Category: OFF Alerts

Having already eviscerated HB 2797 by turning a simple motorcycle carry bill into a ban on self-defense in schools, Floyd Prozanski is now making another colossal mess of HB 2792, a bill that would recognize other states’ concealed handgun licenses.

With these amendments, any language that recognizes other state’s CHL’s is removed and replaced by a bizarre mash up of other bills.

In these amendments the recognition language is gone and in its place is much of the language that Prozanski stuffed into 2797 dealing with restricting felon’s rights restoration, but he has also included the language that clarifies lawful carry on motorcycles, ATV’s and snowmobiles! The motorcycle, ATV and snowmobile corrections were already in HB 2797! All Prozanski had to do was leave the bill alone. Confused yet?

Frankly, we cannot give you any clue to what Prozanski is thinking.

HB 2792 is scheduled for a work session tomorrow. Also scheduled is HB 2787, a bill that would protect the privacy of CHL holders. Strangely, Prozanski stuffed the privacy language from that bill into the motorcycle bill where he also included a ban on guns in schools. Never has the old saying about law and sausage been more appropriate.

What amendments may be offered to the House CHL privacy bill are anyone’s guess, but given the astonishing mess Prozanski has made out of the other two bills, he may well amend THAT bill to ban guns in schools as well.

The Senate Judiciary Committee under Prozanski’s chairmanship has devolved into a dysfunctional graveyard for popular legislation, The two Republican members have done what they can to maintain some sanity, but frankly they are outnumbered.

Tomorrow’s work session promises to be another exercise in confusion and futility.

Please contact Senate President Peter Courtney and request that he provide some adult supervision for the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Contact info and sample message follow:

Senator Peter Courtney
503-986-1600
FAX:
503-986-1004
sen.petercourtney@state.or.us

____________________________________________________________________

Dear Senator Courtney,

Bills that passed the House with overwhelming bi-partisan support are being turned into unrecognizable and confusing nonsense in the Senate Judiciary Committee. We’ve already seen House Bill 2797 go from a simple clarification on firearms transport to an all-out attack on personal protection on school grounds. Now a bill that would have recognized other states’ concealed handgun licenses is being butchered as well.  I urge you to request Senator Prozanski to just move the gun bills that have come from the House to his committee to the floor so Senators can vote on them as they were written. The confusion that Senator Prozanski is creating serves no one.

Yours,

_____________________________________________________________________

“Legislative hi-jinks” was the accurate description Senator Jeff Kruse gave to today’s Judiciary Committee antics when they held a “work session'” on House Bill 2797.

It’s important to understand that all this bill did was clarify how a person may lawfully transport a firearm on a motorcycle, ATV or snowmobile. The bill was so uncontroversial that no one, not one single House Rep, voted against it. But the Senate Judiciary Chairman, Floyd Prozanski, claimed in committee that the “volatile ” nature of gun bills required a “compromise.”  Prozanski’s compromise? Add 11 pages of amendments to a 4 page bill and turn simple “clean-up” legislation into a bill to ban licensed, concealed carry on all school grounds including college campuses. By the way, Prozanski had previously stated in committee that these amendments “did not exist.”

In Salem, no matter how cynical you are, you just can’t keep up.

Prozanski’s amendments, ( the latest version which only became available this morning, minutes before the hearing began) will almost certainly tank this bill.

We know that Prozanski and the two other Democrats on the committee are rabidly anti-gun, but this bill was an odd vehicle to try to gut gun rights at the school room door. In spite of Prozanski’s comments about the “volatility” of gun bills, this piece of legislation was nothing more than a correction for a previous legislative screw up.

The amendments almost certainly mean this bill is dead. So, for at least one more year, Oregon law will contain no guidance for anyone who wants to know how they can stay within the law while riding motorcycles, ATV’s and snowmobiles. Nice work Floyd.

Predictably, Ceasefire Oregon came to complain that the amendments did not go far enough. Their spokeswoman, who can most charitably be described as delusional, told the committee that there have been three school shootings by CHL holders, events that seem to have been reported to her and her alone. It is sad indeed to be this terrified by things that do not exist.

The bill now goes to the full Senate floor where we will ask you to do all you can to oppose it.

We fully expected the “paranoid caucus” to oppose any effort to protect the rights of gun owners in this session, but it ‘s a particular shame that they chose such an important and popular bill to try to ramrod their agenda.

Senators Jeff Kruse and Doug Whitsett made notice they they would be filing a minority report. This would be a substitute to this bill written by rational people. They should be thanked for standing up for liberty and common sense.

Please contact your Oregon State Senator and urge them to vote AGAINST HB 2797 when this monstrosity comes to the floor. You can use this link to write to your Senator. Uncheck the box that says “State House” as this bill is no longer in the House and we need only contact Senators. A suggested cut and paste message follows:

_________________________________________________________________

Dear Senator,

Partisan games have turned a simple and uncontroversial bill, HB 2797, into a vehicle to attack the rights of concealed handgun license holders. I am embarrassed by a process that would subvert a simple “clean-up” bill and use it to advance the agenda of those who would attack the most law-abiding Oregonians.  I hope in the future we can do better, but for now I urge you to vote “no” on HB 2797 as amended by Senator Prozanski.

