Commentary by, E. Werner Reschke, Oregon House Representative of District 56

On Saturday evening what many worried might eventually happen, did. A man was gunned down in cold blood during another night of violence and vandalism in Portland — which has been raging on for months. A young man, who was wearing a Patriot Prayer hat, was killed for no other apparent reason than he held a different political view than the street mob.

I am deeply troubled at the needless death of this young man. Furthermore, I am appalled by the reports that BLM-Antifa members celebrated his murder. What’s worse, after months of continuous chaos in Portland this tragedy was predictable and also preventable. Like a wildfire left unchecked, violence seeks to grow and expand. This man’s homicide is the fruit of permissible lawlessness.

Portland’s Mayor Ted Wheeler responded to the murder by blaming President Trump more than taking any responsibility himself. However, for months he has cavalierly treated the violence in his city like a raucous block party and continues to reject the President’s offers to send help. Governor Kate Brown didn’t do much better by issuing a press release stating she was going to do more coordinating between state and local police. What’s astonishing is that these are the only two people in Oregon that actually have the authority to stop this destruction. While they were perfectly fine with locking you down, telling you not to leave your home, and causing massive unemployment by closing legitimate business after business, they have been unable to bring themselves to do the same with the nightly mob.

Therefore, I call on the Mayor of Portland to immediately declare a nightly curfew until peace in Portland can be restored. Furthermore, I call on the Governor to send in the National Guard to enforce the curfew and arrest those in violation. Truly peaceful protests can take place during daylight hours and through the lawful and orderly permitting process for such activities. The nightly fires, vandalism, lawlessness, anarchy, and now killing must come to an end, once and for all.

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