Author of Be Ready for Anything and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course
A new gun control bill introduced in the Oregon State Legislature added 45 pages of draconian amendments the night before the vote. SB978 passed the Judiciary Committee yesterday and now heads to the Oregon Senate.
It’s a good thing that some parts of this state have vowed to be 2A sanctuaries because Oregonians are going to need them. If the gun owners – and even pepper spray owners – in other parts of the state hope to defend themselves, they could be facing a vast new array of felony charges.
The battle for the right to bear arms is rapidly spreading across the country. In February, the House of Representatives passed two sweeping national bills. New Mexico has passed 6 outrageous new laws that sheriffs are refusing to enforce, and sheriffs in Washington state are also rebelling. On the other stand, two states have introduced invasive laws requiring would-be gun owners to hand over access to years of personal social media.
What’s in the unconstitutional bill, you ask?
Well, let’s get started.
Raising the minimum age
They want to raise the minimum age to buy a gun to 21 in certain cases.
The following may establish a minimum age of 18,19, 20 or 21 years for the purchase of firearms, firearm accessories, firearm components, ammunition or ammunition components, or for the repair or service of a firearm:
“(a) A person transferring a firearm, a firearm accessory, a firearm
component, ammunition or an ammunition component at a gun show;
“(b) A gun dealer; or
“(c) A business engaged in repairing or servicing a firearm
Keeping your gun locked up
Residents will be required to keep their guns locked up at all times that they are not being carried. These rules will render guns all but useless in the event a person needs to access them to protect themselves and their family.
A person who owns or possesses a firearm shall, at all times that the firearm is not carried by or under the control of
the person or an authorized person, secure the firearm:“(A) With an engaged trigger lock or cable lock that meets or exceeds the minimum specifications established by the Oregon Health Authority under section 10 of this 2019 Act;
“(B) In a locked container, equipped with a tamper-resistant lock, that meets or exceeds the minimum specifications established by the Oregon Health Authority under section 10 of this 2019 Act; or
“(C) In a gun room.
“(b) For purposes of paragraph (a) of this subsection, a firearm is not secured if a key, combination or other means of opening a lock or container is readily available to a person the owner or possessor has not authorized to carry or control the firearm.
Failure to follow these rules is a Class C Felony. Also, don’t get excited about the phrase “gun room” because your bedroom doesn’t count.
‘Gun room’ means an area within a building enclosed by walls, a floor and a ceiling, including a closet, that has all entrances secured by a tamper-resistant lock, that is kept locked at all times when unoccupied and that is used for:
“(a) The storage of firearms, ammunition, components of firearms or ammunition, or equipment for firearm-related activities including but not limited to reloading ammunition, gunsmithing and firearm cleaning and maintenance; or
“(b) Conducting firearm-related activities, including but not limited to reloading ammunition, gunsmithing and firearm cleaning and maintenance.
I know that the time I had to protect my daughter with a gun, if my firearm locked up, had on a trigger lock, and had to be loaded, it would have delayed my potential to do so to a horrific degree.
Gun owners are liable for the acts of gun thieves
If your gun/guns are stolen, you must report it. Failure to do so is a Class B felony per weapon. And if the thief hurts or kills someone with the stolen firearm, the owner is liable for two years.
If you have kids, look out.
Any adult who transfers a firearm to a minor is responsible for any actions taken by that minor with the firearm. And if you want to take your kids shooting or hunting, they must be “directly supervised.” And if a young person gets ahold of a parent’s gun, the parent is liable for the young person’s action. If the gun isn’t secured as per the rules above, then the adult is charged with even more crimes.
“(b) Unlawful storage of a firearm is a Class A violation if the minor who obtains possession of the firearm intentionally, by word or conduct, attempts to place another person in fear of imminent serious physical injury.
“(c) Unlawful storage of a firearm is a Class A misdemeanor if the minor who obtains possession of the firearm injures or kills a person by means of the firearm.
Oregon wants to crack down on unregistered guns.