__________________________________________________________________

Voting to attack the rights of  those who ride motorcycles, ATV’s and snowmobiles:

Senator Suzanne Bonamici
Party: D District: 17
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1717
District Phone: 503-627-0246
Capitol Address: 900 Court St NE, S-403, Salem, OR, 97301
District Office Address: PO Box 990, Beaverton, OR, 97075
Email: sen.suzannebonamici@state.or.us
Website: http://www.leg.state.or.us/bonamici

Senator Jackie Dingfelder
Party: D District: 23
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1723
District Phone: 503-493-2804
Capitol Address: 900 Court St NE, S-407, Salem, OR, 97301
District Office Address: PO Box 13432, Portland, OR, 97213
Email: sen.jackiedingfelder@state.or.us
Website: http://www.leg.state.or.us/dingfelder

Senator Floyd Prozanski
Party: D District: 4
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1704
District Phone: 541-342-2447
Capitol Address: 900 Court St NE, S-417, Salem, OR, 97301
District Office Address: PO Box 11511, Eugene, OR, 97440
Email: sen.floydprozanski@state.or.us
Website: http://www.leg.state.or.us/prozanski

Voting rationally to protect those who ride motorcycles, ATV’s and snowmobiles:

Senator Jeff Kruse
Party: R District: 1
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1701
District Phone: 541-580-3276
Capitol Address: 900 Court St NE, S-315, Salem, OR, 97301
District Office Address: 636 Wild Iris Lane, Roseburg, OR, 97470
Email: sen.jeffkruse@state.or.us
Website: http://www.leg.state.or.us/kruse

Senator Doug Whitsett
Party: R District: 28
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1728
District Phone: 541-883-4006
Capitol Address: 900 Court St NE, S-303, Salem, OR, 97301
District Office Address: 23131 N. Poe Valley Road, Klamath Falls, OR, 97603
Email: sen.dougwhitsett@state.or.us
Website: http://www.leg.state.or.us/whitsett

AS PREDICTED.

As we suspected, amendments have been introduced to neuter HB 2797, our bill to clarify how a person may lawfully transport a firearm on a motorcycle, ATV or snowmobile.

This bill and the proposed amendments are due to be heard at 8AM tomorrow. We apologize for the late alert, but we just received the amendments.

The amendments do several things, but as we expected, the principle (and most troubling) change is the effort to ban concealed carry on ALL school grounds including college property.

This simple bill may well be stuffed with 11 pages of amendments, which will all but guarantee that the bill will die. We will continue to do all we can to assure the bill gets a vote in its original form.

You can see the amendments here. We will keep you informed and keep fighting for a clean bill and a fair vote.  We thank our friends in the motorcycle community for their efforts to move this bill forward.

 

GUN BILLS SCHEDULED FOR WORK SESSION

At the last possible moment, the Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled three gun bills that OFF has been working on all session, in some cases for more than one session.

There is no question that your tireless efforts are the reason why.

While there can certainly be changes, HB 2797 has been scheduled for May 26 at 8 AM. This bill does nothing more than clarify a lawful way to transport a handgun on a motorcycle and any firearm on a snowmobile or ATV. It is non-controversial and has had no opposition, but it is also the bill we believe most likely to be used as a vehicle to ban licensed carry in schools. So, while it is a victory that it has been scheduled, the battle is far from over. We still need to make sure the bill is not turned into something its sponsor never intended.

House Bills 2787 and 2792 are scheduled for June 1 at 8:30 AM. These two bills protect the privacy of CHL holders and recognize the concealed handgun licenses from other states respectively.

Make no mistake, it was your pressure that forced the Committee Chair to put these bills on the schedule. But we have a long way to go. As we have said, we believe there may be some very damaging amendments that could be attached to these bills, so we still need to keep the pressure on to make sure they are passed with no amendments.

Committee Chairmen typically do NOT schedule bills they don’t plan to pass, but this committee is controlled by anti-gun Democrats so they might very well have some tricks up their sleeves. Don’t stop now. Please contact the committee and urge them to pass these three bills as they are with no amendments. And thanks for all you have done, against all odds, so far.

The Games Continue.

Yesterday’s hearing on HB 2791 was as illuminating as it was frustrating.

HB 2791 removes the Oregon State Police as the point of contact for gun purchase background checks. Under 2791, the State Police would be replaced by the National Instant Check System.

35 states contact the Feds directly for these checks and buyers pay no fee for the “service.” In Oregon, when a purchase is initiated, the dealer contacts the OSP who call NICS and then OSP charges a $10.00 fee.

In the last 6 months or so, gun dealers in Oregon have had serious difficulty conducting these checks due to long delays when attempting to contact OSP. Even after finally getting an operator on the phone, the wait times can be onerous. The incidence of “pended” or delayed approvals has spiked as well. Many people have reported that they could make a purchase one day and be delayed the next. People with long histories of problem-free gun buys, have suddenly faced delays, sometimes for months.

HB 2791 would solve this problem by removing the middleman and simply going directly to the NICS system where no similar problems have been reported. In fact, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents gun dealers, has informed us that NICS has an excellent track record of rapid approvals and the only states having problems are ones which, like Oregon, use local “points of contact.”

At the hearing, Representative Greg Smith (who did an excellent job) questioned the State Police ID Unit Director who testified that gun purchase background checks subsidized many other types of checks that OSP conducts for free.

The Director, David Yandell, also testified that the ID Unit was experiencing difficulties completing background checks, but hoped things would improve. He noted that the unit plans to soon have an electronic check system that would allow dealers to conduct the checks themselves online. He also testified that even if this “new and improved” system became functional, reducing the need for staff time, that it was their intention to still seek the higher fee per check that they have requested. The current fee is $10.00. The State Police want to almost triple that to $26.00.

As expected, “Cease fire Oregon” came to oppose the bill with borderline hysterical testimony and invented statistics. More interestingly, a representative for the public employees unions came to oppose the bill on the grounds that several union jobs would be lost if the Feds took over the checks. Her position was that this bill would devastate Oregon’s economy because a handful of state workers would not longer be able to pay taxes after losing their jobs.

