Category: OFF Alerts

Eric Holder Held In Contempt of Congress.
How Did Your Representative Vote?

Eric Holder, the Attorney General who has been lying to Congress to cover up information about the Obama administration’s scheme to smuggle guns to Mexican drug gangs, has been held in contempt of Congress.

The Brady Campaign and many Democratic politicians have actually been defending this murderous scheme.

You may recall that some time ago Obama informed the Brady Campaign that he was working on gun control “under the radar.” Now it’s clear what he meant.

But how did your member of Congress vote?

Every single Democratic Oregon Congressman voted to protect the lying Attorney General whose policies have cost countless lives, including Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and scores of Mexican civilians.

The entire purpose of this scheme was to boost the number of American guns confiscated from Mexican crime scenes in order to implement more restrictions on law-abiding American gun owners.

NRA endorsed Congressman Kurt Schrader of Oregon’s 5th Congressional District voted with three other Oregon Democrats to protect Holder.

Please remember, none of this would have ever happened without the tireless efforts of David Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh, who are virtually never acknowledged in the press unless they are being attacked. But they broke the story long before the mainstream media ever touched it.

As far too many of you know, the Oregon State Police ID Unit  was shut down for most of Sunday, crippling multiple gun shows, halting countless sales and costing dealers, buyers and gun show hosts untold thousands of dollars. If you ever wondered why we oppose background checks, this should tell you. All OSP has to do is throw a switch or blow a fuse and gun sales end. Both their phone lines and their new “computer system” were unavailable. But there is a bigger, more constant problem we need to address.

Several years ago OFF was receiving so many complaints about the awful treatment people were receiving from the State Police ID Unit when they attempted to make firearms purchases that we arranged a meeting with them.

At the time both dealers and buyers were frequently lied to about the process, and attempts to contact OSP for an explanation of a delay or denial were routinely ignored.

During our first meeting, OSP gave us a copy of a manual they said they provided to gun dealers that explained “the rules.”  On the very second page we noted information that was false and against state and Federal law.

During that meeting we were promised that service would improve, the error in the manual would be fixed and staff would be retrained so they would no longer dispense false information to dealers and buyers. For a long time things did seem to improve. The complaints we got dropped off to almost zero. Calls to the challenge line were, as promised, being returned promptly. We have never approved of background checks, but it did seem like an effort was being made to do a better job. Still we believed that because of several factors, including a $10.00 fee and the fact that OSP was databasing info on the gun being purchased, and thereby creating a gun registry, that this job was better done by NICS directly. In 2011 we introduced a bill to do just that. It passed out of House Judiciary only to die in Ways and Means when the Public Employee Unions came out to testify that the Oregon economy would collapse if OSP was not doing gun purchase background checks.

Now it seems we are back to the bad old days.  The number of complaints we receive about unjust delays has once again started climbing, but what’s worse is the new attitude of the OSP ID Unit.

Where once if you received a  delay or “pend” you were promised a response in 24 hours, now OSP is telling people not to bother them and not to expect a call back. Their “challenge line” has an outgoing message saying you will be delayed at least a month and don’t even bother to leave a message before a month has gone by since they will NOT call you back. This is an astonishing response from a State agency. “We are going to deny your rights and you’d better not ask us about it.”

The attitude of the OSP ID Unit is outrageous and unacceptable. The outgoing message tells people that their “standard delay” is 35 days. But that does not mean you will even get a response then. They can extend their delay forever.

Clearly, a right delayed is a right denied.

Think of the person who has a reasonable fear for their safety. The State Police tell them “tough, it’s your problem.” and then to add insult to injury tell that person, “don’t bother us with questions.”

It is important to note that with or without the OSP’s approval you are entitled to the gun after three business days as long as there has not be an outright denial.  As you would expect, there is nothing in their message that informs callers of this and it is the policy of the OSP not to inform buyers or dealers of this fact. NICS, on the other hand, informs buyers of their rights.

The State Police ID Unit has turned itself into a dictatorial gun control agency that routinely denies people their rights and then demands that it not be questioned about it. This has to stop.

First, call the challenge line to listen to the arrogant and outrageous outgoing message if you press 1 for a “delay”. That number is 503-373-1808.