The next section deals with “ghost guns.” Pages 11-19 offer a lengthy list of rules, restrictions, requirements, and record-keeping for the transfer of antique guns, gun parts, and much more. If you have them, you’ll be a felon upon the passage of this bill.
And as everyone knows, registration is only one step away from confiscation. Here’s an article by Selco, explaining how gun confiscation could go down.
The next section makes it more complicated to transport a gun.
If this passes, gun owners who are not concealed-carry permit holders will have to jump through all sorts of hoops to transport a firearm in a vehicle, including locking it in a box in a “secure” are of the vehicle.
Concealed carry permit fees will go up.
The next section deals with CC permits and the related fees, increasing them in another effort to put an undue burden on law-abiding citizens.
And then there’s the stuff about “public buildings.”
In this bill can find a massive list of restrictions regarding having a gun on the premises of or “near” public buildings. To me, this is the scariest part because it’s so incredibly arbitrary.
In section 25, Local Authority to Regulate Firearms in Public Buildings,” airports, ports, hospitals, schools, colleges, universities probate courts, city halls, homes of officials, and other “public buildings” – and even their grounds – can restrict not only guns but also the following:
“(10) ‘Weapon’ means:
“(a) A firearm;
“(b) Any dirk, dagger, ice pick, slingshot, metal knuckles or any similar instrument or a knife, other than an ordinary pocketknife with a blade less than four inches in length, the use of which could inflict injury upon a person or property;
“(c) Mace, tear gas, pepper mace or any similar deleterious agent as defined in ORS 163.211;
“(d) An electrical stun gun or any similar instrument;
“(e) A tear gas weapon as defined in ORS 163.211;
“(f) A club, bat, baton, billy club, bludgeon, knobkerrie, nunchaku,
nightstick, truncheon or any similar instrument, the use of which could inflict injury upon a person or property; or
“(g) A dangerous or deadly weapon as those terms are defined in ORS
161.015.
Public places as defined in the bill need only to “post a sign, visible to the public, identifying all locations where
the affirmative defense described in ORS 166.370 (3)(g) is limited or precluded.”
And if you ignore the sign and get caught?
You’re guilty of a Class C felony. Even if your gun is unloaded.
Any person who intentionally possesses a loaded or unloaded firearm or any other instrument used as a dangerous weapon, while in or on a public building, shall upon conviction be guilty of a Class C felony.
Go here to read the insanity in detail.
Gun grabbers are overjoyed
Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford’s anti-gun foundation was delighted with the bill even before the super-secret amendments were added. In a statement, spokeswoman Robin Lloyd said:
“Gun violence hurts hundreds of Oregon families each year. The proposed provisions in the bills heard today are the critical next steps that Oregon should take to save lives. For example, homemade, untraceable ghost guns pose serious threats to law enforcement and communities impacted by gun violence. A commitment from lawmakers to stem the flow of these firearms will ensure criminals aren’t able to easily get their hands on an undetectable weapon. Today’s hearings highlight a serious commitment by the legislature to reduce the epidemic of gun violence in Oregon. I applaud Attorney General Rosemblum [sic] and the Oregon legislature for prioritizing these lifesaving measures.”
SB 978-1 includes commonsense efforts to reduce gun violence like requiring safe storage of firearms, holding gun owners accountable to make sure kids don’t get their hands on a gun, requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms, and providing increased regulation of 3D-printed guns and unfinished frames or receivers, parts used to produce ghost guns. (source)
If it passes, it will spread.
Gun control laws are like a virus – if they pass in one place they’ll spread to other places. And there’s little reason to believe that in this era of anti-gun hysteria, the legislature will strike down this unconstitutional bill. Thankfully, 13 of 36 Oregon sheriffs have already vowed to make their counties Second Amendment sanctuaries.
But heaven forbid an Oregonian gets caught driving out of their 2A sanctuary county with a usable firearm.
