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I'm so glad I live across the creek in Free Aloha. If I aim up at 45° I can reach a mile into Beaverton with a suppressed rifle. (j/k, NSA, it won't reach more'n a half-mile at best.)
 
I'm so glad I live across the creek in Free Aloha. If I aim up at 45° I can reach a mile into Beaverton with a suppressed rifle. (j/k, NSA, it won't reach more'n a half-mile at best.)

Thank you for your support and pledge to write your Oregon and U.S. elected officials regarding this city ordinance and the others like it.

If you are fighting a battle and the enemy enters your trench a few feet away it isn't your neighbor's problem for very long before it becomes your problem too. You have to help fend off the enemy of the Constitution wherever it rears its ugly head.
 
This thread is primarily for the citizens of Beaverton, Oregon but any helpful advice by others is welcome. The purpose is to organize my fellow Beaverton residents in order to get city code 5.08.240 repealed. This is the ordinance that prohibits open carry in Beaverton unless you have a CHL.

Please don't make this a discussion of OC versus CC, this is about your 2A rights and pushing back. The best defense is a good offense and we've been napping since at least 1934.

Last night Mayor Doyle proudly declared September 2013 as "Preparedness Month", an effort get the people of Beaverton to be self-reliant and ready to support themselves in the event of an emergency. About 45 minutes later I got to speak to the council and argued that in the event of an emergency we would need the ability to protect ourselves and our valuable stores of supplies. I also argued that in the event that our homes had to be evacuated that most citizens would be unable to arm themselves as very few have a CHL, including adults too young to get a CHL.

Of course they opted not to even take a vote to repeal the law because I'm just one voter, but I hope I got them thinking about how this law has some pretty grave side effects that they may not have considered before. Councilor Betty Bode was the only person to speak to me and she essentially asked that I attend CERT training then come back, presumably because this training would leave me feeling confident about not being armed in the aftermath of a disaster. Tonight I will attend my first CERT training class and when I have graduated in October I will return to the city council and repeat my request to repeal 5.08.240.

In the mean time please help repeal this ordinance by any of the following methods:
  1. Attend a city council meeting and step up to the mic to make your request in your own words. To do this walk into the council chambers at about 6:20pm, put your info on the little orange form and give it to the recorder. She sits at the desk closest to the door. Meetings are usually the first three Tuesdays of the month at 6:30pm: Beaverton, OR - Official Website - About Council Meetings
  2. Call the council members and tell them that you want 5.08.240 repealed. You can give your own reasoning or simply refer to "that guy" that requested it in the September 3rd meeting. Beaverton, OR - Official Website - City Council
  3. Fill out the contact form and send a brief message to all city counselors: Beaverton - City Council: Feedback Form
  4. Start or help start a petition to repeal 5.08.240. If you are a member of local gun clubs or other organizations frequented by Beaverton citizens that support the 2A then this would be a great source of signatures. There are about 90k people living in Beaverton so we'd need hundreds of signatures to get the attention of the council.

The more effort required by you (eg. speaking at a council meeting) the more the council will sit up and take notice. However, if all you can do is send them a message via the feedback form and sign a petition then it will be a great help.

If you wish to see the video of my request to the Beaverton City Council then click on this link and skip to about the 51:37 mark: Beaverton Council Meeting - Televised - Sep 3rd, 2013


I just wrote a contact form to the council-
Thanks for giving Me the opportunity to help let
Freedom Ring Steve M--Good Luck Man
 
A quick update. Last Tuesday I attended the Beaverton City Council meeting but elected not to say anything during the visitor comment period. I hung around for about an hour before heading home. This evening at 6:30pm is the next meeting and I plan to do the same, though next week I do plan to speak to the council regarding the perception by some that after a major disaster we'll be living in some kind of civilized utopia.

Kudos to Steve and others who attend their city council meetings. That is real citizenship.
 
Another reason that Oregon sucks... No pre-emption.
I guess you'd better read the law again then. Oregon law DOES have preemption. However, the State Legislature did grant counties and municipalities the ability to restrict LOADED carry of non-CHL holders and some of the counties and municipalities took them up on it. Open carry of an UNLOADED firearm is not unlawful within the State of Oregon and counties and municipalities may not enact regulations upon such as their authority only extends to loaded firearms. But of course what good does it do to open carry an unloaded firearm?
 
