To Arms! OC Gun Column

Big Brother... Again?

On Monday, February 1, a public meeting was held at the Downtown Athletic Club. Hosted by the Community Action Forum and the anti-gun weenies of Oregonians Against Gun Violence, the conference was purported to be a meeting of minds on the problem of gun violence (not guns) in our society, a logical middle ground in a polarized debate. As was to be expected, yours truly showed up at the meeting, hoping against hope to actually find some people talking common sense.

Alas and alack, however, as was also to be expected, little "logical middle ground" was in evidence. Capitalizing on the recent Thurston tragedy, along with our area's well-known liberalism, a number of liberal Oregon politicians--including Rep. Bill Morrisette, Rep. Susan Castillo, Rep. Floyd Prozanski, Sen. Ginny Burdick, and Mayor Jim Torrey--showed up to shake hands and promote their agendas.

The function of the meeting, in reality, was to whip up support among area residents for a new wave of legislation, which gun control advocates hope to push through to Salem. After an hour-long propaganda campaign by a Portland trauma surgeon--complete with gory photos, ridiculous cartoons, overinflated emotionalist rhetoric, and bad statistics (half of which were drawn from the infamous, and wholly debunked, Kellerman "study")--clearly intended to sway the audience's attitude about firearms, local politicos stepped up to let us know what they were really after:

The Legislation

We have a functional "instacheck" system here in the State of Oregon, one that runs rings around the monkey-wrenched National Instant Check System instituted by the feds under the Brady Law. Instead of taking three days to have a sale clear, in Oregon it typically takes about fifteen minutes.

If the quality of our background check system remains consistent, this piece of legislation would create little hassle for legal gun buyers, and may keep a few guns out of the hands of violent criminals. Although there is some potential for abuse, I do not oppose Senator Burdick's efforts on this front, so long as it is not exploited to harass legitimate gun owners.

Child Access Prevention (SB 317)
Also sponsored by Ginny Burdick, Senate Bill 317 would hold gun owners criminally liable if a child gained access to their firearms through the adult's negligence (as defined by the bill). Although C.A.P. laws have led to shocking violations of individual rights in other states, the language of SB 317 appears to adequately circumvent the loopholes which have allowed such abuses elsewhere. The bill does not allow for prosecution of any individual unless a child actually obtains access to and misuses a firearm, nor does it authorize law enforcement searches of homes for unsecured weapons. Additionally, if the firearm was in a lockbox, disassembled, or protected by a trigger lock, a gun owner will not be held liable if a child accesses the weapon despite these adequate precautions.

As with Senate Bill 700, despite certain concerns gun rights activists may have about abuses, SB 317 appears to be a fairly reasonable, "common sense" gun safety bill--a true rarity in the polarized venue of gun politics.

Youth on Probation Gun Access Ban
Though there is no bill number as of yet, this proposed bill will be sponsored by Rep. Bill Morrisette. Were it to be passed, it would prohibit criminal youth from having any access to guns while on probation. This would seem to be another common sense, intelligent gun safety law, though concerns do arise from the fact that the bill would affect not only criminal youth, but their parents as well.

So what's the problem?
As I have said many a time before, the problem does not lie with common sense legislation, but instead with the fact that lawmakers never seem to stick to such reasonable proposals. After Sen. Burdick and Rep. Morrisette had described the three pieces of proposed legislation above, none of which I would strongly oppose, Morrisette launched into a campaign from the podium on his own personal baby: the Oregon Firearms Law Reform Act of 1999, an insane omnibus bill which would not only strip virtually all concealed carry rights (and many gun-purchasing and ownership rights) from Oregon's citizens, but would even make illegal nearly every gun in my own personal collection (and that, fellows, means this is serious...).

Unfortunately, the details of this piece of crackpot gun-grabber legislation will have to wait for my next column. Until then, be aware that the State Senate is currently considering the bills described above, and your input on either side might have some effect. Lobby Day is March 9th in Salem. I'll be there.