Author: OFF

There are three gun related bills that have had action you should be aware of.

Yesterday, the Senate passed a bill we requested (SB 603) to define the term “readily accessible” for the purposes of having a handgun in your car. As you know, if a person does not have a concealed handgun license, there are restrictions on how they may transport a handgun in a vehicle.  In most (but not all) places, a loaded handgun can be carried in a vehicle if it is either not concealed, or “not readily accessible.”

The problem is, Oregon does not define what that term means.

We requested and wrote a bill to answer that question. The bill was amended heavily from our original language. Some of the changes were quite good and incorporated language that we had requested in other bills. Those changes would address conflicts in existing law.

Unfortunately, the re-written definition for “readily accessible” created new ambiguities.

We are working to correct those problems when the bill gets to the House.  We believe it will go to the House Judiciary Committee, but because of the late date, it is possible that the bill will go to another committee. Wherever it goes, we will let you know and tell you who you need to contact to request that the language be corrected to eliminate the uncertainties created by the amendments.  The bill passed the Senate with 29 “aye” votes and one Senator excused.

HB 2853 was heard in the House Rules Committee late today. This bill was amended once again and the amendments were only available at the very last minute at the hearing. They are not yet available on line.  The purpose of the bill as amended, is to make Oregon comply with the Federal bill HR 2640, the gun control bill promoted by the Brady Campaign and the NRA after the Virginia Tech killings.

The bill would create a system whereby the Oregon State Police would share mental health records of Oregonians with the FBI and the NICS system.

OFF has opposed this legislation from the beginning and we continue to. We believe that the background check system is already not only a prior restraint on your rights, but so riddled with errors that unwarranted delays and denials are commonplace. We oppose dumping a whole new batch of records into a failed system. Beyond that, the bill places enormous power in Oregon’s “Psychiatric Security Review Board” to decide if you are “mentally defective” ( to use the Fed’s term) and they testified today that they currently would not likely have the resources or manpower to handle the new responsibility. Beyond that, we are not convinced they are necessarily qualified. Keep in mind, the shooter  at Virginia Tech had long exhibited signs of mental illness and aberrant behavior, all of which was ignored by the “mental health professionals” who will be given so much power under this bill.

The committee members expressed reservations with the bill as amended, so your communications have been having an affect. Please don’t stop now.  This bill is far from dead, but your efforts have created doubt about the wisdom of expanding the failed Brady Check system.The bill DID NOT move out of committee today. Please contact the Rules Committee and express your opposition to HB 2853.

For more info please see our previous alert.

Finally, HB 2727, which in its original form protected the privacy of concealed handgun licensees, has gone to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The amended bill provides virtually NO protections for license holders. So we are hoping to have those protections put back in while the bill is in the Senate Committee. For more information see this alert.

CHL PRIVACY BILL GETS SECOND CHANCE

As you know, HB 2727, a bill to protect the privacy of CHL holders, was eviscerated in the House Judiciary Committee by Judy Steigler and passed the full House in its severely amended and almost useless form.

The bill Kim Thatcher worked so hard to pass in order to provide real protections, now provides virtually none. The new bill is so bad that the “Newberg Graphic” calls it “a step in the right direction.”

To get an idea why the Newberg Graphic would applaud this now worthless bill, look at what else they had to say in a recent editorial.  “This newspaper, and many others, have accessed information on CHL holders in order to report, for instance, that teachers with CHL permits are carrying handguns in schools.”

Of course it is absurd to conclude that simply because a person has a permit they are “carrying in school” (although they have every right to do so) but this is the exact kind of abuse we need to address.  The Graphic goes on to say  “That’s information that parents of students should have access to in order to decide if that particular school district needs to change its policies in order to protect its students.” Here, the Graphic displays astonishing ignorance about how Oregon gun laws are enforced, but more so reveals that some organizations clearly want access to this information simply to harass gun owners.

The position that the paper takes, that they need access to these private records to determine if the government is working in the “public’s best interest,” is an obvious sham and a demonstration of why we must do all we can to keep these records private.

CHL holders are not government agencies that require public oversight. CHL holders get licenses because the state demands that they request permission to exercise a right, something not required of residents of states like Alaska and Vermont. As such, the information on your license and application should be as private as your medical records and your tax returns.

But now, thanks to House Democrats, and several Republican Committee members who capitulated on the amendment vote, HB 2727 has morphed into 2727A, a useless piece of window dressing which fixes nothing.

But the story is not over. Before the bill can become law, it must pass the Senate Judiciary Committee and the full Senate. The Chairman of the Senate Committee is Floyd Prozanski.

As chairman he has tremendous control over how this bill proceeds. His committee has the power to amend the bill to return the safeguards that the original bill provided. Prozanski was also a cosponsor of the original bill.

As a cosponsor of the clean bill, Prozanzki knows the importance of real protections for CHL holders, something the amended bill simply does NOT provide.

