LA GRANDE, Ore -(Ammoland.com)- A group of Oregon Sheriffs has taken a stand against the state’s new gun laws.
Last week voters passed Measure 114, known as the Reduction of Gun Violence Act, which included some of the most restrictive gun control measures and the country.
The new law will ban magazines holding over ten rounds. Magazines that hold only ten rounds that the state considers readily convertible will also be prohibited. This includes magazines with removable base plates. A similar law is being challenged in California in Duncan v Bonta.
The law goes beyond just restrictions on magazines. The state will enact new regulations on the purchase of firearms. Anyone who wants to buy a gun would need to get a permit-to-purchase. The gun buyer must pass a background check successfully to obtain the permit. This background check is redundant since the federal firearms licensee (FFL) must run a background check before transferring the firearm.
The issuing agent can also deny a permit to a person wanting to buy a gun if they have any reason to believe the gun buyer is a danger to themselves, others, or the community at large. The law doesn’t lay down the criteria that the approving agent can use to deny a permit meaning the agent is free to use their own reasoning to restrict a permit-to-purchase. Many worry that this power could be abused.
The permit would also require the applicant to complete a firearms safety course. This requirement means this is the only right that the state requires the citizen to take a class before they can exercise. This is the only right the state requires the resident to pay a fee before exercising.
The applicant must also submit pictures and fingerprint cards. The assigning agency will then investigate the applicant and approve or deny them. The applicant must repeat the entire process every five years. The assigning agency must also keep electronic records of all applications and post statistics every year. The information in the database is also not exempt from records requests, meaning gun owners’ data can be shared.
Because the law is so Constitutionally dubious, a group of five Oregon sheriffs has decided to take a stand against enforcing it. They see it as fulfilling their oath to the Constitution. Union County Sheriff Cody Bowen leads the group. He is joined by Linn County Sheriff Michelle Duncan, Malheur County Sheriff Brian Wolfe, Jefferson County Sheriff Jason Pollock, and Sherman County Sheriff Brad Lohrey.
“The biggest thing is this does absolutely nothing to address the problem,” Sheriff Bowen said in a statement released to the press. “The problem that we have is not … magazine capacity. It’s not background checks. It’s a problem with mental health awareness. It’s a problem with behavior health illness. Our society as a whole is a bigger problem rather than saying that, you know, the guns are killing people.”
The Sheriffs believe they are doing what the people elected them to do. They think they are keeping their oath to protect and defend the Constitution and see the new law as a direct attack on a Constitutionally protected right.
The law will be sure to be tested in the courts, especially considering the recent landmark Bruen decision. The law also might run afoul of the Supreme Court’s decision in Murdoch. That was another landmark case brought by a Jehovah’s Witness distributing literature. Pennsylvania tried to charge him a fee, but SOTUS ruled that you cannot issue a direct fee on a protected right, and it looks like that is precisely what is going on in Oregon.
The state has not responded to the group of five’s resistance to the new law. It will be certified on December 15 and will go into effect on January 15, 2023.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
“Permits to purchase” build a REGISTRY!
The only purpose for a registry is to facilitate CONFISCATION!
They don’t care how they get it – “universal background checks” – and the new scheme – “permits to purchase”.
They REALLY want a registry . . . can’t confiscate without one.
Free men don’t ask permission to arm and defend themselves. The government attempting to require such groveling is a blatant infringement of our civil rights, and thus wholly without legal authority. SCOTUS WILL END THIS, and in the meantime, we won’t be complying.
It’s not that “GUNS” are killing people – it’s that totalitarians always feel an urgent need to DISARM THE GENERAL PUBLIC.
Blame the guns, not the criminals, outlaw guns, not violent crime.
The global agenda demands it.
The democrat party works to overcome the Bill of Rights and advance the “transformation” of our Constitutional Republic into a global entity.
There is no room for Constitutional Freedoms in their plan for our future.
There is no room for Anti-Constitutional tyrants in my and my family’s future. Quite frankly, the anti’s are losing and will continue losing because many of us have become Howard Beale and partially because of our porous southern border.
Like it or not, not, the reason people come here is for Freedom and Liberty, they will join the fight for Freedom too once they understand what’s happening. I’m of the opinion, we are at the peak of liberal insanity and in 2016 we started reversing that problem. It’s going to take awhile, but we will right this ship.
Several pieces left him off their lists, but Jackson County Sheriff Nate Sickler has also said he won’t be enforcing Measure 114.
KUDOS!!! KUDOS to all of the Sheriffs who will HONOR and DEFEND their OATH-OF-OFFICE !!!
I like those Sheriff’s. Honorable good people standing up for what is right and the People’s Rights; truly earning their salary and brave/ready to stand against and defend the Left Democrat’s retaliation to them. Referencing the Letter yesterday by the Nassau County Police Executives to the Permit Holders in New York State…the Bully, Cowards in the Nassau County Police do just the opposite all of the time. The New York Nassau County Police steal their large salary, steal the Constitution from the People, lick butt of the Left Democrat’s, act in the usual “bully and threaten the People with the… Read more »
I’m glad the Sheriffs are taking a stand, but their stand doesn’t address the number one goal of this law, which was to drive gun stores out of business. The state police will be enforcing the law that requires gun stores to confirm that buyers have licenses to buy guns, and because the law is designed to make it impossible to get a license (due to the unavailability of the required training, and the ability for anti-gun authorities to refuse to approve any training classes), gun stores will have no one to sell to. These stores barely held on due… Read more »
State Police are funded with tax dollars. So they should need to provide these training classes for FREE. See how fast they want to enforce then.
They’ve had no problem enforcing every other arms law.
New Mexico’s reaction to the liberal Democrats in the state legislature and their psycho-liberal tramp governor was that almost all counties in the state declared themselves to be 2nd Amendment sanctuaries with the Sheriffs and County officials refusing to enforce the liberal agenda gun laws. At least everything East of the coast in Oregon could do the same.