Oregon Democrats plan to make it more difficult for law-abiding gun owners to protect themselves and their loved ones with proposed legislation that would require guns to be locked up all the time. The bill is slated to be introduced during the next legislative session.
The plan is, once again, to put more of an onus on law-abiding gun owners and to try to make the potential cost of owning a gun so high that it will undoubtedly discourage people from getting firearms.
The talk about town is that the bill that is being worked on would fine those who don’t comply up to $500—or as much as $2,000 if a child were to access the firearm without authorization. State Rep. Barbara Smith Warner, D-Portland, and State Sen. James Manning, D-Eugene, have authored the legislation. They have not released the final draft, but only a summary.
Besides the provision to keep a gun locked, it also would require owners to prevent theft of a firearm in a timely manner. And, in yet another slap in the face to law-abiding gun owners, the proposal will make it easier for shooting victims to sue should an owner fail to secure his gun. Supposedly that won’t pertain to cases of self-defense or defense of others, but the interpretation of that might be left up to someone who has no clue where to draw the line on legitimate uses of a firearm.
The backers of the upcoming bill say it doesn’t infringe on rights to own a gun, but rather tries to change behavior by forcing people to treat their guns more responsibly. And in a perfect world, storing guns when not in use makes sense, especially if you’re talking about hunting rifles or such. But when it comes to a question of self-defense, a gun that’s locked up won’t do a potential crime victim much good.
Even when you consider options like the Zore “Core Series” gun lock—which allows fairly quick unlocking and chambering in a coordinated movement—those scant few seconds might matter.
The proposed bill offers yet more evidence of a state trying to skirt federal guarantees. So much for the idea of the U.S. Constitution reigning supreme as the law of the land. It looks, instead, like more overreach by a nanny-state government that doesn’t trust its residents to take care of themselves.