Because your private, personal information is at stake and available to gun hating organizations like the Newberg Graphic and the Medford Mail Tribune, it is essential that we do all we can to make sure a bill is passed that actually provides the protections that the original bill included.

Please contact Senator Prozanski by e-mail and phone and urge him not to waste time with HB2727 A in its current form. Please consider sending a copy of your e-mail to the entire committee.

Please tell him that the bill provides nothing but window dressing when what we need is real privacy. Sample message follows:

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

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Dear Senator Prozanski,

As an original sponsor of HB 2727, you clearly understand the importance of the protections provided under that bill to holders of concealed handgun licenses.  As an attorney and prosecutor, you also understand how little the amended bill provides in terms of these protections.

HB 2727 A is a pointless exercise in political posturing. Without real safeguards license holders will have been sold a bill of goods by the legislature.  Even now, newspapers like the Newberg Graphic are celebrating the bill as passed because it will allow them to expose the identity of teachers with CHL’s. (See their May 7th editorial.)

When HB 2727 A arrives in your committee, I urge you in the strongest terms to seek and allow, amendments to make the bill actually do something for license holders. WIthout real safeguards, the bill is not worth your time to hear.

Yours,

__________________________

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House Bill 2853 is now scheduled for a hearing in the House Rules Committee.The hearing is scheduled for May 13th at 3PM.

This bill, which we have warned you about before was moved to the Rules Committee to allow it to stay alive after deadlines in other committees would have killed it.

The bill would vastly expand the failed Brady Law and send thousands of “mental health” records to the radically anti-gun Obama administration.

The current Brady checks routinely deny law abiding Oregonians legitimate gun purchases, and now the state is planning to dump thousands of very personal records into a failed system. The State Police have requested this because the Governor demanded that they comply with the NRA sponsored, “HR 2640,” a gun control bill created by an anti-gun New York Congresswoman.

The bill was dead until it was revived by the NRA. Upon its passage, both the NRA and the Brady Campaign sent out victory messages. Now it’s here in Oregon.

In addition to the obvious privacy issues, there is so much potential for abuse that this bill must be stopped.

We have not included a link to the bill because the legislative website does not have current information posted. The bill posted on the website is NOT the bill that has been scheduled for a hearing.

Please contact the House Rules Committee and urge them NOT to turn over personal records to the Obama administration, the FBI, and the BATF. Please tell them that background checks are conducted by our State Police, and the FBI does not need access to the personal records of Oregonians.

If this bill passes, you can rest assured that the records being transferred to the Federal government will be used by Obama and his radically anti-gun Attorney General to deny gun  rights to thousands more Oregonians.

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Dear Representative,

HB 2853 represents one of the greatest invasions of the privacy of Oregonians in recent memory.

Turning over the personal mental health records of Oregonians to the federal government is a page right out of “1984.”

I urge you to use your power to protect the privacy of Oregonians, not to invade it because of outrageous demands from Washington DC.

Yours,

___________________

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CHL “Privacy” Bill Passes House Today

A dramatically weakened CHL “privacy bill” passed the House today with vote of 54 to 4 with two members excused.

The amended bill, 2727 A eliminates the strong protections in the original bill and substitutes language that is more window dressing than substance.

The bill as passed still allows Sheriffs and other government agencies to release private information about license holders at the agency’s discretion.

Representative Larry Galizo was one of four members who voted against the bill. Galizio’s floor speech was riddled with errors and misunderstandings about why gun owners wanted the protections contained in the original bill.

Two other Democrats joined Galizo in voting “no” for even these minimal protections. They were Mitch Greenlick and Mary Nolan. These three would prefer if NO gun owners received any protection from abusive agencies. One Republican voted no as well, but for very different reasons.  Representative Jim Thompson , himself a CHL holder, explained that the bill simply did not go far enough and was “not ready for prime time.” Obviously, we agree.

Other House Reps made it clear that while they would vote for the bill, they understood how little it accomplished. Compelling floor speeches were made by the original bill’s chief sponsor, Kim Thatcher, and Representative Bill Garrard.

We appreciate all the hard work Representative Thatcher and her staff did to craft a strong bill. In the end, the members of the Judiciary Committee chose to water the bill down. While not hurting gun owners it does little to protect them.

The bill now moves to the Senate where OFF will work with pro-gun legislators to try to salvage as much of the original bill as possible.

House Bill 2463 was driven one step closer to official death today.

This long overdue legislation did nothing more than recognize other states’ concealed handgun licenses. (You know, like we recognize other states’ drivers’ licenses.)

It was a simple bill, and to our amazement, it was supported by the Oregon State Sheriffs who have opposed it for as long as it’s been proposed.

Had it passed, Oregonians with CHL’s would have been allowed to carry in a number of other states that currently do not allow it. Visitors to Oregon would have been allowed to protect themselves without breaking the law. Seemed like a win-win.

Then the lawyers got involved.

Four members of the House Judiciary Committee decided to “fix” the bill.  Reps Jefferson Smith. Chris Garrett, Brent Barton and Judy Stiegler drafted amendments to gut the bill and essentially neuter it. They succeeded.

