Oregon Legislature Takes Aim at 2nd Amendment [UPDATED]
/UPDATE 2:20pm, 1/15/19
Statements from Representatives from Klamath County.
“No camouflage can mask this unconscionable move to disarm Oregon’s law-abiding citizens. I will not compromise on the Second Amendment. Using our own vulnerable and impressionable, yet immature, children as human shields to mask this lawless effort is immoral and highly disconcerting. The same people who place no value on the lives of the unborn, claim that Republicans, who don’t join in with the gun-grabbers, don’t care about life. This is a complete distortion of reality. Namely, Oregonians need to rise up and put a stop to the Democrats’ attempts to commit violence to the Constitution and endanger their lives. ”
“The right to bear arms ensures our liberties and our families are protected. However, Portland-area Democrats have written a radical gun-control proposal for 2019 Session that will make it harder for law-abiding Oregonians to purchase firearms and ammunition. Gun control laws by their very nature only work if people are willing to obey, which restricts law-abiding citizens. Gun control helps the lawless. I stand against this bill and I will continue to support the Second Amendment,”
“I plan to vote NO on the bill.”
Oregon Representative Carl Wilson (R). District 3, Grants Pass
Original Article, 6:44pm, 1/14/19
Salem. Ore – Today, Oregon’s legislators return to Salem to prepare for the 2019 session. In their email inboxes, they will find Oregonians have already begun to react to proposed firearms-related bills. House Republican Leader Carl Wilson minced no words after review of SB 501:
“It's clear we Second Amendment supporters have another existential struggle on our hands,” Wilson said. “Folks need to contact the sponsors, because the result of this bill will be to criminalize the average, gun-owning Oregonian.”
The bill is sponsored by Portland-area legislators Sen. Rob Wagner and Rep. Andrea Salinas, Among the bills effects:
Would require application for, and purchase of, a permit to purchase a firearm. Only two permits granted per person, per month (one for handguns and another for a rifle or shotgun);
Would ban magazines capable of holding more than five rounds;
Would require background checks for ammunition sales or transfers, which are restricted to 20 rounds per person in a 30-day period;
Would make failure to report a lost or stolen firearm to law enforcement punishable with fine and/or imprisonment.
“It’s typical. When reactionary sentiment seeks to tighten its grip on criminal or predatory behavior, it’s the law-abiding who are throttled. The intended effect is never achieved, and plenty of unintended effects erupt.
“A permit is the very definition of infringement on a right,” Wilson continued. “Through the requirement that citizens obtain a permit to purchase a firearm, SB 501 would turn a Constitutionally recognized right into a pay-to-play privilege.”
Wilson is starkly critical of SB 501, as the bill creates in one fell swoop a huge class of potentially chargeable criminals – owners of some tens of thousands of now-legal magazines in cabinets across the state which accommodate more than five rounds. Victims of theft also face criminal charges, if they fail to report their lost firearm to the state.
“There is simply no way to make this palatable. No acceptable compromise,” Leader Wilson stated.
Said Wilson, “There’s much more to the story of violence than can be wished away by simply making more criminals. Or enacting unenforceable laws that erode the state’s credibility and the public’s confidence in the prospect of good governance or real safety.”
Press release provided from House Republican Leader, State Representative Carl Wilson.
