On January 9th we warned you about the latest attack on gun rights in Oregon. We told you that there was a hearing scheduled on Jan 13th to hear “Legislative Concept 57.”
LC 57 was the draft version of a bill, demanded by the Department of Justice, to overturn SB 603, a bill OFF members worked so hard to pass in 2009.
603 was the final version of several bills we worked on which were eventually compiled into a single piece of legislation. One of the most important elements of this bill was a correction of an error in Oregon law that said a person with a felony conviction could petition the court to have his right restored to purchase a firearm. The problem was, that same law prohibited him from OWNING it. It was clearly absurd.
So after months of discussions we finally convinced the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee (Floyd Prozanski) that this could not possibly be what the legislature intended, and he agreed to remedy this problem by including a fix in a bill, introduced by Brian Boquist, which defined the term “readily accessible” for purposes of transporting a handgun in a vehicle
Frankly, none of this was easy. Although OFF members did all the heavy lifting by making their voices heard on the importance of the bill, we still had to have numerous meetings with Prozanski just to get him to understand what the problem was. When Prozanski produced the final bill, we believed he finally grasped the problem.
Although SB 603 did not solve all the errors in Oregon’s gun laws, it did finally address two major issues. The “readily accessible” language and a fix for the “buy but not own” contradiction.
The bill passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee, controlled by Prozanski, with no opposition. It then passed the full Senate( twice), with no opposition. It went to the House Judiciary Committee and passed there, with no opposition. On June 10th it passed the full House….with no opposition. On June the 24th, the Governor signed the bill.
It was a pretty amazing feat to have a bill that was good for gun owners receive no opposition. But it was a testimony to the hard work OFF members did and the constant explanations on our part to lawmakers about what the problem was. And trust us, we provided these explanations over and over and over. In hearings and formal meetings, in hallway chats, this was one of the most explained bills in our history in the legislature. And the bill is only 5 pages long!
The summary of the bill could not be more clear. It says “Modifies who may petition for relief from bar against possession of firearms and bar against purchase of firearms.”
But now, after a complaint from the Department of Justice, Floyd Prozanski, who is a lawyer, a prosecutor, a veteran legislator, the Chair of the Judiciary Committee and the person who was responsible for drafting the final bill, claims he did not know what was in his own bill and has proposed a 43 page bill to overturn it.
The new legislation, in the form of a “Legislative Concept” was the last item on the schedule for yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee. The Committee was scheduled to meet at 8 am. But the LC was moved to the beginning of the schedule. It was passed out of committee before either of the two Republican Senators arrived for the meeting. The time stamp on the audio file of the meeting indicates that this action was taken by the Democrats at 7.22 am, 38 minutes before the meeting was even scheduled to begin. (As of Feb 1, we have been informed the time stamp is not accurate.)
Any opportunity to get discussion on the record before this bill moved forward was squashed.
So, yesterday, immediately following the committee meeting, we met with Prozanski to get an explanation for his sudden desire to reverse his own bill. He claimed to be “confused” by his bill and said he had “not known what was in it.” He agreed to set up a meeting with the Department of Justice to have them explain their opposition to the bill. That meeting was held today.
The DOJ said that under 603, felons would be walking out of jail and getting their rights to own guns restored, ignoring the fact that the bill simply gives people a right to PETITION to get their rights restored. There is NOTHING automatic about it. It still requires the permission of a judge, and if you’ve followed any of our lawsuits, you know judges in Oregon are not particularly friendly to gun owners.
Throughout the meeting Prozanski continued to voice confusion over his own bill, but in the end made it clear he was determined to overturn it.
He informed us that he had spoken to numerous OFF members who all “agreed” that they don’t want “any felon to be able to walk out of jail and be able to ask for a return of gun rights.” We have not heard from any of those “members” but the critical thing to understand is that all 603 did was recognize that in a land where you can commit a felony and not even know you’ve broken the law, it makes sense for there to be some kind of remedy.
This is NOT about arming dangerous criminals. This is about justice for people who have been entangled in the endless web of laws that can make criminals of any of us. It is about people who can demonstrate that they pose no threat, have paid a price and simply want their rights restored. And now Prozanski and the Department of Justice are working overtime to make sure that can’t happen.
The Department of Justice claimed at today’s meeting that the bill was never intended to allow most people with a conviction to request rights restoration. But at NO time in the entire process of this bill in its many incarnations was the DOJ involved in any way. Not a single meeting or a single conversation included them. They have no idea what this bill was intended to do.
The bill does exactly what it was designed to do, and any legislator who claims to not know what was in this bill should not have the power to pass laws.
Please contact your House Representative and State Senator and urge them to stop any attempts to turn back the clock on Oregon’s laws.
There have been some changes in the legislature as a result of resignations and replacements. Please use this link to write your Oregon House Rep. and State Senator.You can use this link to find all contact info for your legislators. They will be the LAST TWO names listed.
Suggested text follows:
________________________________________________________________________
Dear Legislator,
SB 603 passed the Oregon Legislature in 2009 without a single “no vote.” It was signed by the Governor. Now the Department of Justice, which played NO part in the crafting of this bill, is claiming it was a “mistake” and does things it was not intended to. That is false. This bill was carefully crafted over months by stakeholders and the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It corrected glaring errors in existing law and should not be overturned. In spite of what you may be told, I do not believe that the entire Senate and the entire House AND the Governor passed a bill they did not understand. Please resist efforts to turn back the clock on Oregon’s gun laws.
The legislation to reverse SB 603 is currently called LC 57 in the Senate. In any form, I urge you to oppose it.
Yours,
___________________________________