A bill which would have done nothing more that allow other Americans to visit our state and feel safe, turned into the Bride of Frankenstein. This was not a surprise.  What was a bit of a surprise was that there was no opposition.

The entire committee voted to turn this good and needed bill into a  colossal waste of time,guaranteed to die.

The entire committee, Republicans and Democrats, agreed to the amendments which eviscerated this bill. Not a single Republican objected to the poison pill amendments demanded by the Democrat members.

The bill has been moved to the Ways and Means Committee where it is expected to die of neglect. As it should.

At least there was no partisan bickering

House Bill 2853, which we warned you about in this alert has been shipped off to the Rules Committee. Please contact them with and urge them to oppose it.  A suggested message is in the previous alert. House Bill 2463 was driven one step closer to official death today.

This long overdue legislation did nothing more than recognize other states’ concealed handgun licenses. (You know, like we recognize other states’ drivers’ licenses.)

It was a simple bill, and to our amazement, it was supported by the Oregon State Sheriffs who have opposed it for as long as it’s been proposed.

Had it passed, Oregonians with CHL’s would have been allowed to carry in a number of other states that currently do not allow it. Visitors to Oregon would have been allowed to protect themselves without breaking the law. Seemed like a win-win.

Then the lawyers got involved.

Four members of the House Judiciary Committee decided to “fix” the bill.  Reps Jefferson Smith. Chris Garrett, Brent Barton and Judy Stiegler drafted amendments to gut the bill and essentially neuter it. They succeeded.

A bill which would have done nothing more that allow other Americans to visit our state and feel safe, turned into the Bride of Frankenstein. This was not a surprise.  What was a bit of a surprise was that there was no opposition.

The entire committee voted to turn this good and needed bill into a  colossal waste of time,guaranteed to die.

The entire committee, Republicans and Democrats, agreed to the amendments which eviscerated this bill. Not a single Republican objected to the poison pill amendments demanded by the Democrat members.

The bill has been moved to the Ways and Means Committee where it is expected to die of neglect. As it should.

At least there was no partisan bickering

House Bill 2853, which we warned you about in this alert has been shipped off to the Rules Committee. Please contact them with and urge them to oppose it.  A suggested message is in the previous alert.

A bill requested by OFF and pushed for by OFF supporters passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee today.

The bill was intended to define the term “not readily accessible” for the purpose of having a handgun in your car.

Current law allows a person (without a concealed handgun license) to have a loaded handgun in his car under two circumstances:

A) The handgun must either be carried openly, or

B) it must be “not readily accessible.”

(Keep in mind, as a result of a recent court decision, non-licensees can be further restricted if they are in a location like Portland or Oregon City that has prohibitions against open carry.)

The problem with existing law, as you know, is that the statute does not define what “not readily accessible” means.

For example, where would “not readily accessible” be in a Mini Cooper, a pickup truck, or a “smart car” which has no location not within reach of the passengers?

Because the law left gun owners at the mercy of any court that wanted to create their own definition, we requested that a firm and understandable definition be written into the law.

Because of your activism, we not only have a definition, but the bill also contains corrections in Oregon law that we have been seeking and you have been demanding.

As passed out of committee, not only does SB 603 provide a clear definition of the term “readily accessible” it also corrects Oregon law in two important areas that were clearly legislative mistakes. And none of this would have happened without your continued efforts. (If you are looking up the bill online, please keep in mind that the original posted on the legislative website is NOT the bill passed out of committee today.)

Current Oregon law says that a person with a felony conviction can ask the court to have his rights restored to BUY a firearm, but he may not OWN it! SB 603 corrects this error.

Current Oregon law says that a person with only one felony conviction, not involving a homicide or a weapons charge, automatically gets his firearms rights restored after 15 years. But ONLY to be free from being charged with “felon in possession.”  That person still faces the possibility of being charged with MISDEMEANOR unlawful possession. SB 603 corrects this error as well.

The bill now goes to the full  Senate. We suggest you contact your own State Senator and urge him to vote in favor of SB 603.  The bill will then have to go to the  House Judiciary Committee and the full House for a vote. We will keep you appraised of its progress. If you need to find your State Senator, please use this link. Your STATE senator will be the 4th name listed.

That is the good news.

The bad news is that HB 2463 a bill which would have recognized other states’ concealed handgun licenses has been twisted by some committee Democrats into an unrecognizable shadow of its original intent.  As modified by members of the committee, the bill would be useless window dressing. We believe the bill is almost certainly dead, guaranteeing that we will NOT have the benefits of more states recognizing our CHL’s that we would have under the original bill. We believe the Chairman of the Committee, Representative Jeff Barker made a good faith effort to move this bill, but was thwarted by other members of his party.

In the unlikely event that this bill moves, it will almost certainly serve no purpose for gun owners.

