bill started life as a bill requiring the State Court Administrator to study methods to improve efficiency.

Under the skillful hands of Senator Floyd Prozanski it became a bill to deprive people of their firearms and their rights with no notice and no due process. (Please note: as of 4.26.17 the legislative website still links to the old bill. This should be corrected by 4.27.17)

In its current form, this bill will allow the police to confiscate your firearms because a police officer or household member accused you of being dangerous.

You can lose your guns if you have purchased a “deadly instrument” in the last 180 days.

You can lose your guns if you get a DUI. (But oddly you get to keep your car.)

The gun confiscation language was stuffed into SB 719 from another bill (SB 868) that died when Prozanski made a procedural error and 868 could not move forward.  The gun grabbing, rights smashing, family destroying language was originally created by Senator Ginny Burdick and formerly pro-gun Republican Brian Boquist.

While Boquist has claimed his bill is about preventing veteran’s suicides, there is not a single word in the original bill or this version that would offer the smallest aid to suicidal veterans.

In an email Boquist sent to OFF and the local NRA rep, (which he copied to the entire Republican Senate Caucus) Boquist said that OFF and the NRA “don’t care about veterans blowing their brains out.” The truth is, we care about WHY veterans are taking their own lives, not just HOW.

This bill is one of the most dangerous pieces of legislation the anti-gunners have ever dreamed up. It allows a family member to have a person’s property and rights taken by force by the police and then assumes that even though that person is very dangerous, the people who made these accusations can live safely with the person who had his right taken. It’s complete madness.

With the Senate being in control of the Democrats, and Republican Brian Boquist having joined them in their anti-rights extremism, we will have an uphill fight to kill this frightening bill. But we have to step up and do what we can.

Please contact your Senator and let them know you think this bill is far more likely to get people killed than protect them.

You can find you senator by using this link. Your Oregon Senator will be the first person listed.

Some suggested text and talking points follow.

Dear Senator,

While SB 719A pretends to be about protecting people who are suicidal and the household members of people who are violent and dangerous, it does nothing of the sort. In fact, SB 719A offers no help to people who are suicidal, and no help to people who are living with dangerous and violent family members.

SB 719A allows a person’s rights and property to be taken with no notice and no due process. Under this legislation a person can have the police confiscate their property simply because they have purchased a firearm or a vaguely defined “deadly instrument .”  They can face this humiliation because they were guilty of a DUI.

While DUI’s are bad things, they don’t indicate that a person is violent or suicidal. I find it absurd that a person who is guilty of a DUI can lose his guns, but keep his car.

Under this bill the local police will be required to store confiscated firearms, possibly indefinitely. There is nothing in this bill that addresses what the police are supposed to do with NFA items, like suppressors, which they are not allowed to have without ATF approval.  There is nothing that addresses what the police are supposed to do if the owner of a gun store is the victim of one of these confiscation orders.

SB 719A is poorly thought out and poorly drafted. It is an emotional response to a problem it does not even try to address.

I urge you to vote against this dangerous attack on property and liberty.

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One Bad Bill Dead, One Really Bad Bill Moving.

04.18.17

Today in the legislature one anti-gun bill died and one was advanced out of committee.

House Bill 2526, a bill sponsored by anti-gun Democrat Senator Elizabeth Hayward and Republican Knute Buehler, was declared deceased in the House Judiciary Committee.

This bill would have required the Department of Justice to create material on suicides and forced gun dealers to distribute this material with gun purchases.  The chair of the committee, House Rep Jeff Barker, wisely let this bill expire. Thank you Representative Barker.

Tonight in the Senate Judiciary Committee the Democrats passed SB 719 to the Senate floor over the objections of Republicans Kim Thatcher and Dennis Linthicum. This bill is the work of anti-gun zealot Ginny Burdick and Republican Brian Boquist.

This bill will require that local police come to your home and confiscate your firearms if a family member tells a judge that they think you are dangerous or suicidal. It also allows any police officer to make the same accusations about you to a judge. The police officer does not need to know you or even have ever met you.

You are not allowed to contest the confiscation order until after your rights and property have been taken.

Under this bill you can have your gun rights stolen and your property confiscated if you have purchased a firearm or ammunition in the last 180 days.  That is not a misprint or a joke. A “household” member or police officer can request that your gun rights be eliminated and your guns confiscated by police…because you bought a gun.

While we think there will be more efforts to destroy your gun rights, SB 719 is the immediate danger.

If you have never taken action before, this is the time to do it. This is one of the most dangerous and deceitful bills the Democrats have ever tried to ram through the legislature. (Well, the Democrats and Republican Brian Boquist.)

Please contact the members of the Oregon Senate and urge them to vote “no” on this extreme violation of rights and common sense.

You can use the automailer below to send the following message. If using the automailer please only click on “Senators.”

Dear Senator,

SB 719 would allow a person to lose his property and his rights to possess a firearm simply because he had purchased a firearm.

This legislation would eliminate someone’s rights with no accusation, let alone conviction, of a crime and no adjudication of mental illness.

There is no due process in this bill until AFTER a person’s rights and property have been taken from him.

The bill contains not one word about helping people who are in crisis or people who fear for their safety. This bill is about one thing; attacking and punishing gun owners who have angry or vindictive family members.

