by Dave Workman | Senior Editor
Surrounded by gun control advocates and anti-gun Democrats, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed Senate Bill 941, the highly-criticized measure that requires so-called “universal background checks” for gun sales and transfers.
There are some exceptions for gun loans for hunting and range practice, and for transfers between family members. However, those provisions were not enough to satisfy Beaver State Second Amendment activists who fought a hard, bitter battle against the bill.
But election victories by Democrats last fall, adding a couple of important new votes in Salem, virtually assured that this year, gun prohibitionists would get their legislative trophy.
“The bill provides a common-sense approach to accomplishing that goal without interfering with the lawful right of citizens to bear arms,” said Democrat Brown, according to coverage by Reuters.
However, according to the Associated Press, Republican State Rep. Mike McLane countered, “The good intentions behind Senate Bill 941 do not change the fact that it is a deeply flawed and unenforceable piece of legislation that targets responsible, law-abiding Oregonians.”
SB 941 had been opposed not only by gun rights activists but also by several county sheriffs including one who declared that he would not enforce it due to manpower and budget constraints, and because it ran counter to his county’s charter.
Several newspapers editorialized about how good this measure will be for Oregonians. The Dalles Chronicle observed, “…the private gun sale market may be the last refuge of would-be gun owners who know they are ineligible, because of their criminal or mental health history, to buy a gun in Oregon by the other two means. We should not maintain this hands-off marketplace for them.”
The Medford Mail Tribune was critical of Josephine County Sheriff Dave Daniel for saying he will not enforce the law. The newspaper argues that “it’s not his job to pick and choose which laws he enforces.”
The Eugene Register Guard asserted that “Polls show that a majority of Oregon voters want expanded background checks. They understand, despite gun-right groups’ claims, that universal background checks are the most effective way to keep guns out of the wrong hands.”
However, background checks didn’t keep guns out of the hands of Kip Kinkel or Jacob Tyler Roberts, both of whom stole the guns they used in high-profile Oregon shootings. Kinkel shot up Thurston High School in Springfield and Roberts killed two people at the Clackamas Town Center in early December 2012, not long before the Sandy Hook attack, which also would not have been prevented by legislation like SB 941.
Gov. Brown’s signature makes Oregon the eighth state to require such extensive background checks.
Several opponents were quoted by the Portland Oregonian, explaining that passage of the legislation provides only the illusion of accomplishment.
“This is going to have zero impact on the bad people,” Forest Grove physician and gun collector James Caro told a reporter, “but it’s going to create a lot of hassle, particularly for people in rural Oregon.”
“The tragedies at Sandy Hook, at Clackamas Town Center would not have been stopped by this bill,” added House Minority Leader Mike McLane (R-Powell Butte).
Last November in Washington State, voters passed Initiative 594, which is currently being challenged in federal district court, after a $10 million-plus advertising campaign backed by wealthy Seattle-area elitists and by billionaire anti-gunner Michael Bloomberg’s “Everytown for Gun Safety.” That federal lawsuit is being spearheaded by the Second Amendment Foundation, with several other groups and individuals joining in the effort.
The anti-gun Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility (WAGR) essentially revealed its next target is a safe storage law. The group is exploiting April’s non-injury shooting at North Thurston High School in Lacey, a community outside of Olympia, the state capitol. The teen responsible fired two rounds from a .357 Magnum taken from home without permission. He was tackled by a teacher, and subsequently jailed.
This was an intentional misuse of a firearm, just like last year’s shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Washington’s Snohomish County. However, critics might wonder whether WAGR is playing smoke and mirrors with its new effort? It cited a study of a safe storage law in Florida that “showed their rate of unintentional child firearm deaths dropped 51% compared to states with weaker laws. Overall, states with CAP (child access prevention laws) in place for at least one year saw a 23% drop in unintentional firearm deaths among children younger than 15.”