I guess you'd better read the law again then. Oregon law DOES have preemption. However, the State Legislature did grant counties and municipalities the ability to restrict LOADED carry of non-CHL holders and some of the counties and municipalities took them up on it. Open carry of an UNLOADED firearm is not unlawful within the State of Oregon and counties and municipalities may not enact regulations upon such as their authority only extends to loaded firearms. But of course what good does it do to open carry an unloaded firearm?

Funny that you mention OC of an unloaded gun,
Why I recall when california allowed that & then when the
residents began actually doing it that law was trashed...
 
I just wrote a contact form to the council-
Thanks for giving Me the opportunity to help let
Freedom Ring Steve M--Good Luck Man

Thanks Bill, though if you don't live in Beaverton I'm not sure if they'll take notice.


In other news, there is a Beaverton city council meeting this evening but there is no visitor comment period. The next regular meeting with visitor comment period will be held October 8th at 6:30pm. I have decided that I personally will not address the council again till after I have completed the CERT training that council member Bode suggested that I take. That means I won't be speaking again till the meeting on October the 22nd so please come on by the council chambers and speak your mind. In the past two meetings the Mayor has moved the visitor comment period to the front of the meeting so you could easily by out of there in under 30 minutes even if you were the last visitor on the list to be called upon.
 
We have just recently moved. I specifically chose NOT to live in Beaverton, Tigard, Portland, Eugene or Salem due to their long standing oppression and bigotry towards firearms owners.
Ive yet to send an letter to the city of beaverton but I think Ill do so soon.
 
We have just recently moved. I specifically chose NOT to live in Beaverton, Tigard, Portland, Eugene or Salem due to their long standing oppression and bigotry towards firearms owners.
Ive yet to send an letter to the city of beaverton but I think Ill do so soon.

It would be great if you wrote them (digitally or on paper) and said that you left Beaverton (and probably don't spend much money in Beaverton) because of issues such as this ordinance.

I married a Beaverton homeowner otherwise I would not have willingly moved into this city. Fortunately we plan to move in the next few years so the only question is how far out of town can I move and still have a reasonable commute to work and the in-laws. If anyone has a good idea where the next Mason-Dixon line is going to be then I'll make sure I move to the side that supports and defends the Constitution.
 
Funny that you mention OC of an unloaded gun,
Why I recall when california allowed that & then when the
residents began actually doing it that law was trashed...


Because in that case, just like was done in Starbucks, the OC activist made a big, overblown deal of it and rubbed it in the face of the citizenry, as opposed to just OCing as they went about their business. I hope lessons will be learned, but I am not holding my breath.
 
This evening at 6:30pm is the first of the three Beaverton City Council meetings in October. I won't be there due to an unexpected and urgent homeowner project involving digging in the rain and mud, however I encourage someone else to use this as an opportunity to step up to the mic and speak your mind on the ordinance.

The floods in CO have brought to light how poorly thought out gun laws can harm citizens during unusual circumstances, and this ordinance is just as dangerous.
 
This evening at 6:30pm is the next Beaverton City Council meeting. It is the first meeting to be held following my completion of the CERT training that Councilor Bode suggested that I take it. Now that I have done as she asked I will be speaking this evening in the visitor comment period to share what I have learned while taking the class.

The agenda for this evening is very full and includes the swearing in of three new police officers. The Mayor often moves the visitor comment period nearer the beginning of the meeting when there is a busy agenda so if anyone else comes to share your opinion you could very well be on your way home by 7pm. A small price to pay for freedom.
 
It turns out that there was a full room last night for the two presentations so the Mayor rightly kept to the agenda so it was nearly 7:30pm before I got to the mic. Basically I reported back to the City Council that based on the CERT training my fears are well founded and validated. If you would like to see the video click on the link below and skip to just before the 56 minute mark:
Beaverton Council Meeting - Televised - Nov 5th, 2013

The Mayor said "may" contact me so I am interested to see what is on his mind should he do so.
 
It turns out that there was a full room last night for the two presentations so the Mayor rightly kept to the agenda so it was nearly 7:30pm before I got to the mic. Basically I reported back to the City Council that based on the CERT training my fears are well founded and validated. If you would like to see the video click on the link below and skip to just before the 56 minute mark:
Beaverton Council Meeting - Televised - Nov 5th, 2013

The Mayor said "may" contact me so I am interested to see what is on his mind should he do so.