I strongly urge you to defeat this dangerous legislation.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

 

You can also cut and paste the above message or modify it and send it directly to your Oregon Senator who you can find here.

Your Oregon Senator will be the first name that appears in that link.

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TIME IS RUNNING OUT.

04.17.17

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee heard three anti-gun bills and the House Judiciary Committee heard one.

For info on the three Senate bill please see this alert.

The anti-gun groups packed the room largely with people they had shipped in from out of state.

As the result of a procedural error it appears that all the Senate anti-gun bills cannot move forward.

That’s the good news. The bad news is there is always a way to move bad bills.

Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be looking at amendments to a bill that had nothing to do with firearms in an effort to include the gun confiscation language from SB 868.

The bill is SB 719.

You can see the proposed amendments here.

If passed, this bill will allow your guns to be confiscated based on accusations from family members that you are dangerous or suicidal.

You do NOT have to be convicted of a crime. You do NOT have to actually be dangerous. You just need to the victim of a judge like this.

This is very, very dangerous legislation and of course it solves nothing. If a person is really dangerous or suicidal there is not one word in this legislation that addresses that .

A person who cannot be trusted with a gun cannot be trusted without a chaperone. 

If someone is really that dangerous, do you really want to live with them after you have had the cops come and take their possessions and their rights?

This incredibly ill conceived legislation is going to get people killed.

Please contact the Senate Judiciary Committee and let them know that truly dangerous people need interventions and people who are not dangerous should not lose their rights because of the accusations of a vindictive family member.

This hearing is tomorrow at 8 am. Please act now.

Senate Judiciary Committee

Senator Floyd Prozanski Sen.FloydProzanski@OregonLegislature.gov  503-986-1704 

Senator Kim Thatcher Sen.KimThatcher@state.or.us   503-986-1713

Senator Michael Dembrow Sen.MichaelDembrow@state.or.us  503-986-1723  

Senator Dennis Linthicum  sen.DennisLinthicum@oregonlegislature.gov 503-986-1728

Senator James Manning  Sen.JamesManning@oregonlegislature.gov   503-986-1707

 

If you prefer you can also send your testimony to the committee to be entered into the record. The address for testimony is:  sjud.exhibits@oregonlegislature.gov

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UPDATE ON ANTI-GUN BILL HEARING

04.15.17 

Since yesterday’s alert concerning the anti-gun bills being heard in the Senate on Monday, new amendments have been proposed to two of the bills.

The “dash 4” amendment has been proposed for SB 764. You will recall this was the one paragraph “place holder” bill that Prozanski wants to amend to virtually eliminate the ability to get a CHL.

The “dash 4” amendment borrows from another bad bill being heard that day (SB 797) and eliminates the safeguard that allows a person to receive a firearm after three business days have transpired if the State Police do not complete a background check. While the amendment does allow a person who has been denied a transfer the right to provide info to the State Police proving they are qualified, there are still no protections for persons who have been delayed, a far more common problem. So under this amendment, if you are delayed, you are simply out of luck .

An amendment has been proposed for SB 797 as well. As noted above, SB 797 is the  bill that eliminates the three day safeguard and allows the State Police to deny you a firearms transfer literally forever. The “dash 3” amendment proposes that denied persons can provide information to the State Police to demonstrate they are qualified, but once again does nothing for the far greater number of people who are delayed.

If you plan to come and testify on Monday you should be aware of these proposed amendments.

“Dash 4” amendment to SB 764

“Dash 3” amendment to SB 797

Information on the Senate Judiciary Committee, including members , schedules and new amendments can be found here.

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Prozanski Is Trying To End Lawful Concealed Carry. And It Gets Worse. Act…NOW.

04.14.17

As we have told you, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be hearing three anti-gun bills on Monday morning. While we were able to warn you about the dangers of SB 797 and SB 868 in previous alerts, we did not know until today what to expect from SB 764. Now we do.

SB 764 has morphed from a one paragraph bogus “place holder” bill to a 30 page monstrosity with one goal, to make concealed handgun licenses impossible to get.

Under the amended SB 764, concealed handgun classes would not only require live fire (something becoming more difficult every day as our ranges disappear due to lawsuits) but it would also forbid online training (something even the Oregon Sheriffs Association offers) and require that the class include “training in the safe loading, unloading, storage and carrying of handguns and training in the current laws governing the lawful use of a firearm, including self-defense, the use of force, including deadly force, and the transportation and concealment of handguns.”

So, in addition to needing a range, you will need an instructor who is a legal expert. The problem is, of course, NRA instructors are firearms instructors. They get no training in the laws of different states by the NRA and, in fact, are discouraged from teaching the law in their classes. So who will provide “legal” training for these classes, who will certify them and who will determine the curriculum?

Rest assured, even if you can find an instructor who can meet all these requirements, the cost of a CHL class will skyrocket and the number of places and instructors that can provide this (as of yet undefined) service will dwindle to almost zero.

Make no mistake, this bill has one goal; to eliminate concealed carry and pay off anti-gun New York billionaires who are bankrolling anti-gun legislators.

SB 868, which was created to allow a court to take away your firearms based on allegations from household members or police, now has amendments to expand it to allow a court to take away “Any instrument, article or substance specifically designed for and presently capable of causing death or serious physical injury.” 