This is a fascinating premise. By her reasoning, Oregon could solve all its economic problems by hiring everyone in the state. Those people would then pay taxes and Oregon would be flush.

The magnitude of economic illiteracy out there is staggering.

Oddly, the public employees representative did not question whether the new “electronic” check would cost any jobs. None of the  committee members asked about that either.

Senator Rod Monroe seemed primarily interested in not losing any state jobs, but most committee members appeared to get the point that Oregonians should not be paying twice for the same “service,” a process they never asked for which is being provided so poorly.

Now the bad news. The hearing was only one step. The bill cannot move without a “work session” and we have been reliably informed that the Democrats will be resisting such action. Apparently, saving millions of dollars of taxpayer money and endless headaches is less important than losing a single public employee job. So there is strong reason to suspect that the leadership in the Senate Democrat Caucus will be doing what they can (which is a lot) to stop progress on this bill. It’s by no means dead, but it is clearly in the cross hairs of the Democrat Leadership.  By simply taking no further action on the bill, it will die, you will continue to face hassles and expense at the hands of the OSP, and “no one” will be to blame because no one had to vote.

Over in Senate Judiciary, Senator Floyd Prozanski, with the full support of Senate President Peter Courtney, is continuing to hold up any progress on House Bills 2787, 2792 and 2797. If he has not chosen a date to have work sessions on these bills by Monday, May 23rd, they will all be dead unless some legislator steps up and moves that they be removed from his committee. So time is running out.

Based on previous testimony and Prozanski’s own comments, we are confident that the Senator will make some attempt to turn one of these good bills into a Frankenstein monster of an anti-gun bill. Almost certainly it will be HB 2797 which only seeks to clarify firearms carry on motorcycles, snowmobiles and ATV’s. Expect this bill to be stuffed with language to ban guns on any school property along with lots of potential other amendments. Prozanski also wanted to change the rules about the restoration of felons’ gun rights. Having failed to make his own bill go anywhere, he could well add that language to any gut-and-stuff amendments to HB 2797.

We believe that it is unlikely (but by no means impossible) that Prozanski can pass a “no guns in schools” bill, however what he can do, and clearly is trying to do, is torpedo every bill that can in any way be perceived as “pro-gun.”  In the case of HB 2797 this is particularly troubling. All that bill does is fix a legislative screw-up from 2009. It merely provides guidance so people can avoid running afoul of the law. So Prozanski and Courtney’s actions here are particularly reprehensible.

No doubt both will be cheered by the Supreme Court’s recent decision to further eviscerate the US Constitution.

As we told you on May 12th, our bill to remove the Oregon State Police as the point of contact for firearms background checks will be heard in the Public Safety Subcommittee of the joint Ways and Means Committee tomorrow.

This bill would save Oregon gun owners and gun dealers millions of dollars and countless headaches due to unwarranted delays.

As we have told you in the past, for months, the Oregon State Police have been costing dealers sales while creating unjustified delays for buyers.

Unlike the Feds, who inform dealers that they may proceed with a sale even without an approval once three days have elapsed, the State Police continue to leave dealers with the mistaken impression that they MUST have an approval code before transferring a firearm. This is NOT the case.

Please send a note today to the Ways and Means Committee, through their staff, and ask for a speedy approval of HB 2791.

Contact info and a sample message follow:

gina.rumbaugh@state.or.us

_________________________________________________________

To the Ways and Means Committee,
RE: House Bill 2791

Dear Committee Member,

HB 2791 would eliminate the costly and redundant use of the Oregon State Police to conduct background checks for firearms purchases.

The National Instant Check System, used by most states for background checks, is more efficient and is already being paid for by our tax dollars. It makes no sense to ask Oregonians to pay twice for the same check.

The State Police are causing unnecessary delays for both buyers and sellers. Dealers have faced inexcusable wait times simply to get the OSP to answer their phones.

The OSP already use the Federal system to conduct their checks. Let’s cut out the middleman and save millions for Oregon residents.

Yours,

__________________

____________________________________________________________

HB 2791, the bill we requested to remove background checks from the Oregon State Police and turn them over to the Feds, (who don’t keep records of the purchased guns and don’t charge an additional fee) has been scheduled for a hearing in the Ways and Means Public Safety Subcommittee.

The bill is scheduled to be heard on May 17th at 3pm. The hearing room in the State Capitol is H 170.  If you are a gun dealer, or a gun owner who has been unjustly delayed or denied, we strongly urge you to attend this hearing and share your experiences.

We continue to receive almost daily reports of delays by OSP for gun sale background check approvals. This bill would solve that and eliminate the fee the State Police are charging every time you buy a firearm.

This is an extremely important bill, and one which most likely would not be sent to Floyd Prozanski’s Judiciary Committee, where he can kill it or hold it hostage as a bargaining chip. (It could still happen, but is not too likely.)

Please contact the members of the Public Safety Subcommittee and urge a speedy “do pass” recommendation for HB 2791. Urge them to move it to the full committee and please consider attending and uting to the hearing on the 17th.

The committee’s contact info follows. Please remember, your input really does matter.