A rock could be considered a weapon (it was in Biblical times). So would a cast-iron frying pan. Would those also be banned? I’m sure the bad guys are rejoicing over this bill.
14-10078 Caetano v. Massachusetts:
Cite as: 577 U. S. ____ (2016)
ALITO, J., concurring in judgment
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
JAIME CAETANO v. MASSACHUSETTS
ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME
JUDICIAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS
No. 14–10078.Decided March 21, 2016
PER CURIAM.
The Court has held that “the Second Amendment extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding,” District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U. S. 570, 582 (2008), and that this “Second Amendment right is fully applicable to the States.
DC v. Heller defined the “Arms” covered by the Second Amendment to include “‘anything that a man wears for his defense, or takes into his hands, or useth in wrath to cast at or strike another.”
Does not matter. Dems can stack the court and overturn past opinions. They do it all the time. No such thing as settled law. 2A is not set in concrete, 2A is just an opinion. New court will translate 2A to mean muzzle loaders. And who are you to say to otherwise?
If the NRA does not wake up and form The National Militia and Rifle Association it will end up being The National BB Gun Association when the filthy dems get finished with it.
…times change.
Buying politicians won’t work much longer NRA.
Voting won’t work much longer NRA.
Talking won’t work much longer NRA.
No organized militia = the dems will disarm the reps…no two ways about it. Dems never fail at what they set out to do. Sooner or later, dems will disarm the reps.
We really need to get organized and sue these tyrants! They are committing acts of treason against the US of A. We need to find a law firm that’s big enough to get a major lawsuit against them and remind them that the Constitution/Bill of Rights is NOT just a piece of paper! It’s We The People that run the country, not the corrupt liberals/socialists/fascist corrupt politicians/actors/etc…
It’s a Trap!
2nd Amendment Sanctuaries Threaten Gun Rights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOhdcNR1bK8
There is no such thing as “gun violence”. This is a focus-group-driven buzzword and talking point to create an imaginary bogeyman as the main anti 2nd Amendment propaganda tool. There are PEOPLE who commit violence with guns, but there are many more people who commit violence without them.
And, since the term “gun violence” is a catchword/cliche, the title suggests an unattainable goal. People have been robbing and killing other people, using the weapons of the day, since the beginning of man on this planet, which identifies the real issue – controlling criminal impulses in humans, not the otherwise legal instruments they use to commit crimes.
Anyone who doesn’t realize and/or acknowledge this isn’t thinking, s/he is ‘feeling’, and our liberty cannot depend upon what anybody ‘feels’.
I never refer to what is going on as gun control. I use the term Civilian Disarmament because that is the goal that all these actions are attempting to reach. It has nothing to do with guns, as the new bill says. It includes things all the way down to baseball bats.
The people pushing for this do not want Oregon citizens or any American citizen to have the means to resist control (read tyranny) in any way. They know that if they do not they will never be able to get enough ‘law enforcement’ (read JBT – Jack Booted Thugs) to follow the orders they will be given to bring in and stop people from doing ever more of the types of actions that free people do in exercising their freedom.
If the JBTs know they have to face a well-armed or even poorly armed person accused of something the accused knows is unconstitutional, they simply will not do it. The types of people that will do the types of things those that want Civilian Disarmament ask them to do when they know there will be no adverse consequences to themselves are cowardly people and will not go into harm’s way for any reason.
Without complete Civilian Disarmament, those that want to control us will not be able to do it to the point where those people can then do whatever they want.
I urge everyone to always reply to any mention of ‘gun control’ with statements about Civilian Disarmament. Also include those that are supporting Civilian Disarmament in the group of people that will be disarmed. Many of them consider themselves part of the elite that will not have to follow the laws, and will be exempt. Or that they and their families will have the full protection of the people with effective weapons that will be protecting the people that are wanting to be in charge of all of us.