When you think about it, that could be anything. The new amended version also allows you to have your possessions seized because you were convicted of a DUI and allows the police to search your home to find and seize anything they want to call a “deadly weapon.”

Please consider coming to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Monday at 8AM in Hearing Room 50 and express your outrage at this attempt to disarm Oregonians.

And please contact the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to voice your opposition to this transparent attack on your rights to self defense.

If you prefer you can also send your testimony to the committee to be entered into the record. The address for testimony is:  sjud.exhibits@oregonlegislature.gov

You can send the following message to the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee by completing the fields below:

 

Dear Senator,

SB 764 is clearly nothing more than an effort to eliminate lawful concealed carry in Oregon. The requirements proposed in the “dash-2” amendments are onerous, unnecessary and almost impossible to comply with. I strongly urge you to consider your constituents and not the deep pockets of New York billionaires who are promoting this harmful legislation and vote “NO” on the amended SB 764.

SB 868 is an outrageous assault on liberty, private property and due process. As amended by the “dash 1” amendments it is far worse.
Vote “NO” on SB 868 and the “dash-1″amendments.

Their individual contact info follows.

Senate Judiciary Committee

Senator Floyd Prozanski Sen.FloydProzanski@OregonLegislature.gov  503-986-1704 

Senator Kim Thatcher Sen.KimThatcher@state.or.us   503-986-1713

Senator Michael Dembrow Sen.MichaelDembrow@state.or.us  503-986-1723  

Senator Dennis Linthicum  sen.DennisLinthicum@oregonlegislature.gov 503-986-1728

Senator James Manning  Sen.JamesManning@oregonlegislature.gov   503-986-1707

 

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Help Stop The Latest Attack

04.10.17

As we told you in a previous alert, gun bills are now moving in both houses.

In the Senate Judiciary Committee, the three bills scheduled to be heard on April 17 at 8am are:  SB 764, SB 797 and SB 868.

We can’t tell you right now what to expect from SB 764 since the committee has announced it will be amended and asked that testimony address the amendments. But, of course, they have not made the proposed amendments public. If they are made public before the hearing, we will let you know.

We strongly oppose the other two bills, SB 797 and SB 868.

Please contact the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and express your opposition to these dangerous bills.

A sample message and the contact information for the committee members follow.

Dear Senator,

I strongly oppose SB 797 which gives the Oregon State Police the power to deny a firearm’s transfer, literally forever. Currently the OSP regularly delay or deny firearm’s sales to buyers who are qualified to purchase. In fact, Representative Jennifer Williamson has stated that 95% of firearms transfer delays are in error.

It makes no sense to delay, indefinitely, a transfer to a qualified buyer simply because OSP cannot correctly do their job. This is especially true in cases where the firearms dealer knows the buyer personally and knows he or she is qualified.

I also strongly oppose SB 868. This bill would allow a person to have his rights to own a gun stripped away simply because he bought a firearm or ammunition within the last 180 days!

Most of the behavior listed in the bill as reasons to take away a person’s firearms are already disqualifiers for firearm ownership but the bill also allows a person to lose his gun rights because of “unlawful and reckless … display or brandishing of a firearm..” What exactly is “reckless display or brandishing?”

The bill provides exactly no help for a person who is a danger to themselves and no protection for any family member who is in danger from the person whose rights will be taken. If the person who loses his or her rights is really dangerous, nothing in this bill addresses that danger.

I urge you to vote NO on both these bills.

 

Senate Judiciary Committee

Senator Floyd Prozanski Sen.FloydProzanski@OregonLegislature.gov  503-986-1704 

Senator Kim Thatcher Sen.KimThatcher@state.or.us   503-986-1713

Senator Michael Dembrow Sen.MichaelDembrow@state.or.us  503-986-1723  

Senator Dennis Linthicum  sen.DennisLinthicum@oregonlegislature.gov 503-986-1728

Senator James Manning  Sen.JamesManning@oregonlegislature.gov   503-986-1707

 

If you prefer you can also send your testimony to the committee to be entered into the record. The address for testimony is:  sjud.exhibits@oregonlegislature.gov

 

On the same day as those bills are being heard, the House Judiciary Committee will be hearing two bills (at 1pm)  that gun owners should oppose.  HJR 13 would refer a constitutional amendment to the voters. Because of a recent Supreme Court decision, police are generally not allowed to ask a person if he is carrying a gun. This resolution would change that. In its original form the resolution was extremely broad and the sponsor, House Rep Brad Witt, agreed to amend it. But even the “dash 1” amendments would give police the power to question people about gun possession even if they were not engaged in any questionable behavior.

HB 2526, the other bill being heard that day “Directs Department of Justice to establish firearm safety and suicide prevention education program, to create or approve educational materials and to provide educational materials to gun dealers.” This is an unreasonable demand on gun dealers. Given the massive number of  suicides by drug overdose, we certainly should expect this same requirement of drug stores.  This is simply another effort to demonize firearms. The Department of Justice has no expertise in suicide prevention and is totally unqualified to create programs to prevent it. In the current political climate the potential for this program to be just another taxpayer funded anti-gun effort is massive.

Please contact the members of the House Judiciary Committee and urge them to vote against HJR 13 and HB 2526.

