Oregon lawmakers are considering a bill that would put a permit system in place to purchase firearms. (Connor Radnovich/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
By BEN BOTKIN/Oregon Capital Chronicle
SALEM — The gun debate played out on Monday in the Senate Judiciary Committee, with Oregonians at odds over whether the state should have a permit system to purchase firearms.
If the debate sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Senate Bill 348 would build on Measure 114, which voters passed in November. That law bans high-capacity magazine sales and enacts a permit-to-purchase system. But Measure 114 is on hold as it faces challenges in federal and district courts.
Elizabeth Howe, a lobbyist with the Oregon Alliance for Gun Safety, said during the hearing that the bill would put a safer system in place, with an improved background check system and ensure law enforcement have tools they need to issue permits.
Another supporter, the Rev. W.J. Mark Knutson, a chief petitioner for Measure 114 and pastor of Augustana Lutheran Church in Portland, called the bill “a bellwether for the nation.” Though he is concerned about the two-year delay on the permitting process for some guns, he said the bill has “many good things.”
“People are looking to Oregon,” Knutson said.
The bill is the latest among several proposals in the Legislature that would change the laws for gun ownership. House bills 2005, 2006 and 2007 would try to limit untraceable guns, raise the minimum age from 18 to 21 to purchase powerful firearms like semiautomatic weapons and allow local agencies to ban firearms on government property.
The hearing came on the same day as a mass shooting in a Tennessee school that took the lives of six people besides the shooter.
Opposition to bill
Fewer than 10 testified in support of the bill, while more than 50 testified against it during the two-hour hearing. In the submitted written testimony, lawmakers received more than 900 letters of opposition and 16 letters of support.
Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer and vice-chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the bill attacks constitutional rights.
“There will be costly challenges and it will cost the state a lot of money to implement at no return,” Thatcher said.
The Oregon state director of the National Rifle Association, Aoibheann Cline, called the bill a “disingenuous attempt to usurp the authority of Oregon courts.”
Cline said the bill goes beyond Measure 114, with an increase in the age requirement and an increase in fees.
“This bill and Ballot Measure 114 are the start of the systematic end to lawful gun ownership in Oregon – lawful gun ownership,” Cline said. “Criminals will continue as they do to gain access to firearms through illegal means.”
Martin Claxton, who became a naturalized citizen nearly 20 years ago, said he didn’t see anything about needing a permit to buy a gun when he took his citizenship exam.
“This bill, if passed, sees fit that I will need permission from the state to go buy a gun,” Claxton said. “Who concocts such nonsense?”
Claxton added: “This bill is just a nasty and vindictive attack on the state’s law abiding gun owners.”