Remind them that they, too, will not be able to defend themselves, their families, and their communities from any criminal that does not follow the laws, and from those that want the laws for their own benefit. They will be subject to all the additional laws that will be created, just like all of us ‘gun fanatics’ will be, including loss of the right of free speech, of assembly, even of voting eventually. Make it personal in that way, not screaming and shouting personal, but including them in the group that will be forcibly disarmed.
Inform them that once the laws are passed, and begin to be enforced, no matter what the technical penalty might be, any, and I mean any, type of resistance will be met with deadly force, as the person is going to be assumed, by law, to be armed and dangerous if they become subject to an investigation or are reported by anyone as having a weapon, whether true or not.
They will not be approached in the daytime, with a warrant and taken in for questioning in handcuffs. They will be woken in the early hours of the morning, well before dawn, with heavily armed and armored SWAT or BTAFE agents with a no knock warrant. The ‘resistance’ will include any type of questioning of what is going on, protestation that they have rights, or even protestation that they are unarmed, or protestation that they do not even own a gun.
The fear in those that are doing the ‘captures’, despite the assurance that everyone has been disarmed, is going to have them pulling the trigger of their already out and pointed weapons at the first sign of any anger, or even fear.
Not openly giving up weapons immediately after the laws go into force will be a nearly sure death sentence when the JBTs come around to check. No matter what the circumstances.
Those that helped the powers that be get these laws passed are not going to want those ‘helpers’ around afterwards, for fear of someone knowing a bit too much. So, instead of being one of the elite, exempt from all the dirty dealings, will, in fact, be a prime target themselves. Make sure they know that. Not as a threat from other disarmed civilians, but from those enforcing that disarmament.
Make no mistake about it, this is about control of the American population, and that control is fully dependent on total Civilian Disarmament. There is no such thing as common sense Civilian Disarmament. There is only Civilian Disarmament, creating a population that is unable to protect its individual citizens, families, communities, and the very way of life that those that came up with, wrote, put into place, and then defended the Constitution that detailed not only what freedom was all about, but enumerated in that Constitution what free people did. And what the means were to ensure that they would be able to do those things.
Please strike the phrase ‘gun control, and any form or variation of it from your vocabulary. Use the term that describes what is happening. Civilian Disarmament.
Just my opinion.
Joan Q Citizen is more vulnerable than ever. Of course-not the Elites women. They still have body guards that are fully armed.
As in California, this simply drives gun buyers to Nevada, Texas, and Arizona. I Will Not Comply comes to mind. More insanity from the Left.
I like math. Let’s do some math, shall we?
There are roughly 330 million people living in the United States. Let’s say, just for chuckles, that “only” one half of one per cent are violent gangsters armed with guns. 330,000,000 times 0.005 gives us 1,650,000. In other words, well over one million thugs with guns.
Are the proponents of “gun control” going to protect us from those monsters? Or do they believe everything their TV set tells them, and that the police will somehow use their magical mind reading powers to swoop in to save the day? Earth to gun grabbers: Star Trek isn’t real, and the cops can’t just beam down any time there’s a cry for help. By the time they drive to your house, you could be dead. And just so its understood, its not actually their job to protect any of us; their job is to enforce the law. Those are not the same thing at all!
Whenever these self righteous lunatics can demonstrate that all the violent criminals in our country have been disarmed, only then do they have the right to talk at us. Until that time, they need to be reminded that you don’t stop arson by stealing everyone’s lighters.
Back in the bad old days of the Soviet Union, I read a fair amount of Samizdat (underground literature smuggled out of the Soviet Union) where I repeatedly read that even though legal private ownership of firearms was almost impossible, criminals were armed to the teeth with … you guessed it.
The same is true in communist China today.
There are designs floating around where people can make weapons out of common materials bought in a plumbing supply store, and bullets too. I’ve seen a couple of those designs, they scare me, not as a shooter, but because they look so inaccurate that one is just as likely to kill his friends as his enemies. I won’t provide links to those weapons, but those designs and instructions on making them are floating around among criminals and are regularly being found by police worldwide.
Those who have access to machine tools and the knowledge to use them, can make more sophisticated weapons. And they are making them.
