The Oregon 2019 legislative session recently started and bills that are designed to further infringe on citizens’ Second Amendment rights were in the hopper before the gavel even fell. And the proposals put the state in the running for ending up with the title of being the most-restrictive state in the nation when it comes to gun rights.
Senate Bill (S.B.) 501 offers a wide-ranging set of parameters that would make it difficult for law-abiding gun owners to exercise their right to keep and bear arms. The proposed infringements in this one bill are numerous. First, it would require a permit to buy (or even receive) a firearm. That permit, which would be issued only upon completion of specified training, would be good for only 90 days—after which time one would have to get a new permit. Second, S.B. 501 would limit the number of firearms one could buy within a 30-day period to one handgun and one long gun. Third, it would require appropriate locks or safes for storing the gun when it’s not in use. Fourth, it would require a person to report all lost or stolen firearms within 24 hours. Fifth, it would ban magazines that hold more than five rounds of ammunition. (We guess the Armed Citizen in Texas who had to fend off five armed intruders would have been out of luck had such a requirement existed there.) It would also mandate background checks for the purchase of ammunition and would allow a person to buy no more than 20 rounds a month.
Complementary gun control bills include S.B. 275, which addresses the storage of firearms, thus limiting one’s right to protect themselves in a home. (We all know that a bad guy who is intent on assault or worse will just smile and wait for you to unlock your gun, right?) And S.B. 87 would raise the age for purchasing long guns to 21 and would allow dealers to arbitrarily refuse to sell arms or ammunition to anybody.
Meanwhile, in the House, House Bill (H.B.) 2251 tackles the question of defining an “assault weapon” and would allow delays of up to 30 days while authorities conduct background checks.
We’ve always said that if you give anti-gunners an inch, they’ll take a mile. Oregon’s legislative agenda is more proof that they’ll never be satisfied with “common-sense” rules; instead, someone will always find a way to make the law more restrictive against the law-abiding.