Then call Patricia Whitfield and demand to know why her agency is treating taxpaying Oregonians like an unwanted nuisance when they are denied their rights by her agency.

Whitfield’s phone number is 503-934-2305.

Her email is patricia.whitfield@state.or.us

A sample cut and paste message follows:

——————————————————————————————————–

Ms. Whitfield,
I am astonished by the attitude of your unit when dealing with firearms purchase delays. The OSP ID Unit is a state agency tasked with serving the residents and taxpayers of this state. When your unit delays a firearms purchase, they are denying a right. To treat callers to your “challenge” line as though they were an unwelcome annoyance is outrageous and unacceptable.
If you cannot complete your checks quickly you should at least inform delayed buyers of their rights under State and Federal law. If this situation is not improved, I can assure you that I will do all in my power to see that the Legislature turns these checks over to NICS.

Today the Oregon House concurred with the Senate and re-passed House Bill 4045B. This bill is the heavily amended bill to provide some protections for CHL holders’ private information.

There were 6 “no” votes. That means that even in its greatly watered-down state, 6 House Democrats voted to keep as much information public as possible.

They were Bailey, Dembrow, Frederick, Greenlick, Nolan, and Tomei. They represent the worst of the worst in the Oregon House. The bill now goes to the Governor.

It’s interesting to note that while Floyd Prozanski (who had gutted and stuffed the bill on the Senate side) responded to a question from anti-gun zealot Ginny Burdick by saying “This is not my bill” he did add his name to it as a sponsor in its final form. Floyd seems to have some difficulty making up his mind. (And based on his recent email blast it may be worse than we thought. His most pointed attack on us is that we…oh the horror.. raise money! He also said we would be using him as a “whipping post.” We are pretty sure he meant “whipping boy.”)

As you know, the Oregon Senate rejected efforts to ban CHL firearms on school property yesterday. This decision was met with all the expected hysteria from the forces who so fear inanimate objects.

Today, the Oregon Higher Education Board passed new regulations created to try to circumvent the Appeals Court’s ruling that they (the Oregon University System) had no authority to regulate guns on campus. From the moment we won this case we knew this would be coming. Here is a quote from OUS spokeswoman Di Saunders: “If somebody leaned over and their jacket opened, and somebody saw a weapon, they’d be nervous or scared or concerned.”

Why these people would be more “scared or concerned” on campus than off is a matter of some speculation. But even that is not as ridiculous as this quote from Ben Eckstein, the U of O student body president:“A college campus is statistically one of the safest places on the planet. There’s a reason for that. We have a culture of peaceful, informed, engaged activism. A deadly weapon of any kind runs counter to that culture.”

Compare that to the mass email that was sent out to all staff and faculty at Mount Hood Community College on Feb. 29th. It said:

“This email is being sent to All Staff. Faculty are asked to remind students to check the announcements page on My MHCC for the following notification. Timely Notification Bulletin, Feb. 29, 2012 In compliance with the “Timely Notice” provisions of the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act of 1998, Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC) is giving notice of a violent event reported to have occurred on the Gresham Campus last evening. REPORTED OFFENSE: A female student reported that a male assaulted her at approximately 6:20 p.m. while she was walking on the lane that runs behind the Academic Center. The female student broke free and reported the incident to the MHCC Public Safety department, which is working with Gresham Police to identify the suspect. SUSPECT: The female student described her attacker as 6 feet to six feet, two inches tall, approximately 30 years old, with tan skin. She also reported that he was wearing a dark baseball cap, a dark sweatshirt, blue jeans and either dark tennis shoes or dark boots. He possessed no facial hair. The College urges people on campus to exercise safety by being aware of their surroundings and reporting any suspicious behavior to Public Safety (emergency number: 503-491-7911). To request an escort by a Public Safety officer, call the non-emergency line: 503-491-7310.”

Clearly there is a disconnect here.

The Board of Higher Education and the Oregon University System have made every effort to ignore or circumvent the Oregon Appeals Court. By doing so they have put their staff and their students in danger. We strongly recommend that if you have any reason to be on Oregon University property, you do what they have done: ignore regulations. If the OUS feels free to pay no attention to the clear direction of the Oregon Courts, any rational person would pay no attention to their unlawful regulations.

If you are a CHL holder, carry your self-defense tool. The bureaucrats at the Higher Education Board have demonstrated that they have no interest in your safety. Take care of yourself.

