CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb
A trio of Oregon legislators is facing recall over their involvement in pushing gun control in the Beaver State this year, and Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms noted that, “When politicians work to undermine not only Second Amendment rights, but privacy rights as well, gun owners need to make these politicians pay the price.
“This is part of democracy at work,” Gottlieb said about recall campaigns, “and if someone elected to represent your interests continually works against you, then it’s time for a change.”
Gottlieb noted that three anti-gun politicians responsible for Colorado’s 2013 gun laws lost their jobs. Two were recalled by voters in their districts, and a third resigned her seat so it would not be lost to the other party, causing a shift in power in the legislature.”
Under fire from Oregon gun owners are Sen. Chuck Riley (D-Hillsboro), House Majority Leader Val Hoyle (D-Eugene) and Rep. Susan McLain (D-Forest Grove). Riley was elected last fall in a tight race, and he received financial support from anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety gun control lobbying group.
According to the Portland Oregonian, the trio supports SB 941, the so-called “universal background check” measure patterned after anti-gun Initiative 594 that was passed in neighboring Washington last fall. CCRKBA opposed that measure.
The Oregonian noted that Junction City gun shop owner Jason Thiesfeld filed the petition against Hoyle, contending that in more than three decades that he has lived in Oregon, state legislators “keep cramming their agenda down our throats and going after our rights little by little.”
Recall petitions against Riley and McLain were filed by Ben Busch of Hillsboro, the newspaper added. While the two efforts are not connected, Busch and Thiesfeld are reportedly aware of each other’s effort.
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Update: In a press release from the group pushing to recall Riley, Ben Busch of Hillsboro – a registered independent – said the recall “isn’t about a single issue, it’s a wide range of issues that have brought us to the conclusion that Sen. Chuck Riley is not doing the job he was elected to do, which is represent Senate District 15.”
Busch’s group, Oregonians for Social Accountability, anticipate attracting lots of volunteers to help in the recall effort. Senate District 15 covers Hillsboro, Forest Grove, Cornelius and North Plains.
In last fall’s election, according to the press release, Riley defeated incumbent Republican Bruce Starr in one of the most expensive tightly contested races in the state. Sen. Riley (D) failed to win an outright majority only getting 45.7% to Starr’s 45%. Libertarian candidate Caitlin Mitchel-Markley had a decisive influence in the election, the release said, by garnering 9 percent of the total vote.
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Gottlieb noted in a press release that CCRKBA does not campaign for or against specific individuals, “But we do support the right of the citizens to remove from office anyone who acts to undermine their rights.”
“Such decisions are always up to the voters,” he said, “and that constituency includes gun owners who are acting under their First Amendment right, using recall to redress their grievances.
“Whether a recall effort is successful or not,” Gottlieb said, “the fact that people are willing to take that route sends a message to politicians that they cannot blithely ignore the concerns of their constituents, especially where fundamental civil rights are concerned.”
Two years ago, Colorado voters in two key districts unseated Senate President John Morse and State Sen. Angela Giron, both Democrats, in bitter races that also saw Bloomberg spend some $350,000 in an attempt to keep the pair from being thrown out. A third state senator gave up her seat rather than be recalled and lose that seat to a Republican, thus shifting power in the legislature.
“We were successful with recall efforts in Colorado,” Gottlieb told Guns.com. “If we all work together we will also be successful in Oregon. These recalls send a strong message that if you attack our gun rights we will come after you at the ballot box.
“We’re living in a period when too many politicians believe they can ignore the concerns of their gun-owning constituents and get away with it,” he observed. “At some point, Second Amendment voters are going to draw the line and once that line is crossed, anti-gun politicians will find themselves in political peril. Gun owners have rights, and they vote.”
