What if every club and range in Oregon, that provided its facilities to local police for shooting practice, contacted those departments and explained the dangers of the upcoming anti-gun legislation?
What if all those agencies were told that mandatory “background checks” have created nightmare enforcement issues in Washington?
What if they were informed that the current background check system has essentially zero effect on criminals but regularly denies transfers to qualified buyers?
What if they were reminded that the victims of domestic violence could well be the people most damaged by a law that made it illegal to provide a gun to a person in danger?
What if they were told that, should Prozanksi and Kitzhaber have their way, you would not be allowed to give, or even lend, a firearm to a trusted, old friend?
The coming tidal wave of gun restrictions, if successful, will be horribly destructive of liberty in Oregon. Many things we take for granted as part of our heritage will evaporate. Medical personnel will be recruited to spy on patients and report whether they own firearms. Soon, permits, and government permission, will be required to simply own a firearm, and, if many in the gun control world achieve what they have said they want, most guns will be illegal period.
As we have seen in Washington State, the people who crafted the most recent gun grab ballot measure see it as only a first step in their war on gun rights. Their counterparts in Oregon have made no secret that they have the same plans here.
What then will our police and sheriffs do? Will they be part of the confiscations? Will they arrest you for handing a gun to a friend at a range? (Something now illegal in Washington?) Will they take you to jail because you lent a gun to a single woman living alone and facing a violent stalker? Will they take her to jail? Will they put you in handcuffs and confiscate your property because someone falsely accused you of being mentally ill?
These are all realities already in other states.
Anti-gun legislators have already stated they intend to do the same here.
Will the very police who use our ranges start searching our homes? That is the question gun clubs and ranges have to start asking themselves.
It is our hope that our friends in law enforcement are going to honor their oaths of office.
For generations, the gun clubs and ranges in Oregon have provided facilities and support to the local police and sheriffs. Will those clubs now start demanding that our police agencies step up and help us fight these assaults on our rights? Or will they spend their time planning the next picnic?
The will to fight back is strong in Oregon. At least 4 counties have passed pro-gun ordinances. (Lake, Baker, Union and Wallowa)
Now is the time to let our friends behind the badge know we expect them to stand by us, as we have stood by them.