Well, That Was Interesting

Today the Oregon Senate passed a CHL privacy bill and killed a bill by Ginny Burdick and Peter Courtney to ban CHL holders from school property.

It was a good day for gun owners, and frankly, this would not have happened except for the extraordinary efforts made by OFF supporters.

We have made no secret that we were not happy with the final version of the CHL privacy bill. We believe it was needlessly complicated and preferred the original version. But that being said, we will wait and see if it provides the protections it claims to. Let’s hope so.

It was interesting that during the floor debate, Floyd Prozanski, who carried the privacy bill, responded to a comment by Ginny Burdick by saying “It’s not my bill.” As we have come to see so often, that’s just Floyd being Floyd, meaning “don’t believe a word of it.”  In fact, it was 100% his bill since he removed all the original language and replaced it with his own. Here is the bill as passed by the Senate. It now must go back to the House for concurrence, which we expect to happen. No idea on where the Governor will be on this. See the vote count here.

The “no guns in schools” bill failed in a squeaker. We were very happy to see that not a single Republican caved and voted for this monstrosity. All Republicans except Bruce Starr voted “no.” Starr was not in the building and had been excused from the floor. His failing to vote had the same effect as a “no” vote. Two Democrats joined gun owners and voted “no” as well. A number of people have asked for their contact info to thank them for taking a stand. All their contact info is at the bottom of this alert.

As we mentioned in our email alert today, Prozanski sent out an email on Feb. 28th, in which, in addition to his usual attacks against us, he attempted to imply he was pro-gun by saying he had “stopped” a previous version of the “no guns in school” bill in his committee. What utter nonsense.

You will recall that Prozanski, as chair of the Judiciary Committee, actually scheduled a hearing on that bill, SB 1550, in his committee. Since the Chair has nearly total control over what bills get hearings, it was clear that Prozanski intended the bill to move forward. Chairmen do not schedule bills they want to kill. The reason the bill was “stopped” was because Prozanski, at that time, had failed to get the co-chairs of the House Judiciary Committee to agree to his proposed changes to the privacy bill. So Floyd decided to take his ball and go home. In the end it did not work out that way. Any suggestion that Prozanski “stopped” the bill in order to protect gun owners was laid to rest today, when Prozanski voted in favor of a nearly identical bill to the one he says he “stopped.”

Here is the vote count on the “no guns in schools” bill that failed today.

Many thanks to all of you who took the time to write or call and express your outrage at the process, engineered by Peter Courtney, to ram through HB 1594 with virtually no notice and no public input allowed. His shady tactics failed because of you.

Contact info for the two Democrat Senators who stood up for gun rights follows:

Senator Betsy Johnson
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1716
District Phone: 503-543-4046
Capitol Address: 900 Court St NE, S-215, Salem, OR, 97301
District Office Address: PO Box R, Scappoose, OR, 97056
Email: sen.betsyjohnson@state.or.us

Senator Joanne Verger
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1705
Capitol Address: 900 Court St NE, S-401, Salem, OR, 97301
District Office Address: 785 Virginia Avenue, North Bend, OR, 97459
Email: sen.joanneverger@state.or.us

 

GUN BILLS MOVE. PUBLIC SHUT OUT.

With barely an hour’s notice, the Senate Rules Committee passed two gun bills: HB 4045, which had been Kim Thatcher’s CHL privacy bill, and SB 1594, a bill by Peter Courtney and Ginny Burdick to outlaw self-defense firearms on school property. (03.01.12 New
amended bill)

HB 4045 was “gut and stuffed” with language that Floyd Prozanski wrote. None of the original bill was left. Whether the new bill actually extends any protections remains to be seen, but since the bill’s sponsor agreed to the changes, any hope of saving the original, clean, understandable bill was gone. All members of the Rules Committee voted “yes”.

Many of you may have received an email from Floyd Prozanski in which he said “While Kevin Starrett wants to give me all the credit for the amendment, Rep. Thatcher was equally instrumental in getting this compromise moved forward (as noted in the Sheriffs’ letter of support).”

He included a URL for the Sheriff’s letter.