Public Safety Subcommittee
Membership:
Sen. Jackie Winters, Co-Chair sen.jackiewinters@state.or.us
Rep. Mary Nolan, Co-Chair  rep.marynolan@state.or.us
Rep. Greg Smith, Co-Chair  rep.gregsmith@state.or.us
Rep. Jeff Barker, Co-Vice Chair  rep.jeffbarker@state.or.us
Rep. Wally Hicks, Co-Vice Chair rep.wallyhicks@state.or.us
Sen. Rod Monroe  sen.rodmonroe@state.or.us
Sen. Joanne Verger   sen.joanneverger@state.or.us

You can also upload any testimony and exhibits digitally to the committee staff who will distribute them to the committee members. Please be sure to note the bill number and that  your testimony and exhibits are intended for the Public Safety Subcommittee. The staff address is:

gina.rumbaugh@state.or.us

Sample message:
_______________________________________________________________

I strongly urge you to support HB 2791. This simple, commonsense measure would save Oregonians millions of dollars a year and end the serious problems created by the Oregon State Police ID unit.  The OSP ID unit needlessly delays legitimate firearms purchases and often provides false or erroneous information to gun buyers and dealers. Please move 2791 out of your subcommittee with a “do pass” recommendation and do all you can to get approval from the full Ways and Means Committee.

Yours.

___________________

_________________________________________________________________

As you know, we currently have several important bills still in play in the Oregon legislature.

Three bills are being held hostage in the Senate Judiciary Committee by  Floyd Prozanski who is using them as bargaining chips to advance his anti-gun agenda.

We know that one of the things he wants to do is ban guns in schools. That much was made very clear by the sham “hearings” that were held for House Bills 2792, 2787 and 2797.

As you can see here and here, those “hearings” were a farce and nothing more than a opportunity for Prozanski’s anti-gun supporters to advance misinformation to promote a ban on guns in schools. As we have already noted, the anti-gun groups had clearly been given copies of amendments, or proposed “concepts” that no one else has been allowed to see.

But Prozanski also added to the agenda the “concepts” of felon rights restoration and “mental health issues.” To date, he has provided no one any idea what his “concepts” are, yet strangely still invited public testimony on them.

Although, (in the interest of government transparency no doubt) Prozanski won’t reveal what he hopes to do besides ban guns in schools, we assume it is his intention to stuff one or more of the these bills with anti-gun language.

Now is by no means the time to let up. Both Prozanski and Senate President Peter Courtney need to hear loud and clear that we want these bills moved out of committee and onto the Senate floor with no poison pill amendments.  Let’s get an up or down vote so Oregonians know where their legislators stand.  The posturing and games must stop.

If you’ve called and emailed, please do it again. Do not be discouraged if they do not respond. What matters is that they hear from us and are reminded that there are consequences for their actions. A return email is far less important.

Elsewhere, House Bill 2791, our bill to take background checks away from the State Police, has been referred to the Joint Ways and Means Committee and from there to the Public Safety Subcommittee after passing out of the House Judiciary Committee.

As you know, the State Police have simply not been able to run the background check program correctly lately and now they want to almost triple their fees. Gun owners should not be forced to subsidize other tasks of the State Police ID unit every time they want to make a purchase.

We now need to make sure that this bill does not disappear into the black hole of lost bills.

The Subcommittee has three co-chairs:

Senator Jackie Winters
Representative Greg Smith, and
Representative Mary Nolan

They need to hear from you and be told that gun owners deserve HB 2791. There is no reason we should be paying a fee to the State Police to run a background check through the feds which the feds will do directly at no charge. (Beyond what we are being dinged in tax dollars.)

Mary Nolan is the key player here.  She is a knee jerk, anti-gunner who will vote against bills she does not understand simply because she thinks they are “pro-gun.”  Nolan voted against 2791 in the Judiciary Committee because she said she “wanted the bill to go to Ways and Means” instead of directly to the floor.  Well, she got her wish. Now we need to let her know that this bill will save Oregonians millions of dollars and incalculable hassle.

Also, please contact Senators Prozanski and Courtney and tell then to stop playing games with the gun bills in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Contact info follows.

Senate President Peter Courtney.
Senator Floyd Prozanski

Thanks for your continued activism.

Senator Peter Courtney
900 Court St. NE, S-201
Salem, OR 97301
sen.petercourtney@state.or.us
503 986 1004

05.03.11

Dear President Courtney,

Having now sat through my second “informational meeting” in the Senate Judiciary Committee, I felt obligated to contact you about the “procedure.”

As you no doubt know, the Judiciary Committee scheduled three bills to be heard last Thursday. However, the hearing was also to be used as the setting for an “informational meeting” on three “concepts”:

Guns in schools, restoration of a felon’s gun rights, and “mental health issues.”

The hearing on the bills and the “informational meeting” ran concurrently, so those who wanted to testify on the bills themselves were sandwiched into the “informational meeting.”

Of course, the first speakers were all representatives of groups that wanted to lobby on behalf of banning concealed handgun license holders from school grounds. Interestingly, all of these people had testimony that referred to a specific amendment to a specific bill.

No one who came to support gun rights saw any amendment nor did either of the two Republican members of the Committee.

Chairman Prozanski insisted there were no amendments, yet even after making that statement, references were made to “the dash-1” amendments.

The first speakers were given an unlimited amount of time to speak. By the time anyone who supported gun rights was given an opportunity to testify, their time limit was down to 2 minutes.

No representative of any organized pro-gun group was given a chance to present testimony in spite of having signed up before many of the anti-gun, school representatives.

When time ran out, we were informed that the “meeting” would continue today, Tuesday.  When we arrived, sign up sheets for all three bills and the “informational meeting” were available on the table in the hearing room. Several people signed up.

From the beginning of this “hearing” we were informed that testimony would be limited to 2 minutes. So now, we were limited to two minutes to testify on three bills, all of which we requested and worked on, and all of  which received overwhelming support in the House. But we also had to testify on three “concepts”, none of which we were allowed to see in spite of a direct request to Senator Prozanski to share them with us.

