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Four gun control bills were
introduced in the Senate Judiciary
Committee during the 2013
Legislative session last spring.
They were each introduced as
committee bills so that no Senator
could be assigned responsibility for
bringing the bill forward. In fact,
the legislative record shows that no
Senator actually sponsored the
anti-gun bills.
However, it was soon apparent to
most legislators, and to the public,
that the gun control bills were
championed by Senator Ginny Burdick,
a Democrat from Portland, and
Senator Floyd Prozanski, a Democrat
from Eugene. The public hearings
were long and contentious. Three of
the four bills were voted out of the
Senate Judiciary Committee on party
line votes with both Republican
Senators on the committee voting no.
The bills were referred to the
Senate Rules Committee where they
remained when the Legislature
adjourned. My office received far
more e-mails, letters and phone
calls in opposition to those four
bills than any other legislation
during the past ten years.
The Second Amendment to the United
States Constitution reads;
“A well-regulated militia being
necessary to the security of a free
state, the right of the people to
keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed”.
Article I section 27 of the Oregon
Constitution states:
“The people shall have the right
to bear arms for the defense of
themselves and the state, but the
military shall be kept in strict
subordination to the civil power”.
The language in both constitutions
is unambiguous. Our citizens retain
the constitutional right to keep and
bear firearms. Each legislator
swears or affirms to uphold all of
the provisions of both the
constitutions when they take office.
In my opinion, each of those four
2013 gun-control bills violated the
provisions of both the United States
and the Oregon Constitution.
We worked hard throughout the 2013
session to keep the four bills from
being enacted into Oregon law. All
four bills “died in committee”
because we formed a coalition of 15
Senators who pledged to vote no on
each of the gun-control bills. The
coalition was made-up of all 14
Republican Senators, with Senator
Betsy Johnson making the crucial
fifteenth “NO” vote,
Unfortunately, no “bad idea” is ever
“dead” in Salem. It was announced
last week that LC 154, “relating to
firearms”, will be introduced in the
Senate Judiciary Committee. That
very broad limiting clause would
allow virtually any additional
provision relating to gun control to
be amended into the bill. A
preliminary hearing to introduce the
proposed legislation as a committee
bill is scheduled for Friday,
January 17th at 2 p.m.
This year’s anti-gun bill appears to
be once again championed by Senators
Floyd Prozanski and Ginny Burdick.
Senator Prozanski’s news release
regarding the bill appears to
suggest that this year Senate
President Peter Courtney, another
Democrat from Salem, may also be in
favor of the bill.
The wording of the newest anti-gun
legislation appears to parallel SB
700 from the 2013 session. It
requires a person to request a
criminal background check before
transferring a firearm to any other
person. It specifies exemptions to
the background check requirement for
family members, inherited firearms
and antique firearms. The first
failure to comply with the new law
would be punishable by 30 day
imprisonment, a fine of $1,250, or
both. A second offense would result
in one year imprisonment, a fine of
$6,250, or both. Third and
subsequent offenses would be
punishable by a maximum term of five
years in prison, a fine of $125,000,
or both.
I remain strongly opposed to any and
all laws that intrude, encroach or
impact our constitutionally
protected right to keep and bear
firearms. We are already gearing-up
to defeat this latest attempt to
impinge on those critical
constitutional rights.
Please help our efforts by
speaking-out and taking action!
Write letters to the editor. Express
your opinion on radio talk-shows.
Write, call, and e-mail the fifteen
Democrat Senators who were expected
to vote in support of gun-control
legislation last year. That includes
every Democrat Senator, except for
Senator Betsy Johnson from
Scappoose.
Last year, the people of Colorado
did take action…..but it was too
late! Their Legislature had already
passed gun-control legislation.
Please…….do not let that happen in
Oregon!
Please remember, if we do not stand
up for rural Oregon no one will.
Best Regards,
Doug |