It is correct that the Sheriffs’ lobbyist issued a press release about the bill. However if you read it you will see that they stated “Senator Floyd Prozanski (D- South Lane and North Douglas Counties), the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has been instrumental in drafting minor changes to assist in getting the measure adopted in the Senate.”

I guess the Sheriffs’ lobbyist read different amendments than we did. In fact, the entire original bill was removed. Maybe they consider that a “minor change.” We don’t.

In any event, that bill is off to the full Senate. There will be no opportunity for Senators to vote for the clean bill. It’s unfortunate that they never had the chance.

The committee did not allow the public to testify on the new version of the bill. To no one’s surprise, Ginny Burdick was not even satisfied with the the “gut and stuff” and voted “no.” Diane Rosenbaum voted to move the bill out of committee and reserved the right to oppose it on the floor. That’s what “compromise” gets you.

SB 1594 was the last minute backstab by Peter Courtney at the demand of Ginny Burdick. This bill is essentially the same as her SB 1550 which would make you a criminal if you took responsibility for protecting yourself or others on “school property.” This has been one of the most shameful abuses of the process we have ever seen.

The bill was essentially recreated this morning and heard this afternoon with no opportunity for public input. And make no mistake. That was the point.

The bill was passed out of committee on a party-line vote with Ginny Burdick, Dianne Rosenbaum and Lee Beyer, all Democrats, voting to make schools “criminal-safe” zones and Ted Ferrioli and Jason Atkinson voting “no.” No public testimony was allowed on this bill either. None
.
The bills now move to the Senate floor where it is unclear when they will be heard. It could be tomorrow or Thursday.

Please contact your State Senator and tell them in no uncertain terms NO on SB 1594. You can use this link even if you do not know who your Senator is.

Short and sweet. “NO ON SB 1594”

Thanks for your activism.

COURTNEY TO RAM THROUGH “NO GUNS IN SCHOOLS” BILL

Today in addition to gut and stuffing the CHL privacy bill with language by gun hater Floyd Prozanski, we expect the Senate Rules Committee to pass a bill by Senate President Peter Courtney banning guns on school property.

The bill, SB 1594, is a re-write of Burdick’s Senate Bill 1550. It was redrafted in order to bypass all the rules about bill deadlines.

The bill was introduced today, heard on the Senate Floor and referred to the Senate Rules Committee where we expect it to be passed to the Senate Floor as early as today.
We have been informed that several Republican Senators plan to cave and vote for the bill. Folks, we have been totally shafted this time by Courtney and Company.
Please call Peter Courtney’s office right away and express your outrage at this game of bait and switch.

503 986 1600

sen.petercourtney@state.or.us

CHL Confidentiality Confusion

As many of you know, the fertilizer has hit the ventilator in the matter of HB 4045, the CHL privacy bill.

Floyd Prozanski has drafted amendments that gut and stuff the original simple bill and complicate it considerably. The bill was NOT assigned to his committee but instead sent to the Senate Rules Committee.

There is a lot of speculation about why the bill was sent there. Many assume Senate President Peter Courtney sent it there to be killed. Based on comments Courtney has made lately about not wanting to deal with gun bills, this is certainly a possibility. The Chair of the Rules Committee, Diane Rosenbaum, makes the final decision about whether or not to hear the bill, although if Courtney told her he wanted it dead, that’s the most likely outcome.

Since Prozanski has sent out a blast email (using the legislative email address and not his own) many are wondering what to make of the amendments he attached. Since the NRA has now stated they will acquiesce to the amendments and have asked people to support the amended, gut and stuffed bill, there is a lot of confusion.

As we have said over and over, HB 4045 was simple, straight forward and easy to understand. The gut and stuffed version is anything but. Prozanski’s last amendments mark the 33rd time this bill has been amended.

Kim Thatcher, the sponsor of the original bill, has signaled that she will go along with the changes. We continue to support her original bill which did not require an army of lawyers to understand.

Oregon’s current statutes are so confusing that some DA’s do not understand them. (True story.) In the past we have spent weeks trying to get legislators to figure out that some of our gun laws literally make no sense. (Why for example could a person with a felony conviction petition to have his rights restored to BUY a gun and still not be allowed to OWN it?) That is why we feel so strongly about the unamended bill.

It’s no secret that HB 4045 was drafted with the specific intent of keeping the privacy protections OUT of the “public records” statutes because of their weak and limited protections. Prozanski’s changes put them right back in there.