In addition, House Bill 2853 is scheduled for another “work session” tomorrow. This bill has also been altered so dramatically that the original language is completely gone. As amended, this horrible bill would force Oregon to comply with the NRA-sponsored federal bill HR 2640, that requires that the medical  mental health records of thousands of Oregonians be turned over to the anti-gun, Obama administration run, “National Instant Check System”  a vast federal database that regularly denies gun purchases to people with no disqualifying incidents. This is a very dangerous bill.  We think this will be moved to another committee and if it is we will ask that you contact that committee and urge that it be voted down.

Stay tuned. We’ll keep you informed.

House Bill 2463, a bill that would have recognized the concealed handgun licenses of other states, is in serious trouble.

As originally crafted, the bill would have allowed persons with concealed handgun licenses from any other state to carry firearms in Oregon. To our surprise and pleasure, the Oregon Sheriffs approved of the bill and it passed out of committee with an amendment to also allow persons who could lawfully carry in their home states WITHOUT LICENSES, to carry here.

The bill passed out of committee, but, as you know, House Democrats attacked it and it was returned to committee. That bill was due to have a “work session” today where it would have been voted on again.

However, amendments demanded by Democrats would now require that we would only accept licenses from states that accept ours or states which have “substantially similar” requirements to ours.

Because the State Police would be required to determine which other  states had “substantially similar requirements” they would have to be funded to do the research. In the current environment anything that has a cost will be far more difficult to pass, especially since so much of the State Police budget is on the chopping block. (Staffers at the State Police ID unit have been contacting gun dealers to warn them that the ID unit may be closed, turning background checks over to the Feds.)  As a result of the fiscal impact the new bill would have, and because the committee did not yet have the fiscal impact reports, the bill was pulled from the schedule today.

In addition to the obvious financial roadblocks created by the proposed amendments, it should be noted that when the CHL law was first changed in 1989, it had very similar language. At that time, Oregon could recognize any state’s license that was “substantially similar.” Guess how many the State Police approved of.  If you guessed zero, you would be right.

The State Police concluded that not a single state had provisions for a license that were good enough for Oregon. Not even New York City’s license was good enough.

Subsequently, as a result of the complete capitulation on the part of people claiming to represent gun owners in the 90’s, even the possibility of accepting other states’ licenses was removed from law.  The position of some gun groups at the time was, “well they won’t accept other licenses so we may as well let them take it out of the law.” And so, here we are again.

There is no question that the amendments were intended as a poison pill for this legislation. Not only will the fiscal impact almost certainly doom it, but history has shown that the State Police will not be inclined to accept a single other state’s license.

The Oregon Sheriffs have taken the position that they supported the original bill as the easiest, fairest way to deal with non-resident licenses. The Judiciary Committee could have simply allowed gun owners from any other state the option of applying for an Oregon CHL. Then, not only would it not have COST the  Police money, it could have MADE them money. Instead, they chose to write an amendment which will torpedo the intent of the bill, even in the unlikely event the fiscal impact does not doom it.

This is political game playing at its worst. Please contact the  House Judiciary Committee and urge them to vote on the original bill with no  “poison pill” amendments.

A sample message follows:

___________________________________________________________________

Dear Representative,

The proposed “dash 2” amendments to HB 2463 are little more than a disguised attempt to kill the bill.

At a time when the State Police budget is so in jeopardy that the ID unit itself may be forced to close, it’s highly unlikely that they will be able to fund the necessary research to determine which other states have requirements for CHL’s that are “substantially similar” to ours.

But even if money were not an issue, you should know that, in the past, Oregon law allowed us to recognize other states’ permits. At that time, it was the State Police who were to decide which licenses to accept. They refused to accept a single one.

I believe that the “dash 2” amendments are simply an effort to kill the bill. I urge you to vote “no” on the amendments and “yes” on the bill.

Yours,

_________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

On another note, for those of you who may have subjected yourself to the preposterous ABC anti-gun screed “If I Only Had A  Gun” you may want to have a look at some of the reprehensible methods ABC used to create their fantasy anti-gun piece.

It was an eventful week for gun rights, not only in Oregon, but nationally.

A bill to protect the privacy of concealed handgun license holders passed out of the House Judiciary Committee, although heavily watered down from its original language.

President Obama went to Mexico where he blamed their orgy of violence on the US and pledged to ratify a gun control treaty.

Obama, as expected, replayed the totally discredited lie that the murderous drug gangs in Mexico get “90%” of their guns from the United States.

While absurd, it plays well into the Obama administration’s efforts to impose draconian regulations on Americans. Obama did not mention that vast quantities of firearms made in the USA wind up in the hands of Mexican thugs when their police and military defect and join the drug gangs, bringing their US made weapons with them.  It should be noted that Obama has also pledged Blackhawk helicopters to the Mexican government.  It should not be long before we see those showing up in the hands of the drug cartels.

At the same time, the new head of the Department of “Homeland Security” issued a report stating that gun owners, pro-lifers, people who believed in secure borders and returning veterans, were prone to be dangerous “right wing extremists.”

