Last week, we reported on an Oregon pastor who used $3,000 in church funds to buy half the raffle tickets for an AR-15. He won the rifle and then declared his intention to destroy it. Now, he’s being investigated for having admitted to transferring the rifle in violation of Oregon state law.
According to OregonLive.com, pastor Jerry Lucas gave the gun to a parishioner for safekeeping without conducting a background check. Spurred by Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety, Oregon instituted a new law in 2015 that requires any transfer of a firearm to go through a background check; the law bars even temporary lending of a firearm without one.
Oregon State Police have not yet declared if they will charge Lucas, but if convicted, he faces a maximum fine of $6,250 and up to a year in jail. While NRA opposed the law precisely because it would turn lawful gun owners into criminals, we can’t help but notice the irony when its backers find themselves snared in webs of their own making.
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