We believe that the original bill got the job done in the simplest way. Whatever protections the amended bill claims to provide, it remains complex and confusing for no particular reason other than to stroke the egos of politicians who want to control the process.

We refer you to yesterday’s alert.

Actually, watching sausage being made might be preferable.

The long saga of HB 4045 continues. After passing by a wide margin in the House, Senate President Peter Courtney yesterday assigned the CHL privacy bill to the Senate Rules Committee.

They are not obligated to hear it and right now we cannot say if they will. We do assume however that efforts will be made to heavily amend the bill and once again turn it from something simple and easy to understand into a complicated and contradictory distraction.

The Senate Rules Committee is composed of:

Diane Rosenbaum, Chair  sen.dianerosenbaum@state.or.us
503-986-1700

Ted Ferrioli, Vice-Chair  sen.tedferrioli@state.or.us
503-986-1950

Jason Atkinson   sen.jasonatkinson@state.or.us
503-986-1702

Lee Beyer  sen.leebeyer@state.or.us
503-986-1706

Ginny Burdick  sen.ginnyburdick@state.or.us
503-986-1718

Please contact the members of the Committee and request that they simply pass the bill the way it is. Feel free to add to the prepared email. (Burdick’s address will not appear in this prepared email,because…why bother? Feel free do add her if you care to.)

 

FLOYD’S GAMES ROLL ON.

By now many of you may have received an email from Floyd Prozanski where he warns you about “inaccurate and misleading information being circulated about HB 4045.”

As has become his custom, Floyd does not point out what information that is being circulated is “inaccurate” or “misleading.”

Here are some facts that no amount of spin can change. HB 4045 is a simple, straightforward and brief bill. It says that the information obtained by sheriffs when they receive an application for a concealed handgun license is protected except in a very few cases. The bill is quite brief (1 page) and not hard to understand.

Here are Floyd’s amendments. 19 pages.

Floyd’s email says “The -26 amendment will outright prohibit the custodian of record (i.e., sheriffs) from disclosing any personal information contained in CHL permit records and applications except for name, age and county of residence.”

Why Floyd believes that name, age and county should be released is anyone’s guess, but let’s take a look at some quotes from the courts.

“…the fact that information is exempt from obligatory disclosure under the Public Records Act does not resolve the question of the authority of a public official to disclose the information voluntarily. An exemption from the Public Records Acts means that the custodian of the information is not obliged to disclose it. Exemption from disclosure does not necessarily mean that the custodian is required not to disclose it.” Portland Adventist Medical Center v. Sheffield, 303 Or. 197, n.2

“ORS 192.502 does not prohibit disclosure of exempted information. Exemption means merely that the public body is not obligated to disclosure under ORS 192.420. The legislature has used unambiguous language when it desired to prohibit the release of information.” Guard Pub. Co. v. Lange County School Dist No. 4J, 310 Or. 32, n.6 (1990

Kim Thatcher’s bill is clear, simple and unambiguous. But nothing is so simple that Floyd cannot needlessly complicate it.

Please contact Senate President Peter Courtney and demand a floor vote on HB 4045 in its present form.

Senator Peter Courtney
503 986 1600
sen.petercourtney@state.or.us

CHL RECORDS TO BE REVEALED?

Oregon Firearms Federation has learned that two separate requests have been made for CHL records from the Oregon State Police.

While the State Police have copies of these records, they have no device like the “check box” the sheriffs have to protect your privacy.

The two requests are from “newspapers,” one of which is local and one an East Coast paper with deep pockets.

Our sources tell us that the records being demanded are not just current license information but the personal information of every license issued, revoked, denied or expired.

We have also been informed that the Attorney General has instructed the State Police to disclose these records.

There is literally not a moment to waste. Please contact Senate President Peter Courtney right now and demand that he put an end to the games being played by Floyd Prozanski and get HB 4045 enacted as soon as possible. It is simply absurd that one man’s personal animosity towards gun owners is placing in jeopardy the private information of thousands of Oregonians.

It is essential that HB 4045 pass in its current form with no amendments except those which might speed its implementation. If the amendments that Prozanski has demanded are adopted, the law will be meaningless and provide virtually no protection for gun owners. Time is critical on this one, folks.