A sample message and their contact info follow:

Dear Representative,

I urge you to vote “NO” on HJR 13 and HB 2526. While I support the intent of HJR 13 and officer safety is very important, even with the “dash 1” amendments the resolution goes to far. Allowing a police officer the power to question me about firearms possession simply because he “stopped” me is overly broad.  I would support a resolution that allowed police to ask about weapons when they had reason to for their safety, but not simply because they stopped me when I had done nothing wrong.

HB 2526 demands that gun dealers act as mental health professionals and disseminate information about suicide simply because a person is attempting to exercise his Second Amendment rights. The implications are absurd. Why aren’t these same demands being made of drugstore clerks?  Furthermore, HB 2526 requires that the Department of Justice “establish a firearms safety and suicide prevention program.”  The Department of Justice has no expertise in suicide prevention and the potential for this “program” to be turned into a taxpayer funded anti-gun effort is enormous.

Please vote no on HJR 13 and HB 2526.

 

House Judiciary Committee

Representative Jeff Barker Rep.JeffBarker@state.or.us 503-986-1428

Representative Andy Olson Rep.AndyOlson@state.or.us 503-986-1415 

Representative Jennifer Williamson  Rep.JenniferWilliamson@oregonlegislature.gov  503-986-1436

Representative Chris Gorsek Rep.ChrisGorsek@oregonlegislature.gov 503-986-1449

Representative Mitch Greenlick Rep.MitchGreenlick@state.or.us 503-986-1433

Representative Ann Lininger rep.annlininger@state.or.us 503-986-1438

Representative Bill Post rep.billpost@state.or.us 503-986-1425

Representative Tawna D. Sanchez Rep.TawnaSanchez@oregonlegislature.gov 503-986-1443

Representative Sherrie Sprenger Rep.SherrieSprenger@state.or.us 503-986-1417

Representative Duane A. Stark rep.duanestark@state.or.us 503-986-1404

Representative Rich Vial  Rep.RichVial@oregonlegislature.gov  503-986-1426

If you prefer to you can also send your testimony to the committee to be entered into the record. The address for testimony is:   hjud.exhibits@oregonlegislature.gov

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Anti-Gun Bills Moving In Both Houses

04.08.17

As we told you in our last alert, anti-gun bills are about to get hearings.

First, on Wednesday, April 12, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be hearing a strange bill requested by a former Senator. 

SB 897

“Creates crime of militia terrorism.” 

This  bill was introduced at the request of  former anti-gun legislator, Charlie Ringo, and is clearly a reaction to the Malhuer occupation. But it serves little purpose but to stigmatize the term “militia” and open the door for prosecutions of people who have actually complied with law enforcement orders to leave a “publicly owned premises”. It’s one more attempt to demonize the mere possession of a firearm, serves no public benefit and deserves to be shuffled off to the garbage heap.

But the real action comes on April 17, when both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees have scheduled numerous anti-gun bills for hearings.

Just so you know, these hearings have been scheduled and designed to limit public input as much as possible.

Both committees are limiting testimony to two minutes. It appears the Senate committee is limiting testimony to two minutes for all bills being heard. That means if you testify, you get a total of two minutes to express your feelings about all three bills on the schedule. That’s 40 seconds a bill and that is no accident.

Rest assured the anti-gun folks will be given a lot of leeway when they testify.

The bills being heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee at 8 AM in Hearing Room 50 are:

SB 764

This bill “Directs Department of State Police to study reasons for certain denials of concealed handgun license applications and report results to interim committees of Legislative Assembly related to judiciary on or before February 1, 2019.”

However, unpublished amendments will change this bill drastically . We don’t know what the proposed changes will be yet but when they are made public you can see them here.  Because the “relating clause” says “relating to firearms” This bill can be turned into anything.

SB 797

This is the bill we told you about in our last alert. It allows the Oregon State Police to deny a gun purchase to anyone for as long as they want. There are no safeguards for people who are delayed in error, which is 95% of people delayed. We strongly oppose this dangerous bill.

SB 868

This bill allows a family member or police officer to petition a court to remove any firearm you own with no arrest for, or conviction of, a crime.  While it purports to be about removing firearms from the hands of “dangerous” people, it considers you “dangerous” if you have purchased or acquired a firearm or ammunition in the last 180 days.  We strongly oppose this dangerous bill.

 

Over on the House side the Judiciary Committee will also be hearing gun bills. They will be heard at 1PM also in Room 50 in the Capitol basement. Those bills are:

HJR 13

This resolution “Proposes amendment to Oregon Constitution providing that law authorizing police officer to ask person if person is in possession of firearm is not law violating right of people against unreasonable search or seizure.”  Currently, due to an Oregon Supreme Court decision, police, under most circumstances, are not allowed to ask a person if he possesses a firearm. This resolution, which would require a vote of the people, would eliminate that rule. While we support the intention, the resolution is overly broad and even with a proposed amendment that limits the police powers, goes way too far, allowing a police officer to stop anyone and ask them if they have a firearm. Without further amending we oppose this legislation.

HB 2526

This bill, the product of a Republican (Knute Buehler) and a rabidly anti-gun Democrat (Elizabeth Hayward) “Directs Department of Justice to establish firearm safety and suicide prevention education program, to create or approve educational materials and to provide educational materials to gun dealers.” It also says “Multiple versions of materials must be created or approved, to reflect the different local values and cultures within this state.”  Once again, an attempt to demonize firearms as if they were the only means by which a person could commit suicide. The reality is, far more people are harmed by prescription drugs. Both sponsors are doctors. Why are they not addressing the damage done by the drugs they are allowed to prescribe?  We strongly oppose this bill.