The report coincided with a bill in the Oregon House to turn over thousands of private mental health records to the Obama administration with the express purpose of using them to prevent gun purchases.

The bill in question, HB 2853, said nothing about mental health records when it was written, but amendments were drafted (and more are coming) to “gut and stuff” the bill with extremely dangerous language to force Oregon into compliance with the NRA backed Brady expansion bill passed by the US Congress in 2007.

We have been able to delay action on this bill, but it is still scheduled to be heard, so it is essential that you contact the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee with the  simple message, “DO NOT HEAR HB 2853. Our private records should not be turned over to an administration that has pledged to eliminate gun rights.”

The bill to require Oregon to recognize other states’ concealed handgun licenses (which actually passed out of committee only to be withdrawn when committee Democrats objected) has been delayed numerous times and, although is now scheduled for a work session, may not survive. If it does, it’s safe to say it will be amended into something far from its original intention. This is extremely unfortunate, since even the sheriffs, who for years fought this concept, are now on board. Once again, committee Democrats are attempting, behind the scenes, to dilute this bill. We will not know what their intentions are until the proposed amendments are available, which may not be until the day the bill is voted on in committee.

On the Senate side, SB 603, a bill we requested to define the term “not readily accessible” for purposes of carrying a handgun in your car, was scheduled for Monday but now has been rescheduled for Thursday the 23d of April. Legislative schedules are changing on an hourly basis, so we cannot tell you with any certainty if this bill will be heard on that date or changed once again.

The Chairman of the committee slated to hear that bill, Senator Floyd Prozanski had led us to believe he would also hear SB 573. This was an incredibly simple bill that did nothing more than fix a previous legislative screw-up.

Currently Oregon law says that a person with a felony conviction can ask the court to have her rights restored to buy a firearm. So, someone who made a mistake, or violated one of the thousands and thousands of rules that can make you a felon, could go to a court, demonstrate that they had turned their life around, and ask for permission to have their rights restored.

Keep in mind, they could only “ask.” There is not a guarantee their request would be granted.

But here’s the problem. While that person could request permission to BUY a firearm, current Oregon law still forbids them from OWNING it.  It’s clearly an error, But in spite of numerous e-mails, phone calls and personal meetings with Prozanski (at his request), we could never get him to understand that the law simply makes no sense.

Prozanski is an attorney and a prosecutor, but he continued to mix up this section of the law, with a completely different section of the law that is supposed to return gun rights after 15 years to a person with only one felony.

That section of the law also contains errors. In that section, a person with only one felony (which did not involve a homicide or a weapon) AUTOMATICALLY, gets their gun rights back after 15 years. But only to no longer face “felony in possession” charges. They can still be charged with “misdemeanor unlawful possession.”

Multiple attempts to address THAT mistake have gone nowhere with this legislature.

Frankly, we are baffled by Prozanski’s refusal to address what is clearly an error in the law.

The deadline for scheduling bills was today at 5 PM. Prozanski has chosen to ignore this simple but important bill.

While it is still possible for the bill to move ahead if extraordinary steps are taken, right now it’s almost certain that the bill is dead.

No matter what your position on gun ownership is, it is hard to explain why a legislator would prefer to protect a law that simply makes no sense.

Finally, a bill that would have allowed CHL holders to bypass background checks has been delayed and rescheduled, as have many. We cannot predict which bills will be heard or when. The fact that they appear on a schedule is no guarantee that they will be acted on. But, should any action take place, we will let you know.

CHL PRIVACY BILL MOVES OUT OF COMMITTEE WITH MASSIVE AMENDMENTS.

Happy tax day.

Today, thousands of Oregonians gathered on the steps of the Capitol and demanded a return to rational government.  Despite what some mainstream media outlets have reported, the crowd was tremendous and enthusiastic.  Inside, a bill of great importance to many Oregon gun owners was being rendered unrecognizable.

House Bill 2727, a bill OFF has been working on since before the current session began, passed out of the House Judiciary Committee today.

The bill in no way resembles the original, clean and simple bill that Representative Kim Thatcher worked so hard and long to produce.

The bill is now a much longer, more complicated measure with far fewer protections for gun owners. While we believe that the bill as amended won’t hurt gun owners, in many respects it was simply a great leap…sideways.

The bill is no longer a “gun owners” bill. Now it simply empowers sheriffs to withhold license holders’ personal information if they want to, and release it if they want to.

The amendments, written by Democrat Judy Stielger, leave far to many options for abuse.

The amendments were adopted by the entire committee with the exception of Representative Kevin Cameron who supported the original bill and took a principled stand and voted NO on the amendments. We applaud Representative Cameron for standing up for gun rights and we want to thank Representative Kim Thatcher for months of hard work. She tried her best to pass the best bill she could. In the end, politics won out over policy.

The bill now moves to the full House.

Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a work session on HB 2991, a bill which would exempt CHL holders from background checks for firearms purchases. Based on how this session has unfolded, that bill could easily be pulled from the schedule. We will let you know.

Recognition Bill Yanked Off Schedule… Again.

