Oregon anti-gunners are pushing an effort to ban so-called “assault weapons”. (Dave Workman)
By Dave Workman
Senior Editor
The Pacific Northwest is under attack from gun prohibitionists working on both sides of the Columbia River.
Oregon gun prohibitionists are formally launching an initiative effort aimed at getting a gun ban measure on the November ballot, essentially putting the lie to claims that “nobody wants to take your guns,” as suggested by one of the Beaver State’s most ardent gun rights groups.
Called the “The Interfaith and People of Goodwill Campaign to Ban Assault Weapons,” this campaign could attract some big bucks from elitist anti-gunners. Anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety has shown a keen interest in passing restrictive gun laws all along the West Coast.
In an announcement from the Oregon Firearms Federation, the group recalled, “Those of you who remember the ballot measure to ban bear and cougar hunting with dogs, or the ballot measure to outlaw the private sales of firearms at gun shows will recall the shameless lies the anti-gun side told to con ignorant voters into giving up their rights. Millions in out of state money was spent and there was no end to the misleading visuals on wall-to-wall TV ads.
“The extremists promoting this confiscation attempt are hoping to capitalize on the wave of anti-rights protests by school children being orchestrated by Bloomberg funded operatives,” the organization added. “The plan is to make Oregon as much like California as possible. The potential of this ballot measure is impossible to calculate. In states with these kinds of bans, there has been massive noncompliance but a massive loss of freedom.”
Meanwhile, anti-gun Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson predicted there might be a new gun control initiative effort in his state this year.
Ferguson told a reporter for KING 5 News, the NBC affiliate in Seattle, “I support the right to bear arms. I support the Second Amendment…but, within that Second Amendment, just like there are limits on the First Amendment, freedom of speech, there can be common sense limits to that constitutional right.”
At a KIRO Town Hall meeting in Seattle in March, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee reminded the audience that he voted to ban “assault weapons” in 1994 while serving in Congress and that he is committed to that. That vote cost Inslee his congressional seat in the Tri-City area of Eastern Washington.
A Pew Research poll taken in June 2017 shows that overall, 68 percent of Americans support a ban on so-called “assault rifles.” But the breakdown shows 48 percent of gun owners support the ban while 77 percent of non-gun owners (who would not be affected by a gun ban) favor the prohibition.