Courtney’s telephone number is 503-986-1600.
His email is sen.petercourtney@state.or.us

Please do not wait.

PROZANSKI’S GAMES CONTINUE

We have been reliably informed that in spite of his vow to kill Kim Thatcher’s CHL privacy bill, Floyd Prozanski will be having a work session on the bill, where he plans to move the bill out of committee.

Sounds good right? Wrong. Floyd’s plan is to amend the bill to strip it of the protections that are in it and instead put the privacy language in the Oregon “Public Records” statutes.

But, those statutes are so complicated, arcane and riddled with exemptions that they provide virtually no protection. As you may know, the records of firearms purchases are “protected” from disclosure under these laws, yet the Oregon State Police have disclosed those records when no crime was committed. In fact, they have disclosed those records when there was not even an accusation of a crime.

HB 4045 must pass without these dangerous amendments. The only changes that should be considered are those that will speed up its implementation.

If you have contacted Peter Courtney, please do so again and tell him “no way” to Prozanski’s stunts. We want HB 4045 with NO “public records” amendments.

Senator Peter Courtney
503-986-1600
sen.petercourtney@state.or.us

CHL PRIVACY PASSES HOUSE

HB 4045, a bill to protect the privacy of CHL holders has passed the Oregon House  44-14.

The bill now moves to the Senate where Floyd Prozanski has declared it dead.

Prozanski has claimed that he wanted changes made in the bill or he would not consider it, but, as Representative Jeff Barker pointed out on the House Floor, the changes Prozanski demanded were included in previous versions that Prozanski also killed.

There is one more option to protect the personal, private information of Oregon’s most law-abiding  citizens.  Although Prozanski is the Chair of the Senate Judiciary where this bill will now go, and although he has pronounced that he will not hear it or allow the Senate to vote on it, any Senator can make a motion to withdraw the bill from his committee and bring it to the Senate Floor for a vote.

In 2011, when a similar bill was being held hostage by Prozanski, just such a motion was made by Senate Republicans.

Please contact your Senator and ask that they make this motion. Even if the motion fails, we will once again have a recorded vote that will tell us who supports your rights and who opposes them.

You can contact your Senator using this link.

Be sure to only check the box that says “State Senate.”

We suggest you also send a copy to Senate Republican Leader Senator Ted Ferrioli.

A sample message follows:
____________________________________________________________

Dear Senator,

The House has passed HB 4045 by a wide margin. This bill protects the privacy of concealed handgun license holders. Once again Senator Floyd Prozanski has announced his intention to kill this important bill.

Regardless of how you feel about this legislation, it deserves a vote. When the bill is assigned to Senate Judiciary, I urge you to move that it be withdrawn from committee and sent to the Senate floor for a vote. Oregonians deserve to know where their representatives stand on this issue.

________________________________________________________________

HB 4054 Heard In Committee And Killed.

HB 4054 GETS HEARING…AND DIES.

HB 4054 which “Prohibits Public Employees’ Benefit Board from authorizing or requiring collection of information or maintenance of records about firearms from eligible employee or family member” received a hearing in the House Health Care Committee today.

Senators Betsy Johnson and Ted Ferrioli testified in favor of the bill. OFF was the only representative of the “gun lobby” who testified in favor of the bill and on behalf of public employees’ rights to own guns without being harassed by the Public Employees’ Benefit Board. Although not present, the NRA was on record in support of the bill.

Not a single public employee union representative spoke on behalf of the bill or the union members. If you are a public employee, you may want to ask for better representation from the folks you pay dues to.

Because the bill did not have a “work session” scheduled, it is now officially dead.

On Wednesday we will have a floor session in the House for HB 4045. This was Kim Thatcher’s CHL privacy bill which passed out of committee in House Judiciary. We expect it will pass on the House Floor.

As you know, Floyd Prozanski, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has promised to kill this important bill when it gets to the Senate. There is one last possible solution. If any member of the Senate makes a motion to withdraw the bill from Prozanski’s committee, it is possible that the entire Senate could vote on the bill even if Prozanski refuses to hear it. This happened in 2011 and every Democrat Senator voted “no.”