Yesterday we told you that the CHL recognition bill, HB 2463 was going to be heard today. (We hoped.)

We hoped too soon.

Once again the bill was pulled from the schedule.

The best information we have is that Democrats on the committee (who claimed to support the original bill) are now trying to change it to make if far more restrictive.

Now it seems they will reduce greatly the number of states whose licenses we will accept. As a result of those intended changes, someone, presumably the state police, will have to determine which states have requirements that are similar to ours. And THAT of course, will cost money. These new fiscal requirements are part of the reason for the delay.

The bill is now scheduled for Monday April 20th. Also on April 20th the SENATE Judiciary Committee will be hearing Senate Bill 603, a bill which we requested to define the term “readily accessible ” for the transportation of firearms in cars..

Tomorrow, the CHL privacy bill is still on the schedule, but may very well be amended beyond recognition. It’s not too late to contact the House Judiciary Committee and tell them you want a bill with the most possible protections for your personal information and a bill that gives sheriffs the discretion to disclose it is not what you expect when the legislature deals with this issue.

Today in Eugene, the Oregon Appeals Court heard our appeal in the Medford teacher case.

The Medford School District made several arguments.  They said that their rule forbidding employees from having self defense firearms was not a “regulation” since it only applied to employees and not the general public.

When the Court asked if the general public was allowed on school property armed, the school district’s lawyer said they “had no policy on that.” But moments later he said that he thought that schools that DID have that policy were obeying the law, which of course undercut his first argument.

His argument, of course, also would mean that the Department of Human Services COULD restrict gun rights for foster parents, because THEY are not the entire population, and the Port of Portland COULD have rules against gun possession because that would only effect people who go to the airport. As you know, both DHS and the Port of Portland have backed off on their anti-gun rules after OFF confronted them.

Then the school district argued that the law did not apply to them because they are not a “district.”  Which of course, they are. That’s why they are called a school “district.”

It’s impossible to know how the court will decide. But it was significant that one of the three judges closed the hearing by stating that the court should not even be dealing with this matter, that the legislature should address it, and in fact had a bill before them to address it.

The bill he was referring to was Senate Bill 568, a bill drafted by OFF to stop government agencies from making a “condition of employment”  that an employee gives up her gun rights. This, like several other bills, is being held up in the Senate Judiciary Committee by Chairman Floyd Prozanski. Prozanski has stated he plans to hold hearings on at least two of our bills, but has yet to schedule any and time is running out.

Tomorrow, the long awaited CHL recognition bill, HB 2463 will finally (we hope) receive a work session in the House Judiciary Committee.

As you know, this bill was already voted on once, and passed by this same committee, but was withdrawn and  sent back to committee after Democrats objected.

Tomorrow they get a second shot at it. We believe there is a strong likelihood that House Democrats will introduce amendments to substantially weaken the bill.

Please contact the committee and urge them to vote for a bill that will recognize all other states’ licenses as the Oregon Sheriffs have requested. Remember, this bill does not only help visitors to our state, it helps Oregonians who have CHL’s because this would open up many other states to recognizing our permits. Contact information and a sample message follow:

———————————————————————-
Dear Representative,

HB 2463 would recognize other states’ handgun licenses, just as many other states recognize ours.

Currently, Oregon recognizes NO other states’ licenses and as a result, Oregon CHL holders are often not allowed to carry in other states because we have refused to accept their licenses.

As you know, law enforcement supports this bill. I urge you to pass the most inclusive possible bill to benefit not only visitors to our state, but Oregon residents as well.

Yours,

____________________

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The coming weeks will be busy ones for gun rights in Oregon. But first, Oregon gun owners should know that both their US Senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, cast an important vote on April 2nd.

Wyden and Merkley both voted AGAINST an amendment to a Senate budget bill that would have allowed law abiding gun owners to transport firearms in their checked bags when traveling on the perennially broke, but taxpayer funded, Amtrak.

That’s right. Wyden and Merkley voted to prevent you from legally transporting a firearm on a train, something you can do on an airplane.

Amtrak, which should be considered “light rail” because it’s rarely weighed down by passengers, is chronically broke. Apparently, both Merkley and Wyden want to keep it that way. Thankfully, other states elected enough senators who think clearly and the amendment passed.

MONDAY APRIL 13th.
Oral arguments in the Medford Teacher Lawsuit.
Our appeal of the court decision denying public school employees their right to self defense will be heard at 9am at the University of Oregon School of Law. The address is 1515 Agate Street, Eugene Oregon. Room 241.  (Be advised, the classroom will be considered a “courtroom” and as such it will be unlawful for license holders to be armed in the room.) Fittingly,students at OSU are hosting a “Second Amendment Week” starting on this day. We have been reliably informed that the school administration is so nervous, they have requested State Police in riot gear. No, we are NOT making this up.

