By MAXINE BERNSTEIN/The Oregonian/OregonLive
Two days after telling a federal judge that Oregonians will be able to apply for a permit to buy a gun by the end of this week, Oregon’s attorney general Sunday night acknowledged the state isn’t ready to have a permitting process in place as required by the voter-approved gun control Measure 114.
In a three-page letter to the court filed at 9:14 p.m. Sunday, Senior Assistant Attorney General Brian Simmonds Marshall conceded that local law enforcement agencies have made it clear that “necessary pieces of the permit to purchase system will not be in place” by this coming Thursday, the date the measure is set to take effect.
The attorney general’s concession echoes what gun rights advocates have argued for the past several weeks and have informed U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut in multiple legal briefs filed in pending lawsuits.
The attorney general has recommended the permit requirement be postponed until February while the measure’s other regulations are allowed to go into effect.
“The State’s position that Measure 114 is constitutional on its face remains the same,” Marshall’s letter said.
The voter-approved measure, which narrowly passed with 50.7% of the vote, will ban the sale, transfer and manufacture of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds; require a permit to purchase a gun; and not allow a gun sale or transfer to occur without a background check completed.
The attorney general’s office admitted in its letter to the court that the firearms safety courses that are required before someone can obtain a permit to buy a gun are not yet available.
Oregonians should be allowed to continue to buy guns without a permit during a ‘‘limited window,’’ until the state has a full permitting process in place, the attorney general’s letter recommends. Meanwhile, the state will continue to work to get a process up and running, Marshall wrote.
“The State’s proposed postponement would mean that, while the permitting system is brought online, Oregonians who lack a permit will be able to purchase and transfer firearms. Meanwhile, the State and local law enforcement would continue to work towards implementing Measure 114′s permit provisions. Moreover, Oregonians would be able to begin the application process. When the Court’s order expires, Measure 114′s permit requirement for purchases would go into effect,” Marshall wrote to the judge.
The attorney general’s office pointed to the court declaration by Jason Myers, a retired Marion County sheriff who is now executive director of the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association. Myers estimated it will take at least another month to prepare an operational permit system.
In a press release, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum recommended the permit to buy a gun requirement be postponed until February.
“Postponing the permit requirement by approximately two months should give Oregon law enforcement time to have a fully functional permitting system in place. If Judge Immergut agrees to the postponement, then starting in February anyone who purchases a gun in Oregon will be required to have a permit,” Rosenblum said in the release.
Marshall wrote to the court that the state is “committed to working cooperatively with its partners in local law enforcement.”
For the measure to achieve its goal of enhancing public safety, “it is critical that local law enforcement has adequate time to effectively implement the Measure,” Marshall’s letter said.
Under the measure, anyone applying for a permit to buy a gun must complete a training course that includes instruction on state and federal laws related to purchase, ownership, transfer, use and transportation of guns; safe storage of guns including reporting of lost and stolen firearms; how to prevent the abuse or misuse of firearms, including the impact of homicide and suicide on families, communities and the country; and a demonstration that the applicant knows how to lock, load, unload, fire and store a firearm before an instructor certified by a law enforcement agency.
Myers had informed the judge in writing that the sheriffs’ association was unaware of any firearms safety course in Oregon that currently covers all the training requirements.
Immergut held a two-hour hearing Friday morning on the Oregon Firearms Federation’s motion for a temporary restraining order to block the regulations from going into effect as its lawsuit proceeds, contending the measure impinges on their Second Amendment right to bear arms.
Most of the argument Friday, though, focused on the provision banning magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.
When Immergut asked Marshall during the hearing if the regulations will be ready to take effect on Thursday, he pledged that Oregonians will be able to apply for a permit then. State police later in the day issued a news release, saying a permit application would be on the agency’s website on Thursday.
Other suits filed challenging the gun control measure included declarations from the sheriffs’ associations and the Oregon Association Chiefs of Police. They argued that their agencies are unprepared and not staffed or funded to support a permitting program for prospective buyers.
Immergut had said at the end of last week that she would rule by Tuesday on whether to grant a temporary restraining order that would put the voter-approved measure on hold.
The judge has given parties to the pending four federal lawsuits until noon Monday to submit any friend of court briefs in support or against the pending motions for a temporary restraining order.
The Rev. Mark Knutson, one of the chief petitioners behind Measure 114, said Sunday night that the Lift Every Voice Oregon interfaith group that obtained signatures to put the measure to voters “wants the most equitable and just process possible…We want this done right to save lives.”
William Sack, director of legal operations for the Firearms Policy Coalition that is among the plaintiffs that have challenged Measure 114 in court, said the coalition “is thrilled to see the state of Oregon has joined the rest of us in reality and acknowledged the serious constitutional infirmities with Measure 114. Of course the (Firearms Policy Coalition) and the people of Oregon would’ve preferred to avoid the costly litigation and unnecessary brinksmanship the state’s conduct up until now has necessitated.”
Kevin Starrett, executive director of the Oregon Firearms Federation, said he’s concerned about the tens of thousands of prospective gun buyers currently waiting to have their background checks completed by state police.
“A delay in the implementation of the arcane and onerous permit system does not address the backlog of over 30 thousand Oregonians who are being denied their rights even now,” Starrett said.
Since Election Day, gun sales in the state have spiked. As of Friday, state police had 41,160 background checks pending for gun purchases or transfers, Capt. Kyle Kennedy said. On Black Friday, the state police received 6,055 new background check requests, the highest amount since Election Day, he said.
Attorney Leonard Williamson, who represents the firearms federation, said the attorney general’s concession doesn’t go far enough.
Delaying only the permitting process will cause unintended consequences, since some of the pending gun sales that are awaiting completed background checks include guns with magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. If the ban on magazines takes effect Thursday, but the permit system is delayed, gun shop owners won’t let the prospective gun purchaser leave with the magazine their customer had intended to buy, he said.
As court challenges to Measure 114 proceed in court, a state interim Judiciary committee has invited the Oregon State Police Supt. Terri Davie and Rebecca David, commander of the state police Public Safety Services Bureau, to address lawmakers at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Perhaps the group that promoted the measure should have funded it, instead of creating an unfunded mandate. Their hearts are in the right place, but lacking in foresight.