Having listened to extensive and inaccurate testimony from the government school representatives last week we now had two minutes to refute their comments, discuss two other “concepts” (still unseen) and three important gun bills.  In all we were afforded 20 seconds for each issue.

Clearly, the bills in question never received an adequate hearing. They were barely discussed at all.

“Mental health” received almost no comment, felons’ rights restoration received no comment at all, and the hearings were instead used as an opportunity to bash license holders by people who clearly seemed to be familiar with amendments Senator Prozanski claims do not exist.

Today, as you well know, a number of people who had signed up to testify were simply ignored, although one person who signed up today was inexplicably given her two minutes.

After the hearing, Senator Prozanski contacted several inviting them to come in to testify tomorrow, claiming he had “overlooked” the new “sign up” sheet even though one person who did get to testify was only on the new sign up sheet, not having been there last week.

As you also know, this invitation came only after those people came together to your office to complain about the shoddy treatment they had received after taking time off from work to participate in the process.

If it is the desire of your caucus to kill these bills, that is their prerogative. They can take no action on them, amend them or simply vote them down. But this process, wherein bills of importance to enough people to have received overwhelming support from the House are used as a theatrical event to promote the erosion of the rights of the most law-abiding people in the state is an outrageous misuse of the system.

At a time when the idea of “government transparency” is gaining public attention, it’s absurd to invite people to testify and then refuse to allow them to know what they are testifying about.

Frankly, we’ve seen this before on the same issue. Several years ago Senator Burdick held hearings on a school gun ban in a courthouse, where, of course, CHL holders are forbidden with their self-defense tools. The hearing date was given to the opponents of gun rights before the Republican members of the Senate were told when it was, and seating was “reserved” for anti-gun speakers.

If members of your body want to disarm CHL holders in spite of their own admittance that there have been exactly zero problems, they can introduce a bill and make an effort to pass it. But to misuse the process, prevent proper testimony about important bills from getting on the record and refuse to allow the public to know what members’ intentions are is a sorry excuse for governing.

Kevin Starrett
Director
Oregon Firearms Federation

Ginny Burdick’s Testimony

Oregon Education Association’s Testimony

School Superintendent’s Testimony

Ceasefire Oregon HB 2792

Ceasefire Oregon HB 2787

Ceasefire Oregon Guns In Schools

Karen Twain’s Testimony.

Today’s Senate Judiciary Committee “hearing” was another display of the paranoia of the anti-liberty crowd.

Although the meeting was supposed to be a hearing on three good gun bills, it was, in fact, nothing more than theater arranged by, and for, the anti-gun rights, government school establishment.

In an unusual “informational meeting”, the opponents of gun rights were given a virtual monopoly on public testimony, but more, they were given information provided to no one else and the opportunity to testify at length before anyone from the pro-freedom side had a chance to respond. While limited and abbreviated testimony was taken from a few pro gun citizens, no one from OFF or NRA had a chance to testify in spite of the fact that they were “signed in” before almost everyone else.

The meeting followed a format we have never seen before. The “informational meeting” took center stage but no pro-gun people had any insights into exactly what the meeting was about. Strangely, that was not true of the people who testified on behalf of the government schools.

They repeatedly voiced their support for “amendments to HB 2797.” 2797 is the bill that clarifies lawful carry of handguns on motorcycles, ATVs and snowmobiles. The “amendments” clearly outlawed CHL holders from being on school property. Oddly, only the government school representatives seemed to have actually seen these “amendments.” Even one member of the committee asked what these supposed “amendments” were, since he had not seen them either.

After repeated references to these amendments. the chair of the committee, Floyd Prozanski, informed the audience that “there were no amendments to any of the bills” being heard today. But even after he said that several times, more representatives of the government schools referred to the “amendments to HB 2797.”

It was quite odd that numerous people who worked for the state school establishment testified in favor of amendments to a specific bill that would outlaw CHL carry on school property, but no one else saw these amendments and the Chair insisted they did not exist. Someone is not being very forthcoming.

Although we were told that the “informational meeting” would cover guns in schools, rights restoration for people with felony convictions, and “mental health issues” it was clear that the focus was on licensed carry at schools. It was also clear that the anti-gun school establishment was privy to inside information denied to everyone else.

The government school reps trotted out all the same paranoid cliches they have been relying on for years. School superintendent Susan Castillo testified that guns in schools were a dangerous proposition and illustrated her position by citing Columbine, Thurston High School and Virginia Tech. When asked if any of those shooters were concealed handgun license holders she admitted they were not, but the schools did not want to “wait “until a CHL holder opened fire on a class full of children.  (Hey, it could happen, right?)  Of course, just as every CHL holder is a potential mass murderer, every public school teacher is a potential child molester. So clearly we need to address that issue.

Ginny Burdick demonstrated, once again, her perennially addled state by testifying that CHL holders could not be trusted in schools because they did not have the extensive training that police have. She went on to illustrate her point by citing data from the New York City Police Department which concluded that NYC cops rarely hit their targets.

This is an interesting argument. On the one hand, the anti-gun crowd does not want to recognize the CHLs from other states because they may not meet Oregon’s lofty training requirements. On the other hand, we cannot trust CHL holders in schools because they have such paltry training requirements.

Of course, over and over, the anti-gun mouthpieces complained about the carnage caused by guns in schools. And over and over they were asked if any of the people who were responsible for violence in schools were CHL holders. The number of problems involving CHLs according to the anti-liberty zealots?  Er…uhh…oh…none.

After listening to multiple representatives of the Oregon government schools testify that the most law abiding Oregonians need to be disarmed because of the acts of the most criminal Oregonians, we were struck with a horrifying thought. These people are teaching our children. There have been few more compelling arguments for homeschooling than today’s testimony.