On another note, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. In addition to making sure you pick up a little something for your sweetie, we recommend stopping by Starbucks for a beverage. Tomorrow is the first day of the anti-gun extremists boycott against Starbucks because Starbucks follows state law and allows open carry in their stores in places where open carry is legal.

Make sure to tell them why you are there.

House Bill 4045, a bill to protect the privacy of CHL holders, passed out of the House Judiciary Committee today. It was amended from its original form, but still a very good bill. Three of the five House Democrats, Mary Nolan, Carolyn Tomei, and Chris Garrett, voted against the bill. It is their intention to keep this sensitive private information available to reporters, direct mail fundraisers and criminals.

The rest of the committee voted yes. The bill now goes to the House floor where it will likely pass and then it will be dead.

In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today, a clearly agitated Chairman Floyd Prozanski declared the bill dead along with the two gun-related bills his committee was due to hear today.

Those bills were SB 1550 and SB 1574.

SB 1550 was Ginny Burdick’s bill to keep all school property safe for rapists and killers by forbidding licensed concealed carry on school property.

SB 1574 was Prozanski’s confusing, complex and pointless “reciprocity” bill.

Before announcing that the bills would not move forward and that the House privacy bill was also dead, Floyd introduced amendments to his “reciprocity” bill that made it even more confusing.

In spite of the fact that he made it clear that the bills were dead, “Ceasefire Oregon” trotted out their typical false and hysterical testimony about the thousands of felons and murderers that get CHLs in other states. The expected testimony was also given about drunken, drug-addled and suicidal college students who would be shooting up college campuses if Burdick’s bill was not passed. (Note, as I said, that this testimony was given after the bills were declared dead.) No one explained why college students are not killing themselves and others off campus.

So with the actions taken today by Prozanski, virtually any chance of moving CHL privacy is over. Thankfully this is also true of his bill and Burdick’s.

That leaves one last piece of business this session. HB 4054 is due for a hearing in the House Health Committee on Monday. This bill “Prohibits Public Employees’ Benefit Board from authorizing or requiring collection of information or maintenance of records about firearms from eligible employee or family member.”

Please contact the members of the House Health Care Committee and urge them to support this important legislation. And please contact your own House Rep if he or she is not on the committee and urge support for this bill with no anti-gun amendments.

Feel free to use the cut and paste message at the bottom of this alert. Contact information for the House Health Care Committee members follows.

Mitch Greenlick, Co-Chair 503-986-1433 rep.mitchgreenlick@state.or.us

Jim Thompson, Co-Chair 503-986-1423 rep.jimthompson@state.or.us

Val Hoyle, Co-Vice Chair  503-986-1414 rep.valhoyle@state.or.us

Bill Kennemer, Co-Vice Chair 503-986-1439 rep.billkennemer@state.or.us

Jason Conger 503-986-1454 rep.jasonconger@state.or.us

Margaret Doherty 503-986-1435 rep.margaretdoherty@state.or.us

Alissa Keny-Guyer 503-986-1446 rep.alissakenyguyer@state.or.us

Julie Parrish 503-986-1437 rep.julieparrish@state.or.us

Or you can use this link to mail to all Committee members.

___________________________________________________________________

Dear Representative,

I strongly urge you to support HB 4054 when it is heard in your Health Care Committee. Public employees should not be subjected to pointless invasions of their privacy. The ownership and storage of lawfully owned firearms should be no one’s business but the owner of those firearms.

Yours,

_____________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

NOTE: AS OF 4.48 PM SB 1551 has been removed from the hearing schedule on Feb 8. Work sessions for SB 1550 and SB 1574 have been added for Feb. 13.

The House Judiciary Committee today heard HB 4045. No action was taken.

This is Representative Kim Thatcher’s bill to protect the privacy of CHL holders and an issue she has been working on for gun owners for some time.

Representative Thatcher suggested an amendment to mollify the Oregon State Police and the Oregon Judicial Department who suddenly (after years of this concept being discussed) decided that it might be a burden on them to comply.  But that’s not why no action was taken on the bill today.

The reason no action was taken was the 10 or so anonymous amendments that got walked through the door at the last minute. While no one took “credit” for them, it isn’t hard to imagine whose idea they were. (Someone certainly kept the bill writers down in Legislative Counsel busy.)

