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.