If you are a public school teacher, you should know how you are being represented in Salem. If you are a parent with children in the public school system you should know how your children are being propagandized.

In spite of Prozanski’s repeated denials, there would seem to be amendments to one of the gun bills to, once again, dredge up the failed efforts to ban CHL holders from being on school property. Why we are allowed to be in malls, parks and even the Capitol, but we can’t be trusted to pick up our children from school is never answered by the school union reps, the School Superintendent, or the orchestrated and delusional members of the government school monopoly.

Either the teachers’ union or the Chairman of the committee is lying about the phantom “amendments” to 2797.  The hearing ended with no testimony from any member of the gun lobby. Prozanski announced that he would pick this hearing up again next Tuesday. If the deck will be stacked again then, we cannot say. It is clear however, that there is an effort to butcher the pro-gun bills that passed the House with wide margins.

We strongly encourage you to continue to make your voice heard on the three bills that were supposed to be heard today. Please contact the following Senators and tell them to pass House Bills 2787, 2792, and 2797 as passed by the House with NO amendments. These are the people that need to hear from you. Do not be hesitant to contact them multiple times.

Floyd Prozanski
Capitol Phone:
503-986-1704
District Phone:
541-342-2447
sen.floydprozanski@state.or.us

Jackie Dingfelder
Capitol Phone:
503-986-1723
District Phone:
503-493-2804
sen.jackiedingfelder@state.or.us

Suzanne Bonamici
Capitol Phone:
503-986-1717
District Phone:
503-627-0246
sen.suzannebonamici@state.or.us

As we previously reported, the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hear three pro-gun bills tomorrow at 8:30 am. The bills scheduled for tomorrow are:

HB 2787 A.
Prohibits public body from releasing information that identifies holder of or applicant for concealed handgun license.

HB 2792 A
Provides nonresidents who are authorized to carry concealed handgun in another state with protections provided to persons with Oregon concealed handgun license.

HB 2797 A
Describes “readily accessible for purpose of prohibition on possessing readily accessible, concealed handgun within vehicle, when vehicle is snowmobile, motorcycle or all-terrain vehicle.

As of now, they have only been scheduled for a hearing, not a “work session,” so it’s likely that whatever amendments are sure to be drafted for these bills will not be adopted until a later date.

We have also reported that an unusual  “informational meeting” has been scheduled at the same hearing.  The topics will be:

-Guns on public school grounds
-Restoration of privileges for persons convicted of felonies
-Access to firearms for persons suffering from mental health issues

No doubt the “mental health issue” discussion will include this unfortunate incident.

Public testimony is “welcome” but the pro-gun side has not been informed what to expect. It’s pretty difficult to prepare your testimony when you have no idea what “solutions” are going to be discussed. This will be a pivotal hearing for gun rights so we strongly encourage you to attend if at all possible. The hearing is scheduled for 8:30 am in room 343 at the State Capitol. You can monitor the hearing on line using this link. We are guessing that some folks on the other side of the issue may have more insights into what is going to be happening tomorrow than we do. Stay tuned.

Also tomorrow there is a possibility that the House will vote on HB 2791. This bill ends the State Police involvement in background checks and turns them over to the Feds who do not charge and have a far better track record of getting checks done quickly.  Please send a note to your House Rep and urge support for HB 2791. This commonsense bill would save Oregon and Oregonians countless dollars, and gun buyers countless headaches.

You can contact your own rep using this link.

Senate Judiciary Committee Announces  “Discussion on Topics Relating to Firearms.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee, dominated by anti-gun Democrats, has announced that on Thursday, April 28th, it will be holding an “informational meeting on topics related to firearms.”

On the agenda; guns on public school grounds, restoration of gun rights for people convicted of felonies, and access to firearms for persons “suffering from mental health issues”.

This meeting is scheduled for 8:30 AM in room 343 in the Capitol. The public is encourged to attend.

In plain English what this means is that, once again, the anti-gun zealots will be trying to prevent CHL holders from being anywhere where school children gather, they will try to overturn SB 603 from 2009 and probably add more people to the list of those who should be denied firearms because of “mental health issues” even though we have demonstrated to many in the legislature that there are already people on this list who should never have been there, as we predicted.

There are three pro-gun bills on the schedule for that meeting as well.

We have good reason to believe these bill will be used as vehicles to be amended and turned into anti-gun bills.

It is essential that you, once again, contact the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and demand that they NOT butcher the good bills that passed the House with large majorities.

There are only two Republicans on the Committee. Both are pro-gun and do not need to hear from you unless you are writing to thank them for their commitment to your rights. The three Democrats are going to be the problem.

We encourage you to let them know that you do not want the pro-gun bills used as bargaining chips for Ginny Burdick’s radical anti-rignts agenda.

The Democrats on the committee are :

Floyd Prozanski
Capitol Phone:
503-986-1704
District Phone:
541-342-2447
sen.floydprozanski@state.or.us

Jackie Dingfelder
Capitol Phone:
503-986-1723
District Phone:
503-493-2804
sen.jackiedingfelder@state.or.us

Suzanne Bonamici
Capitol Phone:
503-986-1717
District Phone:
503-627-0246
sen.suzannebonamici@state.or.us

Sample message follows:

_____________________________________________________________

Dear Senator,

On Thursday you will have before you three House bills that protect the rights of your constituents. I will be very disappointed if you allow those bills to become vehicles to attack the rights of the people whom you serve.

Yours,

_________________________________________________________________

SENATE BILL GETS TANKED. DEMS PLAN TO USE PRO-GUN HOUSE BILLS TO PROMOTE GUN CONTROL.

