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 01.09.10
LEGISLATURE STARTS ATTACKS ON GUN RIGHTS EARLY |
UPDATED
JAN.11th SEE BOTTOM FOR ADDITIONAL INFO.
First, we'd like to thank all of you who have committed to being
part of our efforts to protect gun rights in 2010. We are deeply
grateful for your continued support. Now on to the bad news.
Although the "special" session does not start until
February, the Oregon legislature has already scheduled a "work
session" on a "legislative concept" to reverse
gains made in the 2009 session.
The "special sessions" were promoted by the legislature
as a way to get around Oregon's policy of only meeting every
other year. In an effort to be able to raise taxes on a more
regular basis, the legislature created an annual "emergency"
so they could meet every year. But clearly, they have
plans to do more than simply raise your taxes in February.
On Wednesday, Jan 13, the House and Senate Judiciary Committees
will be meeting. On the schedule for the Senate Committee is
"Legislative Concept 57."
The "concept" is 43 pages long, but its goal is brief
and easy to explain. What this would do if it becomes law is
reverse the corrections we made in 2009 with SB
603.
As you may recall, until the first of this year, Oregon's law
stated that a person with a felony conviction could petition
the courts to have his rights restored to buy a firearm. But,
absurdly, he could not OWN that firearm.
After extensive discussions with Senate Judiciary Chairman
Floyd Prozanski
, we eventually convinced him that this clearly made no sense,
and because of your tireless efforts,we passed SB
603 without a single "no" vote in either House.
That bill took effect January 1. Now a person who had
a felony conviction could request to have his rights restored.
It was NOT a guarantee, it only allowed the person to ask. If
he was successful his rights would be restored to buy AND own.
In a country where a person can be convicted of a felony for
being in possession of the wrong size lobster we believed this
was an important correction.
Then, in September, at a joint meeting of the House and Senate
Judiciary Committees, the Department of Justice testified that
this bill must have been a "mistake." Now, according
to the DOJ, any felon could walk out of prison and buy a gun.
This was nonsense. In fact, it was just plain false. Nothing
could be further from the truth. But apparently, lies work.
The "legislative concept" that will be discussed on
Wednesday reverses SB 603 and denies the ability to petition
for rights restoration to anyone barred from possessing a firearm
under ORS 166.270. That section covers anyone who has
ever been convicted of a felony. The only exception would be
for persons who had only one felony, which was not a homicide
or a weapons charge and had been released from "imprisonment,
parole, post-prison supervision or probation," for 15 years.
Of course the catch is that those people could still be charged
with unlawful possession under a different Oregon statute!
So essentially we are back to where we were before
all your hard work to pass 603, and all because the Department
of Justice came and misrepresented the bill you passed.
This "concept" is on the schedule for the Senate Committee.
That means it was approved by Senator Prozanski. Why he would
seek to reverse a bill he helped draft remains a mystery and
he has not responded to our call to him. So, it's time
to get back in the saddle. We cannot allow all the hard work
we did last year to be undone. Please contact Senator Prozanski
and tell him to kill this "concept" now. We made progress
in our efforts to make Oregon's law make sense. Now he wants
to turn back the clock. Contact info and a sample message follow.
Please feel free to modify it.
Senator Floyd Prozanski
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1704
District Phone: 541-342-2447
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE., S-417, Salem, OR, 97301
District Office Address: PO Box 11511, Eugene, OR, 97440
sen.floydprozanski@state.or.us
__________________________________________________________________
Dear Senator Prozanski,
"Legislative Concept 57," scheduled to be heard in
your committee on Wednesday, returns Oregon law to its
pre-2010 state of making no sense. Why would the state
allow a person to ask for restoration of his rights if he was
prohibited under 166.250 and 166.470 but NOT under 166.270?
I know the Department of Justice testified in September
that this bill would allow felons to walk out of prison
and buy guns, but you know this is untrue since you were responsible
for drafting the bill this seeks to reverse, SB 603.
I urge you not to be intimidated by the misrepresentations and
scare tactics of the DOJ, and do not move LC 57 forward.
We've made a small amount of progress in improving Oregon's
laws. Please don't take a step backwards.
Yours,
____________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Contact
Info for all Judiciary Committee members.
Sample message for Committee members.
_____________________________________________________________________
Dear Senator,
Your committee has scheduled a "work session" on LC
57 for Wednesday. This LC reverses much of SB 603, a bill
that came out of your committee in 2009. The bill passed without
a single "no" vote in either house. If LC 57
is enacted, Oregon law will return to the contradictory and
nonsensical state it was in before 603 was passed. I urge you
to NOT move 57 forward.
Yours,
_______________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
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Copyright
© 2000 - 2010, Oregon Firearms Federation. All Rights Reserved.
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