HB 3281

This bill “Authorizes state agency employee who is licensed to carry concealed handgun to store personal handgun and ammunition in locked container in vehicle while employee is at work and vehicle is parked in state agency parking lot.”

If this bill is not saddled with dangerous amendments we support it.

Please contact the Senate Judiciary Committee and urge them to vote “no” on Senate Bills 897,797 and 868.

Please contact the House Judiciary Committee and urge them to vote “no” on House Resolution 13 and House Bill 2526.

We will keep you informed on any changes made to SB 764 and HB 3281.

Thank you for your activism.

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Gun Control Bills Coming Soon

04.07.17 

The Oregon Legislature has reached the point in their session where deadlines are looming.

While they have not found time to address the state’s impending financial crisis, there has been time to debate whether the osprey should be the state bird and to recognize April 6th as National Tartan Day in Oregon  (Declares emergency, effective on passage.) And soon they will be working on new gun control restrictions.

Yes, it has been quiet up until now, but rest assured the attacks on your gun rights are coming. And soon. 

We expect to see anti-gun bills moving next week in the Senate Judiciary Committee. While there has been nothing officially scheduled at this point, look for hearings, probably late in the week.

The bills that will be moving have not been publicly announced, but the senate bills most likely to be heard are:

SB 797 which would allow the Oregon State Police to delay a firearms transfer forever. This is the bill Governor Brown was pushing soon after her election. Right now if the State Police delay you, you may lawfully take possession of a firearm after three business days have transpired. This bill would eliminate that safeguard.

Keep in mind, the OSP ID unit has an abysmal track record of fairly conducting background checks. If you are delayed, their default position is “no” and typically only a call from a pro-gun legislator will make the process tolerable.  (We recently heard from a woman who was denied on a gun purchase incorrectly. She told us that she had a “very good” experience dealing with the ID unit who only took 8 months to correct her false denial. She got off easy.)

This bill could essentially end gun transfers for anyone the OSP chooses to target with a faulty background check.

One of the main supporters of this legislation (House Rep Jennifer Williamson) has stated that background check delays are false 95% of the time.

Senate Bill 868 allows police or family members to request that a court force you to relinquish all firearms based on the accusers perception that you are dangerous to yourself or others. It does not require that you have committed a crime, it does not require that you have been convicted of a crime, and one of the indicators that you are “dangerous” is that you have purchased  or attempted to purchase a firearm or ammunition in the last 180 days.  Of course, this bill contains nothing that would allow for a person who really was a danger to himself to access any kind of help.

Senate Bill 1026 “Creates the crime of endangering a minor by allowing access to a firearm.” This bill is one of the most poorly crafted pieces of legislation this session, and that’s saying a lot. Of course it does nothing to address things that are far more likely to be dangerous, like prescription drugs, household chemicals and your car keys.

There are also quite a few very good gun bills that would address real problems in the law, like the fact that it is illegal for a person who does not have a concealed handgun license to leave a gun store with a new handgun in the manufacturer’s original box or the fact that persons who live in motor homes cannot legally buy guns.  However it is a near certainty that none of these bills will be allowed hearings by the chairman of the committee, Floyd Prozanski, unless he believes they could be a vehicle for amendments that would turn them into anti-gun bills.

Information on the Senate Judiciary Committee (including bill scheduling information)can be found here.

We will follow up with confirmations on hearings as soon as they become official, but for now please be prepared. It’s going to happen soon.

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Call To Action

03.23.17

On March 22nd, we asked you to contact House Rep Brad Witt to express your concerns with his House Joint Resolution 13.

As many of you who contacted him know, Rep Witt has heard your concerns and agrees that in its current form, HJR 13 is overly broad and could well create situations Witt never intended. He has agreed to rework the resolution to address those issues.

But there is lots more to be done.

As you know the passage of SB 941 in  2015 has caused all of the problems we predicted it would. 941 outlawed most private transfers of firearms and was nothing more than a payoff to Mike Bloomberg and an attack on law abiding gun owners.

We repeatedly warned legislators that this bill was dangerous and opposed by most counties and most Sheriffs.  The anti-gun liberals in the legislature and big city cops who supported this law showed no interest in actually enforcing it when one of their own anti-gun activists blatantly violated it. But the damage it has done to Oregonians is incalculable.

The liberals who pushed 941 through to pay Bloomberg back for the money he poured into Oregon claimed the bill was about “safety” and “keeping guns out of the wrong hands.” They told us it was for the good of “domestic violence victims.” And of course, it was all lies.

In fact, 941 has made Oregon a far less safe place. 

As we have reported many times, when people who are identified as “prohibited persons” attempt to buy guns, they are virtually never arrested, even if they are actively wanted at the time!

Under 941 it is now a crime to safeguard a firearm for a neighbor who is going out of town or a friend who needs to remove a gun from his home for personal reasons. This from the same people who are demanding “safe storage” of firearms.

But it’s even worse than that.  As result of the refusal of the anti-gun left to even consider the consequences of SB 941, Oregon has put its most vulnerable directly in the cross hairs of violence.