Senate Bill 934, scheduled, once again, for a work session today in the Senate Judiciary Committee, was shelved after the chairman, Floyd Prozanski, determined that the amendments he had requested where “not ready for prime time.” Instead, Prozanski plans to use pro-gun House bills that have already passed the House and been assigned to his committee, to include new gun restrictions.

Once bills pass one chamber, either the House or Senate, they are assigned to a committee in the other chamber. There they can be amended into nearly anything.

Three bills have already passed the House and been sent to Prozanski’s committee: HB 2787, HB 2792, and HB 2797.

Today Prozanski announced that on Thursday, April 28, some or all of those bills would be amended to include anti-gun provisions. One that he mentioned was a new “no guns in schools” element. He used the term “campus”, so we don’t know if he will be attempting to outlaw guns in all schools or just on college campuses. If it is colleges he is after, it’s an ironic time to do it. Our lawsuit against the Oregon University System is awaiting a decision in the Oregon Appeals Court and more and more states are promoting legislation to allow guns on college campuses.

Oregon would be making a great leap backward.

Prozanski also mentioned a proposed change in the law that allows felons in Oregon to request firearms rights restoration. We have received unconfirmed reports that there may even be an attempt to use our motorcycle/atv bill to introduce more restrictions when carrying on those vehicles.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to see amendments to bills until they are actually adopted. It is now not uncommon for legislators who are being asked to vote on bills to not have copies of them. We never have seen the amendments to SB 934. It is quite possible that we will not be able to tell you in advance exactly what changes are being proposed for the House Bills you worked so hard to pass, but it is safe to say, based on the makeup of the Democratic Party’s leadership in the Senate, that they won’t be good.

We are facing the very real prospect that every positive action taken in the House will be reversed in Prozanski’s committee. Not only will the gains we’ve made likely be overturned, but our bills could become successful vehicles for new rights restrictions. We clearly have a fight on our hands.

Please take a moment to contact the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and tell them not to use the good bills the House has passed as a vehicle for more restrictions on your rights.

You can reach them all by email using this link.

If you have any problems using that link, or your browser does not connect directly to your email program, their individual contact and a sample message info follows:

Floyd Prozanski
900 Court St. NE, S-417
Salem, OR 97301
Capitol Phone:
503-986-1704
sen.floydprozanski@state.or.us

Jeff Kruse
900 Court St. NE, S-315
Salem, OR 97301
Capitol Phone:
503-986-1701
sen.jeffkruse@state.or.us

Suzanne Bonamici
900 Court St. NE, S-403
Salem, OR 97301
Capitol Phone:
503-986-1717
sen.suzannebonamici@state.or.us

Jackie Dingfelder
900 Court St. NE, S-407
Salem, OR 97301
Capitol Phone:
503-986-1723
sen.jackiedingfelder@state.or.us

Doug Whitsett
900 Court St. NE, S-303
Salem, OR 97301
Capitol Phone:
503-986-1728
sen.dougwhitsett@state.or.us

_____________________________________________________________________

Dear Senator,

I am deeply concerned that bills passed in the House to protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners will be used by your committee to institute new restrictions on my rights.

The House Bill passed by wide margins and reflects the desires of the people of Oregon. I strongly urge you not to turn back the clock on gun rights in Oregon.

Yours,

_________________________________________________________________________

ONE BILL MOVES, ONE BILL HELD OVER

Today, both the Senate and House Judiciary Committees were scheduled to vote on bills that would save gun owners enormous hassles and Oregonians millions of dollars.

The Senate Committee was, once again, due to vote on SB 934, a bill which would remove the responsibility for running firearms background checks from the Oregon State Police and turn those checks over to the feds, who do not charge and have a far better track record of getting the checks done efficiently.

For the record, OFF does not support or endorse any background checks for a number of reasons. FIrst, we believe it is a prior restraint on your rights. Second we do not believe it prevents bad actors from getting guns.  However, as long as we are saddled with a federal mandate to subject ourselves to background checks, we believe we should have the least time consuming and least expensive system we can. RIght now, that would be the federal NICS system.

Although SB 934 has been scheduled for action for several days, it was once again postponed. We have been told that amendments to the bill have been drafted, but as of now, we have not been permitted to see them. It is very likely that the amendments will completely change the contents of the bill. Until we see the amendments we simply do not know. However, when we see them, you will see them.

In the House, a work session was held on a similar bill, HB 2791.

As with SB 934, this bill would end the fees and delays on background checks by removing the State Police as the point of contact. While more and more states who rely on local authorities have been experiencing problems with background checks, states that use the national NICS system have been having no problems.

The House Judiciary Committee took testimony from the Oregon State Police at today’s work session even though OSP chose not to comment at the public hearing where testimony is normally taken. At that hearing, the only testimony taken against the bill was from the public employee’s union.

The OSP said that the delays dealers have been experiencing while trying to contact them on the phone, and the surge in delays in approvals was due to a big increase in background check requests. Oddly, they also said that in spite of the almost three million dollars in federal grants already received to forward mental health records to the feds, they have not yet done so.

While we, of course, wonder what they have been doing with the money, we are more perplexed by the statement that they have not shared any mental health records as required by federal law.

To be clear, we oppose sharing that data and fought hard to prevent Oregon from enacting a law that forced us into compliance with the NRA-and-Brady-Campaign-backed legislation demanding this sensitive information. But the fact is, we are now stuck with this law and the OSP has gotten lots of money to comply. What is particularly inexplicable is their statement that they have shared no information with the feds, when we already know of one person who has been denied firearms purchases because of mental health records that the feds recently got.

