A Wolf In Wolf’s Clothing
04.15.2025
Senate Bill 1015 “Requires the Department of Justice to develop and implement a grant program to award moneys to eligible entities to reduce community violence in communities experiencing disproportionately high rates of community violence.”
Of course, Oregon’s Department of Justice is notoriously anti-gun, having spent millions of your tax dollars to implement extreme firearms restrictions and impose the mandates of MZ 114. But any doubts about the intent of this bill will be quickly dispelled in the first few lines of the legislation.
“As used in this section, “community violence” means intentional, interpersonal violence committed in public with a firearm by someone who is not the victim’s family member or intimate partner.”
Once again the legislature has declared that the only violence is firearms related. The absurdity is epic.
It does not take a lot of imagination to guess where the money (unlimited by this bill) will go. All you have to do is look at the agendas of the gun ban groups who have rebranded themselves as “safety” organizations.
And if our Republican friends in the legislature are still unconvinced they need only check this link to read the following:
“Leaders from our GVP Equity Table, and Oregonians from all backgrounds, helped successfully advocate for $10 million of Community Violence Prevention funding last year from the state legislature. This funding went to organizations across the state working to prevent gun violence before it occurs.”
It is also telling that the bill prohibits funds from going to law enforcement.
From the bill:
“Other organizations for which the primary mission is to increase community safety, except for law enforcement entities.”
“Evidence demonstrating that the proposed community violence prevention services are likely to reduce the incidence of community violence without confining individuals in correctional facilities.”
Let’s not forget that these are the same people who introduced legislation to protect sex offenders, and legalize theft and spitting on police. So there is no question about their priorities.
We know that for decades tax payer money has been used to fund far left organizations and “news” outlets whose mission is to destroy your rights. And now the Oregon legislature is planning to do more of it.
A look at the witness registration list for the bill will demonstrate who is pimping for this latest effort to use your money to attack your safety.
Submitted testimony, as usual, is running overwhelmingly against this bill. Yet the bill was passed out of committee on April 8th with both Republicans voting in favor.
Keep in mind, the Republicans have been telling voters over and over that they should be directing their communication to the Democrats with the absurd contention that we are going to change their minds. Yet when the people overwhelmingly make their voices heard against a bill, not only do the Democrats ignore them and pass it, the Republicans often help!
This bill now moves to the Ways and Means Committee. Will any Republican on that committee question where this money is going? If the bill proceeds to the Senate Floor will any Republican there ask how much this will cost? Or will they rubber stamp legislation that squanders unlimited funds while actually prohibiting their use to lock up violent predators?
On a related note, an appeal has been filed to Oregon’s Supreme Court to challenge the Appeals Court’s ruling that MZ 114 is constitutional.
The Appeals Court’s decision was peculiar to say the least. As this latest filing points out, (among other things) the Appeals Court found that magazines were both protected and could be banned.
At this time the Appeals Court has sent the matter back down to the lower court to “correct” its position that the measure is unconstitutional. So for right now the measure is still not in effect. The Supreme Court can choose to consider this appeal or not. That remains to be seen. HB 3075, which implements all the worst parts of MZ 114 at greatly increased costs, actually repeals MZ 114 so it is unclear how that will impact the court’s response to this appeal.
Since HB 3075 has not yet passed, anything can happen. Clearly if the Republicans develop a spine and block the anti-gun bills the Supreme Court’s response to this latest appeal could be critical.
We’ll keep you posted.
