Oregon: Legal and Policy Concerns Ignored as Ballot Measure 114 Implementation Bill Advances

Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee held a work session to “fix” the extremely flawed gun control Ballot Measure 114, where it was advanced out of the committee. The bill doesn’t “fix” anything. The Committee authorized more gun control without addressing the legal and policy concerns raised by legislators and the public. During the work session, amendments brought forward by the minority party were disregarded. 

HB 4145, sponsored by the committee Chair, has received significant public backlash in the House Judiciary Committee. The bill was overwhelmingly opposed by the public, and the process and advancement of the bill has endured criticism from both pro-second amendment supporters and anti-gun groups. Last night’s hearing start was delayed and then interrupted multiple times before advancing the bill on a party-line vote. 

HB 4145 would legislatively implement an override of the ballot measure with the following major changes that were NOT approved by the voters:

1. Doubles the amount of time for state bureaucrats to issue the required permit to lawfully purchase a firearm from 30 days to 60 days.
2. Increases the cost for the permit by more than 130%, from $65 to $150, a clear attempt to make lawful gun ownership unobtainable through financial barriers.
3. Carves out on and off duty law enforcement from the permit requirement and magazine capacity limitations, creating different classes of people for lawful firearm ownership.
4. Changes the implementation date of the magazine ban and permit requirements.
5. Includes a government maintained de facto registry of firearm owners, with their personal data and fingerprints to be shared with the FBI.

Ballot Measure 114 has been subject to several legal challenges since narrowly passing, receiving just 50.1% of the vote in 2022. NRA's legal challenge, Eyre v. Rosenblum, remains active in the 9th Circuit.  HB 4145 is an attempt by the legislature to override the will of the voters and superimpose additional gun control measures. HB 4145 will do nothing to address criminal misuse of firearms, but instead will escalate costs and bureaucratic red tape for law-abiding gun owners. 

The insincerity of pushing such strict rules and procedures to maintain lawful firearm ownership while ignoring legislator concerns and public opposition to advance the measure is alarming. Stay tuned for more alerts to oppose this bill that will make lawful ownership of firearms so costly and burdensome that criminal possession will become the only reality.

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