In a nutshell how did it go.?
 
You did a nice job presenting your information and you were very respectful, which is always helpful in these matters. One thing that I might have done ( and I have zero background knowledge other than what you've posted) is bring up why exactly the former city admin made the call to outlaw OC? Was there an issue? Negligence? Fear mongering? For whatever reason, this constitutional right is outlawed within your city....has the original "issue" been resolved since the citywide ban? City and county officials feel vindicated and useful when they feel like they come to the logical conclusion all on their own.....sometimes they just need a slight nudge in the right direction.
 
In a nutshell how did it go.?
In a nutshell, I said what I came to say and renewed my request to repeal the ban and all I got was the Mayor saying that he might contact me. Two of the five city councilors were not there so I'll never know if they may have had a comment.

You did a nice job presenting your information and you were very respectful, which is always helpful in these matters. One thing that I might have done ( and I have zero background knowledge other than what you've posted) is bring up why exactly the former city admin made the call to outlaw OC? Was there an issue? Negligence? Fear mongering? For whatever reason, this constitutional right is outlawed within your city....has the original "issue" been resolved since the citywide ban? City and county officials feel vindicated and useful when they feel like they come to the logical conclusion all on their own.....sometimes they just need a slight nudge in the right direction.
Thanks, I do try hard to be polite and not attack or be negative with what I say. The only motive that I can find for the ordinance is a period news article. The main motivation given is school and work place shootings, but we all know that most employers prohibit weapons and people without permits can't carry in schools so it did nothing to help that. I did cover these reasons in my first visit to the city council a few months ago which is why I didn't say much about it last night. If needed I will try to find some of the older meeting records to see what the arguments for were. Incidentally, none of the current council voted on the ordinance, just Mayor Doyle who voted for it when he was a councilor.
 
The politicians chose to sink into their seats and not answer so the emergency manager for Beaverton (Mr. Mumaw) replied first. He said that if I had a gun there would be someone else out there with a bigger gun and someone else with a bigger gun than them and so forth, so the idea of arming yourself just doesn't work. Also, in recent disasters in places such as Chile the people worked together rather than stealing, so it was fear mongering on my part to suggest that lawlessness could ensue. Then the PhD on seismology chose to answer too and he said that thanks to legislation such as <broken link removed> that everyone would be prepared so there would be no need for anyone to steal supplies from others. Note that at no time did I say "gun" or "firearm", they rightly made that conclusion on their own. Sadly, the room erupted into applause and I assure you that they were not applauding for me.



What he meant was; FEMA will come around with the power and authority to take your guns, food, land and anything else they want and they will have DHS in tow with guns that will always be bigger than yours.
 
What he meant was; FEMA will come around with the power and authority to take your guns, food, land and anything else they want and they will have DHS in tow with guns that will always be bigger than yours.

Well, sort of.

First of all, the Feds will claim to have the authority to take my firearms in a state of emergency, but that is not lawful and I will not recognize it. Also, I've had time to reflect on the "bigger gun than yours". It isn't always about bigger guns, its about having the most effective gun for the task at hand and outnumbering your enemy. Trying to enforce an illegal weapons confiscation with a Abrams tank isn't going to scare anyone. And if a looter entered the neighborhood with a .50 cal machine gun we could pick him off pretty easy unless he had a lot of friends with light arms. In that case the bigger gun isn't the problem, it is the superior numbers of the looters.

The other point I'd like to make is that like Katrina it will be difficult to travel around the area following a major disaster such as a 9.0 earthquake. However, unlike Katrina we probably won't need to exit en mass and will be sitting on our emergency supplies and weapons lockers.


This past weekend a 18 year old male from WA was passing through Portland while open carrying (his only carry option) so he swapped out his magazine for an empty one. During a routine traffic stop he informed the cop of the presence of the weapon and permitted the office to search the car like an honest and trusting citizen will often do. Cop finds a loaded magazine under the passenger's seat so kid is arrested and his car towed to impound because he wasn't allowed to call anyone to come get it. All charges were dropped the next day (Monday Nov 4th) but now he's out of pocket $400 for stuff like the impounded car and can't get his weapon back from the police for a week. Is that the country our forefathers bled and died for?
 

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