The purpose of the amendments is to ban concealed carry in public buildings and schools, or require CHL holders to give up privacy should they ever need to go into one of the buildings their tax dollars pay for. One requires that CHL holders call or email any school they will be going to 24 hours before they go to announce that they will be carrying a firearm!

Let’s see, who could have requested these amendments?

The committee has scheduled another hearing and possible work session on Wednesday at 8AM.  It is essential that they hear from you that you want a clean bill with NO anti-gun amendments. You can use this link to contact the House Judiciary Committee with a simple message of “NO ANTI-GUN AMENDMENTS TO HB 4045!”

Also on Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be hearing three gun bills. We told you about these bills on Feb. 3.

Two of the bills are open attacks on your freedom. (It’s interesting that we have legislators who feel that it is their life’s work to assault your liberties instead of protecting them.) SB 1550 and SB 1551 are nothing more than an effort to demonize people who lawfully carry firearms for defense of themselves and others. Now their sponsor, Ginny Burdick, and the Chair of Senate Judiciary, Floyd Prozanski, are working to make sure that you cannot have a firearm on school property or in any public building.

Please use the contact info in this alert to remind members of the committee that you are watching them.

The other bill that will be heard on Wednesday in Senate Judiciary is Floyd Prozanski’s “Reciprocity” bill. This bill, SB 1574, is a convoluted, complicated and very flawed bill that will allow the State Police to decide if they want to recognize any other state’s CHL. But only if the other state recognizes ours first. The State Police are a law enforcement body, not a judicial body. This should not be their decision. When they had this authority in the past, they refused to recognize a single other state.

Efforts in the past to move a clean, simple, easy-to-understand bill were thwarted by the sponsor of this bill.

It’s interesting to note that in a mass email sent from Floyd Prozanski to gun owners on August 24th of 2011, Prozanski attacked Oregon Firearms Federation and said:

“Kevin continues to provide you with misinformation and has lost credibility with many legislators. I suggest you consider getting the facts from another gun rights organization. The NRA and the Oregon Gun Owners are two respected advocacy groups that will provide you with actual facts and that work positively with legislators. Those groups are known to advocate effectively for gun rights in Oregon.”

Please note that “Oregon Gun Owners” works for gun control and has endorsed Floyd Prozanski. So we don’t recommend them as a source for pro-gun information. But what of the NRA? Well, we are happy to say that we agree in this case with Floyd’s suggestion that you consider the NRA’s position. The NRA has come out in opposition to Floyd’s “reciprocity” bill. As a result Floyd has attempted to mischaracterize their position on the bill. But, that’s Floyd.

We have already asked you to take the time to contact the Senate Judiciary Committee in this alert and oppose the Burdick Bills. We strongly suggest that if you have not, you take a moment to do so and if you have, do so again.

It’s important to understand that on Wednesday, Floyd will be hearing his bill which supposedly allows some states’ CHL holders to carry in Oregon, including in public buildings. At the same time he will be hearing bills that forbid CHL holders from carrying in public buildings!  We don’t expect legislators to write their own bills, but it would be great if they at least read them!

Clearly this makes no sense and our already confusing and contradictory gun laws will get much worse if these bills pass.

Finally, as we told you we would do, we hand delivered to the two Republican Senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee a simple suggested amendment designed to address the issue of residents’ of other states carrying in Oregon.

While Burdick claims that Oregon CHL holders are not well trained enough to be in public buildings, Prozanski claims that other states don’t have our stringent training requirements. (I guess they don’t talk to each other.)  So we suggested a simple amendment to Floyd’s so called “reciprocity” bill. It makes a very minor change in statute and simply says that a person from any state, not just adjoining states, can apply  for an Oregon CHL.

This is an easy way to put the anti-gunners on record, whether the amendment is adopted or not.

Please contact the Republican members of the Senate Judiciary and ask them to propose the amendment.

Senator Jeff Kruse
sen.jeffkruse@state.or.us
503-986-1701

Senator Doug Whitsett
sen.dougwhitsett@state.or.us
503-986-1728

Suggested cut and paste message:

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Dear Senator,

SB 1574 is a complicated and poorly drafted bill. However, it could be significantly better if an amendment were adopted that simply allowed residents of any other state to apply for an Oregon CHL. Please consider proposing an amendment that would do this.

Thank you,

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