SB 1064 RAMMED THROUGH.
SB 1064, the bill we warned you about in our earlier alert today, was rammed through the Senate Rules Committee today. Many of you who received our last alert may have written to the committee AFTER the bill was heard. Notice given that the bill was going to be heard? 1 Hour.
Clearly scheduling bills to be heard in Committee with one hour’s notice is not conducive to constituent input. And that’s, no doubt, the plan.
The hearing was held at 2pm today and passed out of Committee on a party line vote. Republicans Atkinson and Ferrioli voted “no” with Ferrioli giving notice that he may substitute a “minority report.” All three Democrats voted “yes.”
OFF was the only organization testifying in opposition, although we were able to deliver testimony on behalf of the NRA’s Oregon lobbyist who was unable to attend but also opposed the bill. In favor? Floyd Prozanski and “Oregon Gun Owners.”
Long time members may recall that “Oregon Gun Owners” was the group that drafted legislation to outlaw private transfers of firearms at gun shows and in some cases your own home. When OFF defeated that bill in 1999, “Oregon Gun Owners” attempted to put a measure on the ballot to outlaw private firearms transfers at gun shows. That failed as well, but a competing measure sponsored by Ginny Burdick passed. “Oregon Gun Owners” once attempted to hijack OFF’s domain names until threatened with legal action.
We can only speculate as to why OGO has come out of the woodwork to promote another anti-gun bill. They played NO part in the bill they are seeking to overturn and had no position on the basic issue of whether Oregon gun laws should make any sense.
What they HAVE done is give cover to the anti-gun politicians who can now say that a “gun group” supports overturning the progress we made with your help last year.
At this pace it is impossible to say when this bill will be on the floor. But it is possible that it may be there as early as tomorrow.
Please use this link to find your Senator. There is no time for any message except “NO ON SB 1064”