Oregon has a program for people who have active and credible threats against their lives. It’s called the “Address Confidentiality Program” and participants essentially live in hiding.  Thanks to the leftist supporters of SB 941, all of whom generate plenty of theater about protecting the victims of domestic violence, anyone covered under the program is forbidden from buying a gun. You heard that right. The law forbids people who live in daily fear from purchasing a firearm to defend themselves and their children.

 This is so obviously wrong it is hard to believe that even the most ardent haters of gun rights could justify it. But of course, they do.

We want to fix this.

Make no mistake, all of SB 941 is flat out bad law and we want to see the whole bill repealed. But as we move towards that goal we want to reverse as many of the worst elements of the bill as we can.

There are other effects of 941.  For example, people who live in recreational vehicles can no longer legally buy firearms if they have a “continuous traveler” driver’s license and now even antique firearms require a background check for a “private” transfer, something not required for a purchase from a dealer!

Quite a few good bills have been introduced by our friends in the legislature. You can see all current 2017 gun bills here, but three bills that would address these crucial issues are languishing in the Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Floyd Prozanski, one of the legislature’s most militant anti-gunners.

Those bills are: 

SB 667,  SB 854 and SB 855.

Please contact Floyd Prozanski and tell him it’s time to fix the mess they made with SB 941. Please consider cc’ing your note to Senate President Peter Courtney who has the power to instruct Prozanski to hear these important bills. We cannot continue to allow the extremists in the legislature to keep putting innocent people at risk.

Prozanski’s contact info can be found here.

His email is Sen.FloydProzanski@OregonLegislature.gov

Peter Courtney’s contact info can be found here.

Courtney’s email is  sen.petercourtney@oregonlegislature.gov

A sample message follows.

Dear Senator Prozanski,

The passage of SB 941 has created a whole series of problems  for law abiding gun owners, while doing nothing to stop crime and is not even enforced if the lawbreaker is an anti-gun liberal.  But what concerns me most is the danger it has created for people who have done nothing wrong.

As you know, 941 outlaws the purchase of firearms by people protected by Oregon’s Address Confidentiality Program. These people are not criminals, they are victims and should not be denied the ability to protect themselves by the legislature .  SB 941 also denies Second Amendment rights to people whose only crime is their decision to live in a recreational vehicle. This is pointless and dangerous.

Furthermore people who want to transfer antiques to private parties are now subject to a failing background check system which is not required for purchases from gun dealers.

There are bills in your committee that would address these and other issues.  Please schedule hearings and work sessions  for Senate Bills 667,854 and 855. It is unacceptable to put people who have done nothing wrong in danger to promote the agenda of a New York billionaire.

 

 

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Good Intentions, Bad Legislation. HJR 13

03.22.17

On March 28th, the Oregon House Judiciary Committee will hold a public hearing and work session on House Joint Resolution 13.

This measure, sponsored by House Rep Brad Witt, is in response to an Oregon Supreme Court decision that greatly restricted law enforcement officers from asking people if they possessed firearms.

Few would argue that the defendant in the case which was responsible for this court decision was a contributing member of society. In fact, he went on to commit other serious crimes.

Oregon Firearms Federation strongly supports officer safety, and while we don’t think it would be wise for any police officer to assume that they should relax because someone they stopped denied having a weapon, it is certainly an overreach to forbid police from asking.

This resolution would not change the law. It would refer the change to the voters of Oregon, to vote on whether they wanted to alter Oregon’s Constitution to specifically allow police to ask if you had a firearm.

The problem with the resolution is how broad it is. It does not say police will have the right to ask you if you have a firearm if you are stopped or detained. It says a police officer will be allowed “at any time” to ask if you are in possession of a firearm.

We believe this goes well beyond the intended purpose of protecting officer safety. A law enforcement officer should not be allowed to question you anywhere, anytime about whether or not you are exercising a Constitutional right.

Please contact Rep Brad Witt, the resolution’s sponsor, and ask that he consider an amendment to reduce the over broad scope of the proposed change to our constitution.

Representative Witt has a long history of supporting gun rights. Your input to him can make a difference in how this resolution is crafted.

Representative Witt’s contact info and a sample message follow.

Representative Brad Witt 

Email:

Rep.BradWitt@oregonlegislature.gov

____________________________________________________________

Dear Representative Witt,

Thank you for your long time support for Second Amendment rights.

I strongly support your efforts to help keep Oregon police safe with HJR 13. I am concerned however, that the language of the resolution may have some unintended consequences. I refer specifically to the language that authorizes “a police officer to ask a person at any time if the person is in possession of a firearm ..”

Clearly, I should not be faced with that kind of questioning while out at dinner with my family.

I strongly urge you to consider an amendment that would limit the police’s right to question me about my firearms possession to times and places where they are facing a real potential threat.

Thank you.

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Bad Idea Becomes A Bad Bill

02.28.17

Yesterday we told you about LC 1767 , a draft for a bill that would allow a “household member” or law enforcement agent to request that a person’s guns and rights be taken away if they convinced a court that the person was an “extreme risk.” 

Today we can report that the draft has been introduced as SB 868.

It’s no surprise that Ginny Burdick is one of the bill’s sponsors. The other sponsor however, is Senator Brian Boquist who has long been a supporter of gun rights.

