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 01.14.10
LEGISLATURE PLANS TO TURN BACK THE CLOCK ON GUN RIGHTS |
On
January 9th we warned
you about the latest attack on gun rights in Oregon. We told
you that there was a hearing scheduled on Jan 13th to hear
"Legislative Concept 57."
LC 57 was the draft version of a bill, demanded by the Department
of Justice, to overturn SB
603, a bill OFF members worked so hard to pass in 2009.
603 was the final version of several bills we worked on which
were eventually compiled into a single piece of legislation.
One of the most important elements of this bill was a correction
of an error in Oregon law that said a person with a felony conviction
could petition the court to have his right restored to purchase
a firearm. The problem was, that same law prohibited
him from OWNING it. It was clearly absurd.
So after months of discussions we finally convinced the Chairman
of the Senate Judiciary Committee (Floyd
Prozanski) that this could not possibly be what the legislature
intended, and he agreed to remedy this problem by including
a fix in a bill, introduced by Brian Boquist, which defined
the term "readily accessible" for purposes of transporting
a handgun in a vehicle
Frankly, none of this was easy. Although OFF members did all
the heavy lifting by making their voices heard on the importance
of the bill, we still had to have numerous meetings with Prozanski
just to get him to understand what the problem was. When Prozanski
produced the final bill, we believed he finally grasped the
problem.
Although SB 603 did not solve all the errors in Oregon's gun
laws, it did finally address two major issues. The "readily
accessible" language and a fix for the "buy but not
own" contradiction.
The bill passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee, controlled
by Prozanski, with no opposition. It then passed the full Senate(
twice), with no opposition. It went to the House Judiciary
Committee and passed there, with no opposition. On June 10th
it passed the full House....with no opposition. On June the
24th, the Governor signed the bill.
It was a pretty amazing feat to have a bill that was good for
gun owners receive no opposition. But it was a testimony to
the hard work OFF members did and the constant explanations
on our part to lawmakers about what the problem was. And
trust us, we provided these explanations over and over and over.
In hearings and formal meetings, in hallway chats, this was
one of the most explained bills in our history in the legislature.
And the bill is only 5 pages long!
The summary of the bill could not be more clear. It says "Modifies
who may petition for relief from bar against possession of firearms
and bar against purchase of firearms."
But now, after a complaint from the Department of Justice,
Floyd Prozanski, who is a lawyer, a prosecutor, a veteran legislator,
the Chair of the Judiciary Committee and the person who was
responsible for drafting the final bill, claims he did not know what
was in his own bill and has proposed a 43 page bill to overturn
it.
The new legislation, in the form of a "Legislative Concept"
was the last item on the schedule for yesterday's Senate Judiciary
Committee. The Committee was scheduled to meet at 8 am.
But the LC was moved to the beginning of the schedule. It was
passed out of committee before either of the two Republican
Senators arrived for the meeting. The
time stamp on the audio
file of the meeting indicates that this action was taken
by the Democrats at 7.22 am, 38 minutes before the meeting was
even scheduled to begin. (As of Feb 1, we have been informed
the time stamp is not accurate.)
Any opportunity to get discussion on the record before this
bill moved forward was squashed.
So, yesterday, immediately following the committee meeting,
we met with Prozanski to get an explanation for his sudden desire
to reverse his own bill. He claimed to be "confused"
by his bill and said he had "not known what was in it."
He agreed to set up a meeting with the Department of Justice
to have them explain their opposition to the bill. That meeting
was held today.
The DOJ said that under 603, felons would be walking out of
jail and getting their rights to own guns restored, ignoring
the fact that the bill simply gives people a right to PETITION
to get their rights restored. There is NOTHING automatic about
it. It still requires the permission of a judge, and if you've
followed any of our lawsuits, you know judges in Oregon are
not particularly friendly to gun owners.
Throughout the meeting Prozanski continued to voice confusion
over his own bill, but in the end made it clear he was determined
to overturn it.
He informed us that he had spoken to numerous OFF members who
all "agreed" that they don't want "any felon
to be able to walk out of jail and be able to ask for a return
of gun rights." We have not heard from any of those
"members" but the critical thing to understand is
that all 603 did was recognize that in a land where you can
commit a felony and not even know you've broken the law, it
makes sense for there to be some kind of remedy.
This is NOT about arming dangerous criminals. This is about
justice for people who have been entangled in the endless web
of laws that can make criminals of any of us. It is about people
who can demonstrate that they pose no threat, have paid a price
and simply want their rights restored. And now Prozanski
and the Department of Justice are working overtime to make sure
that can't happen.
The Department of Justice claimed at today's meeting that the
bill was never intended to allow most people with a conviction
to request rights restoration. But at NO time in the entire
process of this bill in its many incarnations was the DOJ involved
in any way. Not a single meeting or a single conversation included
them. They have no idea what this bill was intended to do.
The bill does exactly what it was designed to do, and any legislator
who claims to not know what was in this bill should not have
the power to pass laws.
Please contact your House Representative and State Senator and
urge them to stop any attempts to turn back the clock on Oregon's
laws.
There have been some changes in the legislature as a result
of resignations and replacements. Please use this
link to write your Oregon House Rep. and State Senator.You
can use this link
to find all contact info for your legislators. They will be
the LAST TWO names listed.
Suggested text follows:
________________________________________________________________________
Dear Legislator,
SB 603 passed the Oregon Legislature in 2009 without a single
"no vote." It was signed by the Governor. Now
the Department of Justice, which played NO part in the crafting
of this bill, is claiming it was a "mistake" and does
things it was not intended to. That is false. This bill was
carefully crafted over months by stakeholders and the Chair
of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It corrected glaring errors
in existing law and should not be overturned. In spite
of what you may be told, I do not believe that the entire Senate
and the entire House AND the Governor passed a bill they did
not understand. Please resist efforts to turn back the
clock on Oregon's gun laws.
The legislation to reverse SB 603 is currently called LC 57
in the Senate. In any form, I urge you to oppose it.
Yours,
___________________________________
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© 2000 - 2010, Oregon Firearms Federation. All Rights Reserved.
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