The following bills are to be dealt with in the House Judiciary Committee. The committee meets at 1 PM in Room 357. These proceedings can be viewed live online here or here. Note, the video feed is on 24 hours a day, so you can check your connection before the dates of  the work sessions. There is no audio feed until the proceedings start. Please keep in mind that the chairman can remove any bill from the schedule with no notice. Even if the bill is listed on online committee schedules at the time of the meeting, the listed bills can be bypassed.

Tuesday April 14th
Work session, House Bill 2463 which would recognize other states’ handgun licenses. Note, this bill previously passed out of this committee with amendments that would have allowed gun owners, from states that don’t require licenses, to carry in Oregon. Democrats on the committee had a collective fit and the bill was returned to committee to be reconsidered. Because this bill has been delayed extensively, we believe there may be restrictive amendments introduced at the work session. They will most likely  not be available prior to to the work session.

Wednesday April 15th
Work session, HB 2727 to protect the privacy of concealed handgun licensees.  Members of the committee have requested far-reaching amendments which could render this bill pointless. If they are adopted, we would support the decision of members (who supported the original bill) if they voted “no” on the final bill.

We are still hoping to have the bill passed with its original protections. Some committee members might vote “no” on any protections for CHL holders, but for the ones who supported the original bill we have made it clear we would understand a “no” vote on a gutted bill which would only serve as political cover with no real benefits for gun owners.

Thursday April 16th
Work session, HB 2991. This bill exempts CHL holders from background checks for gun purchases. It is likely that if this bill passes, the Feds will try to block it.

Monday April 20th
HB 2853.This is the mental health records transfer we warned you about in a previous alert.The bill summary says “Expands prohibition on possessing and transferring firearm to include person found guilty except for insanity of misdemeanor” but ten pages of amendments have turned it into a huge data dump of personal information to the Obama administration and the FBI. These changes are being made to force Oregon to submit to federal legislation that could dramatically damage the gun rights of veterans.

Senate Judiciary Chairman, Floyd Prozanski, has promised to hold hearings on at least two bills in his committee to clarify or correct Oregon gun laws. As of now, he has scheduled nothing. The deadlines for these actions are fast approaching.

Mental Health Records To Be Sent To Obama Administration

On April 8th, the Oregon House Judiciary Committee held a public hearing for HB 2853.

In its original form, it was an unnecessary, but mostly innocuous bill. But as so often happens, an effort was made to”gut and stuff”  the bill and turn it into a far more dangerous and intrusive piece of legislation.

The original meaning of the bill was stripped out, and language was introduced in the form of 10 pages of amendments that made the bill a far different animal.

The new language would force Oregon to comply with HR 2640, a Federal law passed in 2007.

You may recall  that 2640 was a gun control bill that was dead until it was revived by the National Rifle Association. On the day it was passed, both the NRA and the Brady Campaign  sent out “victory” messages, but the bill was anything but a “victory” for gun owners.

For an analysis of the bill, see here. For more information see here.

Here’s what notorious gun grabber, Senator Chuck Schumer, said about the bill: “When the NRA and I agree on legislation, you know that it’s going to get through, become law and do some good.”

The point of the bill was to turn over, to the Federal government, vast databases of the mental health records of Americans. Under the guise of preventing mentally ill people from buying guns (an absurd notion in itself considering that the shooter in the recent Binghamton NY killings was a New York State pistol license holder) the bill greatly expanded the failed Brady bill by including records formally kept private.

While no one wants to see people who are dangerously mentally ill acquiring firearms, our experience with the background check system has proven over and over that perfectly qualified people are routinely delayed and denied firearms purchases because of faulty or poor record keeping.  Now Oregon wants to share the mental health records of its citizens with the most openly anti-gun administration in American history. With top Democrats reversing earlier positions and now embracing the new gun control restrictions promoted by Obama/Clinton, the disclosure of these records is an almost certain recipe for abuse.

As you can see by the GOA analysis referenced above, one of the principle dangers in the legislation is to veterans who may very well lose their gun rights because of a diagnosis of post traumatic stress, a condition experienced by a large number of veterans to greater or lesser extent after combat.

The amendments to 2853 were described by the Oregon State Police as being intended to allow them to receive mental health records and share them with the National Instant Check System.

We believe that irrespective of the stated intention of the records transfer, the potential for abuse by a militantly anti-gun administration is overwhelming. (Even now, medical databases are error prone, telling insurance companies that medicines prescribed for conditions such acid reflux are actually anti-psychotic)

Currently, background checks for gun purchases in Oregon are done by the Oregon State Police. Even if one concluded that handing over mental health records to the State Police was justified, it is hard to justify giving that personal information to FBI. While some may claim Oregon is simply complying with Federal  mandates, we have shown no reluctance to stand up to those mandates on other issues.

The Federal bill was opposed by the Military Order of the Purple Heart, The American Legion, Gun Owners of America and state wide gun rights organizations from coast to coast.

The bill was an ill-thought-out reaction to the Virginia Tech Shootings and will do nothing to protect Americans from crime, while invading the privacy of millions of citizens.