Whether you favor gun control or not, these are the technical reasons that gun control won’t work to prevent criminals from getting firearms, nor stop “gun violence”.
If passed SB 978-5 will prohibited you from continuing to own pre-1968 and other firearms (see below) that you may have owned for decades.
SB 978-5 requires that nearly all firearms in Oregon have a serial number that was done by a licensed manufacture in accordance with 18 U.S.C. 923(i) & 27 C.F.R regulations. Although many older firearms have serial numbers many won’t be legal under SB 978-5 law. Pre-1968 U.S. made and imported firearms will not have serial numbers done in accordance with the federal regulations.
I want to emphasize that even if a firearm has a serial number, if it was manufactured prior to 1968, that serial number doesn’t meet the SB 978-5 requirements. A lot of people are assuming any old serial # from the manufacture will exempt their firearms. Serial numbers prior to 1968 were not done in accordance with 18 U.S.C. 923(i) & 27 C.F.R 478.92 because these regulations did not exist. As the ATF fully admits, pre-1968 firearms are not traceable.
“Can a firearm trace always identify the first retail purchaser?
No. Many factors can make the trace of a firearm impossible. The most
common among these is the incomplete or inaccurate description of the
firearm (see Chapter 3 for more information). Other prohibiting factors
include obliterated markings; damage or loss of firearms transaction
records; a manufacturing date prior to 1968; and, trace requests for
firearms that were not manufactured in, or lawfully imported into, the
United States.”
We really need to get this message out to the masses that just because your firearm has a serial number doesn’t make it exempt. Same goes for imported firearms, which may have a serial number from the foreign factory but that won’t exempt them from SB 978-5 prohibition. Firearms imported before 1968 are going to suffer the same fate. If your imported firearm doesn’t have a serial number and import markings engraved on the firearm, it will be prohibited from possession under SB 978-5 law.
There are a few antique exemptions but it will only impact a tiny fraction of the pre-1968 firearms that will be prohibited.
Home built firearms, including those built off 80% receivers/frames, that were not serialized by a licensed manufacture in accordance with the federal regulations will also be prohibited from possession. Engraving your own serial number at home will not exempt your firearm from this law.
One more important point to get out there regarding the untraceable firearms law laid out in Section 17 (1) (b) and Section 17 (2), is that there are no exemptions for FFLs. In the Sections related to unfinished receivers/frames, there are some FFL exemptions but not for untraceable firearm possession. If it passes, FFLs will have a lot of inventory purging to do or risk felony charges and losing their FFL.
Here are the two Sections I’ve discussed here:
“(b) ‘Untraceable firearm’ means a firearm other than an antique
firearm for which the sale or distribution chain, from a licensed
retailer to the point of first retail sale, cannot be traced by a law
enforcement agency by means of a serial number affixed to the
firearm by a federally licensed manufacturer or importer in accordance
with 18 U.S.C. 923(i) and all regulations issued under the authority
of 18 U.S.C. 923(i), including but not limited to 27 C.F.R. 478.92.
“(2) A person who knowingly possesses, manufactures, assembles,
causes to be manufactured or assembled, imports into this state, offers
for sale, sells or transfers an untraceable firearm commits a Class B
felony.
I will leave you with this thought. I have seen estimates that there are 3 million plus firearms owned by Oregonians. Hundreds of thousands of these firearms will be illegal to possess if SB 978-5 passes. Owners will in many cases be unknowingly be committing a Class B Felony simply for continuing to possess a family firearm they have owned for decades and possibly passed down through generations.
SB 978-5 will serve no other purpose then to disarm the law abiding public and make us less safe.
If you make no other effort in this fight for our rights please spread this message to others who share your concerns about our rights.
If you can do more please email these two Senators and ask them to kill this bill if only for the reasons I laid out above. But there are plenty of other unconstitutional aspect to this bill you could raise as well.
Thank you for that information – I didn’t catch the part about the serial numbers.