While the Boquist’s sponsorship is no doubt well intentioned, we still believe the bill is both misguided and counter productive. Many of the factors a court could take into account for revoking a person’s Second Amendment rights would already disqualify them from having a firearm, but the court is also allowed to consider whether the accused acquired or attempted to acquire a firearm or ammunition in the last 180 days!

That could be many of us and is a pretty scary reason to take someone’s rights and property away.

Given the anti-gun bias prevalent in Oregon courts, especially in Multnomah County, this bill has the potential to be very dangerous.

Please contact Senate President Peter Courtney and tell him that SB 868 is a bad idea. Point out that while the bill claims to be, in part, an effort to prevent suicide, there is nothing in it that restricts the accused’s rights to have prescription drugs, knives or car keys. Instead of seeking real solutions, this bill is just another attempt to demonize gun owners.

Courtney’s contact info is:

Phone: 503-986-1600

Email  sen.petercourtney@oregonlegislature.gov

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The Resurrection of a Very Bad Idea

02.27.17

You may recall in 2016, Senator Floyd Prozanski introduced SB 1551.

This piece of legislation bordered on the surreal. It was something that would have been considered too extreme for the Cold War Kremlin.

Basically, it allowed people with zero qualifications to make anonymous accusations that resulted in lost gun rights for whoever they accused of experiencing a “mental health emergency.”

If this accusation was made against you, you not only lost your right to buy a firearm, but you were not even allowed to know this accusation was made against you or by whom. If you wanted to challenge it, it would be totally at your expense. This bill was flat out evil and typical of the kind of attack we have come to expect from Prozanski.

Thanks to your hard work and activism this bill died the death it so richly deserved.

We have just received a draft for a bill that attempts to recreate the goals of SB 1551. This is a draft only and has not yet been introduced as a bill. We will keep an eye out to see if it is introduced.

While the draft does include some safeguards against the malicious abuses we certainly would have seen under SB 1551, it is still a horribly drafted and pointless attack on gun owners.

Most of the things a court could take into account to take away your guns and your gun rights are already disqualifiers for firearm’s possession.

We do not know who is behind this at this time. But we do know that if this is introduced as a bill, there is a great likelihood that efforts will be made to amend it to use it as a weapon against all gun owners.

Please contact Senate President Peter Courtney and tell him that LC 1768 is a dangerous idea that could easily morph into a SB 1551 type attack on all gun owners. Remind Courtney that the reckless behavior of past legislatures has Oregon facing billions of dollars in debt, and any rational lawmaker should be concentrating on fixing that.

Courtney’s contact info is:

Phone: 503-986-1600

Email  sen.petercourtney@oregonlegislature.gov

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02.22.17 Legislative Update.

Currently we are monitoring over 40 firearms related bills and know that more are coming.

Quite a few of these bills are improvements over current law, some are housekeeping measures, some are well intentioned but dangerous, some are goofy  and some are simply awful.

All introduced bills can be seen here. We add new legislation to this page as soon as it is introduced.

As you probably know, Kate Brown held a press conference yesterday with Bloomberg stooges to promote her personal favorite anti-gun bill SB 797.

797, like HB 2237 eliminates the safeguard that allows, but does not mandate, the transfer of a firearm after 3 business days have elapsed, if the Oregon State Police do not complete a background check.

While few dealers are willing to complete these transfers (after years of being lied to and threatened by OSP) it is still an important protection and available to dealers who know their customers and know what an awful job the State Police do on background checks.

One of the main proponents of this elimination of rights is Portland uber-leftist Jennifer Williamson. Interestingly, Williamson herself has testified that 95% of delays are not justified. Now Williamson and Brown and the rest of the hard left in the Oregon Legislature want to expand a program with a 95% failure rate. (Williamson and Kate Brown have gotten big payoffs from Mike Bloomberg. It’s no secret who they are working for.)

Under SB 797, if the State Police do not complete a background check you could literally be denied a firearm’s purchase forever. All the State Police have to do is…nothing.

SB 797 also requires extensive new reporting and reports. Oddly what it does not require is that the State Police actually do anything when a prohibited person attempts a transfer. And that’s what they typically do now. Nothing.

In spite of laughable misreporting like this, when “prohibited” persons are identified by background checks, the rate of arrests is virtually zero.  Nothing in this bill would change that.  And in spite of the mandate that denials be investigated by State Police, we are now receiving reports of denied buyers not hearing from a trooper for months. Of course, a significant number of people who are denied, along with 95% of people who are delayed, are totally qualified to buy firearms.

Floyd Prozanski, the militantly anti-gun Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has stated he will be holding hearings on SB 797.  We also believe Prozanski will soon be introducing legislation to severely restrict access to concealed handgun licenses along with other far reaching anti-gun bills.

In addition to the expected attacks are many positive bills including the just introduced HB 2973 which repeals the dreadful SB 941 that outlawed lending a firearm to a friend or safeguarding a firearm for a neighbor.  SB 941 also outlawed the purchase of a firearm by a person protected by Oregon’s “Address Confidentiality Program” an outrage that is being addressed by several bills.

It’s a pathetic reflection on the leftists who run the Oregon Legislature that they feel the need to expend so much energy attacking your rights at a time when Oregon is racing off a fiscal cliff. But that’s the way they roll. Still it’s important to keep something in mind about this session.