What’s even more troubling is that this person had already had his rights restored by the courts! So why his private data was shared with the feds is a mystery.  Clearly, someone is not getting his story straight.

A side note to this issue is that Psychiatric Safety Review Board has received almost $300,000.00 to conduct gun rights restoration hearings and so far has conducted …none. They have also created a resolution process so onerous, expensive and invasive that few rational people would attempt it. When you get a boatload of money to run a process that no one wants to engage in, you get to keep a boatload of money.

The vote on HB 2791 had a few surprises.

(One thing that was not a surprise was when Representative Carolyn Tomei expressed opposition to the bill because she wanted to “keep Oregon jobs.”  In other words, gun owners should pay twice in order to insure that the people who work in the ID unit at OSP have jobs. The millions in savings to Oregon did not impress Tomei.)

The first surprise was when Representative Andy Olson vote no. Usually a reliable supporter of gun rights, Olson’s “no” vote was unexpected.  Mary Nolan, who can always be counted on to vote against gun rights, regardless of the millions in potential savings for Oregon, stated that it was Olson’s vote that convinced her to vote “no.”  Representative Gene Whisnant was excused at the time of the vote. As a supporter, his vote was crucial. (Whisnant was attending other business and not avoiding this vote.)

In the end Representaitves Krieger, Barker, Wand, Hicks and Schaufler vote yes.

A “yes” vote was a vote for gun rights and common sense.

Tomei, Nolan and Olson voted no.

The deciding vote, which passed the bill, came from Representative Chris Garrett, who said that while he expected to vote “no” on the floor, he was casting a courtesy vote for the excused Whisnant and voted “yes.”

Ironically, a regular supporter of gun rights, Andy Olson, almost sank this important bill, and a Democrat who often votes against gun rights saved it.

We hope they will both reconsider their positions and vote “yes” on the floor of the House, but there can be no denying that it was Garrett’s vote that kept this bill alive.

The bill is now scheduled to go to the full House floor, although procedural moves could send it to another committee. But right now we have to assume the next step is the House floor.

Please take a moment to write your own House rep and urge a “yes” vote on HB 2791.

Your rep can be reached using this link.

A sample message follows:

___________________________________________________________

Dear Representative,

HB 2791 has been voted out of the House Judiciary Committee and should be coming to you on the House floor soon.

This common sense bill can save Oregon millions in duplicated services and eliminate costly delays for Oregon’s law-abiding gun owners. I strongly urge you vote yes on a bill that will accomplish so much at no cost.

Yours,

________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Today is the day Americans usually get to feel good about America by making their patriotic utions to our friends at the Internal Revenue Service. This year we get a few more days to bask in that patriotic glow while writing checks to fund the activities of the Obama Administration.

Three senate bills were scheduled for action yesterday in the Senate Judiciary Committee. They were SB 934, SB 762 and SB 582.

In order, the bills did the following:

SB 934   Removes Department of State Police as designated state point of contact for purposes of National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Requires gun dealer to obtain authorization to transfer firearm directly from system.

Sends background checks back to the Feds.

SB 762  Allows persons convicted of felony to petition for restoration of firearm rights not sooner than 10 years after date of conviction or date person completes sentence, whichever is later.

Reverses the gains we made in 2009 and greatly restricts the ability of people to petition for firearms rights restoration.

SB 582 Prohibits public body from releasing information that identifies holder of or applicant for concealed handgun license.

CHL privacy bill much like the one that has already passed in the House.

We support 934 and 582 and oppose 762.

You may recall that SB 582 received a hearing and was then scheduled for a work session. The day of the scheduled work session we were informed that the bill would not, in fact, receive consideration and was dead. Then it was resurrected with another scheduled work session yesterday.  Once again however, no action was taken on it.

Similarly, no action was taken on SB 762, an anti-gun bill and the source of a lot of confusion.

We have been told that bill will not move forward. We have also been told that SB 582, the privacy bill, will not move forward. But nothing is ever as simple as it sounds.

Testimony was taken on SB 934 but that may very well have been no more than a formality.

The work session for that bill is scheduled for next Monday, and it could very well be “worked” into something unrecognizable. We believe that bill will be used as a vehicle to be amended to include many other concepts than simply ending OSP background checks for dealer sales. It is possible that it won’t even contain that language.

Language from the two bills not dealt with yesterday could be incorporated as could almost anything else, even, for example, a ban on guns on school property. Since the public is not allowed to see the proposed amendments we will have to wait until Monday to update you on what this bill will become. Lately, even people in the hearing room often don’t get to see the proposed amendments and we sometimes don’t know what they are until after they have been adopted. This is part of the legislature’s brilliant new “paperless” policy. The effect of this policy is to keep the public, and often many legislators, in the dark about what is happening to bills.

It is our expectation that CHL privacy will be used as a bargaining chip to get some anti-gun language into a bill. We will, of course, oppose any efforts to water down gun rights.

The House version of SB 934 (the background check bill) is HB 2791 and that bill is scheduled for a hearing next Tuesday in the House Judiciary Committee. We believe we have the votes to get that bill out of committee, but it never hurts to contact the members and voice your support.

During testimony yesterday on SB 934, “Ceasefire Oregon” testified that the huge spike in delays and the trouble dealers are having getting through to the OSP are proof that the system is working. We look forward to more comical testimony on the house bill.

The key to all these bills is still Senator Floyd Prozanski, the Chair of Senate Judiciary. He controls the background check bill, the privacy bill, the recognition bill and the motorcycle /atv bill. Please continue to remind him that gun rights matter to you.

We’ll keep you posted.