The NRA/ Brady mandate should not be imposed on Oregonians.  Please contact the House Judiciary Committee and express your opposition to the “Dash 1” amendments to HB 2853.

The bill is scheduled for a “work session” and possible vote April 20th.

Sample message:
________________________________________________________________________

Dear Representative,

The dash 1 amendments to HB 2853 represent an vast invasion of privacy and create tremendous potential for abuse.

I strongly urge you to protect the residents of Oregon by not adding their personal mental health records to giant federal databases beyond our control.

Thank you,

___________________________

________________________________________________________________________

In what has become an all-too-regular occurrence, a bill that could benefit gun owners has been pulled from the schedule.

HB 2727, a measure we have been working on since before the session began, was scheduled, after numerous delays to be heard today, in the House Judiciary Committee. We were informed that it would NOT be heard just hours before the committee met, even though it was still on the legislature’s web page as being on for today’s meeting.

HB 2727 would protect the privacy of those persons who have applied for, or received, concealed handgun licenses. In its original form, this simple bill would have protected their personal information from disclosure unless it was needed for legitimate law enforcement purposes or pursuant to a court order.

As a result of the complaints of members of the media, efforts were made to water the bill down to the point where it would have served no practical purpose.

Right now, the sponsor of the original bill (Representative Kim Thatcher) is working to draft amendments that would return the bill to its original intent. But we are running out of time.

Deadlines are fast approaching, that, if exceeded, will eliminate any chance of a bill actually becoming law. (A bill that would recognize other states’ concealed handgun licenses was due to be heard tomorrow after having been pulled from the schedule before. It was inexplicably yanked off the schedule again and rescheduled for the 14th of April, just days before the deadline.)

While we want the best possible bills to pass, the clock is ticking. The same deadlines exist in the  Senate, where not a single bill to improve Oregon’s gun laws has been scheduled for a hearing, yet the Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled hearings out until the 16th of April, only one day before the deadline.

Please contact the House Judiciary Committee and urge them to move quickly on HB 2727 and pass the bill with all the original protections.

A link for the contact info for the committee members follows, as does a sample message.

____________________________________________________________________

Dear Representative,

The delays on HB 2727 concern me. Time is running out to have work sessions and pass bills.

I urge you to pass HB 2727 with the strongest possible safeguards intact. Amendments that would allow the personal information of license holders to be revealed at the discretion of government agencies would eliminate the purpose of the bill.

Please do all you can to move HB 2727 to the floor without amendments that would render it useless.

Yours,

_______________

____________________________________________________________________

CHL PRIVACY BILL MAY GO UP IN SMOKE..AND MIRRORS.

House Bill 2727, a bill to protect the privacy of concealed handgun licensees, is facing an onslaught of efforts to render it useless, apparently because there were objections from some news sources, the very people who made the bill necessary in the first place.

You’ll recall that the Medford Mail Tribune had demanded the names of license holders in their county in order to “out” local teachers with CHL’s.

The bill, sponsored by Kim Thatcher and co-sponsored by over 40 other legislators, may be rendered meaningless unless gun owners let the members of the House Judiciary Committee know that they favor the bill in its original, no-nonsense form.

Currently, some Democratic members of the committee are attempting to rewrite the bill so instead of saying CHL records cannot be released, the law will say they cannot be released, unless a government agency wants to.  All of the original protections will be taken out of the bill and the new language will provide virtually no protection at all. (The bill is scheduled for a work session and possible vote Tuesday March 31st.)

Oregonians know full well that sometimes state agencies are run by people who are ethically challenged. Multnomah County recently lost a sheriff due to ethics charges against him.

To say that a state agency can decide to release these sensitive records if they choose to, does nothing more than give a weapon to any agency with an anti-gun agenda.

Please contact the legislators listed below and let them know that you want HB 2727 passed in its original form.  A sample message follows.

__________________________________________________________________

Dear Representative,

HB 2727 is an important defense for the privacy of concealed handgun license holders in Oregon. The bill, in its original form, will provide the best possible protection for sensitive information collected by the sheriffs of license holders. Their personal information should not be subject to disclosure at the whim of a state agency.

I urge you to pass HB 2727, without amendments, as soon as possible.

Yours,
_______________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Jeff Barker, Chair
rep.jeffbarker@state.or.us
900 Court St. NE., H-491, Salem, OR, 97301
503-986-1428

Brent Barton
rep.brentbarton@state.or.us
900 Court St NE, H-386, Salem,, OR, 97301
503-986-1451

Chris Garrett
rep.chrisgarrett@state.or.us
900 Court St NE, H-377, Salem,, OR, 97301
503-986-1438

Chip Shields
rep.chipshields@state.or.us
900 Court St NE, H-276, Salem,, OR, 97301
503-986-1443

Jefferson Smith
rep.jeffersonsmith@state.or.us
900 Court St NE, H-486, Salem,, OR, 97301
503-986-1447

Judy Stiegler Vice Chair
rep.judystiegler@state.or.us
900 Court St NE H 489 Salem OR 97301
503-986-1454