Oregon is facing a fiscal crisis born out of the desire of legislators to spend money like a meth addict with a stolen credit card. The bill is coming due.  While the Republicans are in the minority, they are not in a “super-minority.”  The only way the Democrats can get the money they continue to burn is by jacking up your taxes. They cannot do that without some Republican support. This means that, while certainly not a guarantee of success, the Republicans have the leverage to tell the ruling party that no taxes will even be considered if they push more attacks on your rights.  We will count any vote in favor of new taxes a vote against gun rights no matter how a legislator votes on gun bills, unless they have killed every anti-gun bill in 2017.

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The Charade Continues


01.25.17

As we told you on January 10, Kate Brown has requested new legislation to further impede your right to lawfully acquire a firearm.

HB 2237 would eliminate the safeguard that allows a firearm’s transfer to take place after 3 business days have elapsed if the Oregon State Police do not complete a background check.

As with every other provision of law that allows people to exercise their Constitutionally protected rights, Brown and her Bloomberg funded flunkies are calling this safeguard “a loophole.”

 

That’s right, when the state imposes a regulation that says your rights can be suspended by the state for no reason, any law that provides protections against indefinite suspension of those rights must be “a loophole.”

Note, the OSP does not provide numbers on the far more common “delays” although in the past they have said they would. Under Oregon law, there is no limit on how long the OSP can “delay” a transfer. It can literally be years. That is why the rarely used safeguard allowing a transfer after 3 business days is so important. If the State Police don’t do their job, a perfectly qualified buyer can be delayed forever, and that is exactly what Brown is pushing for with her bill.

But let’s look at the reality behind the rhetoric. All of the countless restrictions on our rights have been sold as a way to make us safer by keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people. But what happens when “dangerous” people attempt to buy guns and are stopped by this brilliant system?

We have just received the stats for 2016. As always, they highlight what a joke the system is. This information is directly from the State Police. These are their numbers and their charts and graphs.

In 2016 out of 302,725 attempted firearm’s purchases, the OSP denied 2591 of them. That averages out to 216 denials a month. Of those, 78% were denials to “prohibited persons.” To OSP that means “Individuals convicted of a felony, are on probation, have a restraining order, have been convicted of controlled substance crimes, certain misdemeanor convictions, and additional federal and state mandates.”  In other words, bad hombres.

So what happens when the crack staff at the Firearms Instant Check Unit identifies one of these desperados? Well… not much.

In all of 2016, of the 2030 felons and other “prohibited persons” who attempted to buy guns, a grand total of 14 were arrested. Yes, that’s less than 1%.

Of the 226 people OSP said were actually wanted  when they attempted a purchase only 12 were arrested.

Given that the number of unjustified delays is about 95%, it’s safe to say that the number of unjustified denials is also almost certainly quite high, but it’s still obvious that there is no serious effort to actually do anything about prohibited buyers. So what purpose does this charade serve? It serves to harass and inconvenience legitimate gun buyers.

HB 2237 has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee chaired by Representative Jeff Barker.  Please consider taking a minute to contact him and share these statistics and tell him to oppose this pointless and politically motivated attack on your rights. Tell him HB 2237 will do nothing but harass the good guys.

Barker can be reached by email here  Rep.JeffBarker@oregonlegislature.gov

He can be reached by phone at 503-986-1428.

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KATE BROWN PROHIBITS SELF DEFENSE FOR STATE WORKERS

01.13.17

The Department of Administrative Services, at the direction of Governor Kate Brown, has adopted a policy prohibiting all state employees from having a licensed firearm for self defense on  “all property and facilities owned, leased, rented or otherwise occupied  by the Oregon state government including grounds, buildings, parking structures and lots, vehicles and other equipment and any site where an employee enters on behalf of the employee’s employment with Oregon state government except for an employee’s home (including employees who live in state housing)…”

This policy extends to “All employees, including limited duration and temporary employees, board and commission members, volunteers, and others working in an agency…”

The policy also forbids “knobkerries” and states that biological and chemical weapons are not considered “sporting equipment” under this rule.(We are unaware of any knobkerrie attacks by state workers.)

As stated, even civilian volunteers on boards are prohibited from having the means to protect themselves.  “Serving utensils” will still be permitted.

In a press release issued today House Rep. Duane Stark said:

“I am still researching details on this policy change but this sounds like a serious encroachment on 2nd amendment rights of tens of thousands of state employees and volunteers working in state agencies across Oregon.”

House Rep. Carl Wilson said :

“State employees have a right to defend themselves and it is sad to see state bureaucrats take that away. I am extremely concerned about this policy and will be talking with others in the legislature to see how we can fix this to protect the rights of law abiding citizens who work in state government.”

Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli said:

“The governor’s administration has no business confiscating self-defense rights from public servants, volunteers and others, who have committed themselves to serving our state. Oregonians should be outraged that public servants are now endangered due to a seemingly political agenda at the cost of safety.”

As you might expect, Kate Brown will still be provided around the clock, armed protection by the Oregon State Police. Brown has expressed no concerns about guns in her workplace. She just does not trust any state employee who is not charged with protecting her.

This a very dangerous policy and a slap in the face to state workers, and DAS and Brown have not provided a single example of a state employee with a CHL abusing that right or threatening anyone. Brown’s campaigns have been largely funded by public employees unions. It will be interesting to see how they respond to this latest insult.