First Anti-gun Bill Scheduled For Hearing
HB 2543 has been scheduled for a hearing on Feb. 18. At 1PM.
2543 will allow the State Police to delay a firearm’s purchase forever even when there is no denial on a background check.
Currently both Oregon and Federal law allow a buyer to take possession of a firearm if the State Police do not issue an approval after 3 business days as long as there has not been an actual denial.
The OSP has a long history of failing to complete background checks and things have only gotten much worse since Covid and the increase in attempted purchases.
The OSP’s “Firearms Instant Check” unit even “cancels” firearms sales that they do not want to bother investigating with no apparent lawful authority to do so.
People who are delayed are faced with the frustration of contacting the OSP “challenge line” only to have their calls ignored or mishandled.
Anyone who has tried to deal with a state agency or collect an unemployment check during the Covid lockdown knows how easily the state can simply ignore you.
If this bill is passed persons who have no criminal history of any kind will have no recourse if the State Police either mismanage the background check or simply refuse to conduct one.
A person whose safety is in danger can be told by OSP that they are simply out of luck. We know of “delays” on gun purchases that have gone on for several years. Under this bill gun buyers will be totally at the whim of another failed state agency.
As you know, Oregonians are no longer allowed to testify against legislation in the Capitol. While the Democrat controlled legislature has invented a “process” to testify in writing or “remotely” and pretended that this is a fair replacement, in fact, actually getting your testimony on the record is entirely hit or miss.
Below are the “instructions” for submitting testimony now that you have been locked out of the building. Make sure you are providing testimony for the House Judiciary Committee’s Feb 18th meeting on HB 2543.
If you chose to provide testimony the key arguments against this bill are the long history of bad record keeping by the OSP, the frequent prior restraint on a right in the absence of any criminal history, the lack of response from OSP when they delay a buyer and the complete lack of recourse for persons wrongfully prevented from purchasing firearms.
Under this bill, a single mom with a stalker who cannot rely on protection from any state agency can be told that she has to wait forever to have the means to protect herself and her children.
In addition to any testimony you plan to attempt to provide to oppose this legislation, please take action here:
https://freeroots.com/go/stop-endless-delays
Public Testimony Options:
You may provide written or oral testimony at this meeting.
Written Testimony
Written testimony should be submitted via the Oregon Legislative Information System (OLIS) testimony portal. Testimony must be received within 24 hours after the start time of the meeting in which the public hearing is held. Testimony is uploaded to OLIS as part of the legislative record and made publicly available at https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2021R1/Committees/HJUD/Overview.
o Testimony Portal: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2021R1/Testimony/HJUD/
o Mail: House Judiciary Committee, 900 Court Street NE, Room 453, Salem, OR 97301
Oral Testimony (Live Remotely)
o Registration is required to testify by phone or video link. You will receive a confirmation
email. If you do not, please contact the committee assistant. To sign up, either use the online
form at https://survey.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0fCgvjVBkKbmrZk
OR register by calling 833-588-4500.
o Registration closes at the time the meeting is scheduled to begin.
o Public Access Kiosk: For those who do not register to testify or do not have access to testify
by phone or video link, a public access kiosk is located outside of the State Capitol Building.