All,
If this information has already been posted elsewhere, feel free to delete this post. I didn't see an easy form to contact the Oregon House rules committee, so here is a list of email addresses. The bill will be considered tomorrow, so if you haven't written already, please do so! Here is the list of addresses:
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected]
Here is the text of the email I wrote (feel free to correct me if there are any mistakes)
Members of the Oregon House Rules Committee:
My name is (YOUR NAME HERE) and I strongly oppose any expansion of Oregon's failed background check system.
Forcing law abiding citizens to undergo a background check for every transfer does nothing to prevent criminals from buying guns illegally. Even when felons are denied firearms they are NOT held accountable, so nothing in this legislation has any impact on them at all. In addition, this system creates a de-facto registry of gun owners because the 4473 background check forms are kept by dealers for 20 years. These sort of registries have already led to state sponsored confiscation in New York and California. I do not want to see this happening in Oregon.
This law also creates many new ways that law abiding gun owners can be punished for actions that harm no one. It creates complex rules that can be easily misunderstood, and it will turn many law abiding gun owners into criminals. Why can I give a gun to my nephew, but my adult son cannot give a gun to his cousin? Why should I have to run a background check on a friend I have known for 25 years? Why can't I lock up my friend's guns for him if he goes on vacation?
Finally, it is important to note that this law would not have stopped any of the major tragedies that inspired it. The Sandy Hook shooter killed a law abiding gun owner (his mother no less) and stole her guns. Jared Loughner passed a background check before shooting Gabrielle Giffords. The shooter at the Aurora, CO movie theater passed a background check.
I cannot support this kind of "feel good" legislation, particularly when it has been shown to be ineffective time and time again. This legislation is flawed at it's core, and will do nothing to prevent crime. It will only harm the law abiding and greatly overburden the heavily taxed background check system we have in place.
One measure that I would support would be a bill that placed a marking on the back of the Oregon drivers license that shows if a person is a felon. This would create an easy way that private sellers can determine if a person can legally possess firearms. It would help gun owners follow existing laws rather than imposing harsh new penalties attached to a confusing set of bureaucratic rules.
Vote no on any expansion of background checks.
If this information has already been posted elsewhere, feel free to delete this post. I didn't see an easy form to contact the Oregon House rules committee, so here is a list of email addresses. The bill will be considered tomorrow, so if you haven't written already, please do so! Here is the list of addresses:
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected]
Here is the text of the email I wrote (feel free to correct me if there are any mistakes)
Members of the Oregon House Rules Committee:
My name is (YOUR NAME HERE) and I strongly oppose any expansion of Oregon's failed background check system.
Forcing law abiding citizens to undergo a background check for every transfer does nothing to prevent criminals from buying guns illegally. Even when felons are denied firearms they are NOT held accountable, so nothing in this legislation has any impact on them at all. In addition, this system creates a de-facto registry of gun owners because the 4473 background check forms are kept by dealers for 20 years. These sort of registries have already led to state sponsored confiscation in New York and California. I do not want to see this happening in Oregon.
This law also creates many new ways that law abiding gun owners can be punished for actions that harm no one. It creates complex rules that can be easily misunderstood, and it will turn many law abiding gun owners into criminals. Why can I give a gun to my nephew, but my adult son cannot give a gun to his cousin? Why should I have to run a background check on a friend I have known for 25 years? Why can't I lock up my friend's guns for him if he goes on vacation?
Finally, it is important to note that this law would not have stopped any of the major tragedies that inspired it. The Sandy Hook shooter killed a law abiding gun owner (his mother no less) and stole her guns. Jared Loughner passed a background check before shooting Gabrielle Giffords. The shooter at the Aurora, CO movie theater passed a background check.
I cannot support this kind of "feel good" legislation, particularly when it has been shown to be ineffective time and time again. This legislation is flawed at it's core, and will do nothing to prevent crime. It will only harm the law abiding and greatly overburden the heavily taxed background check system we have in place.
One measure that I would support would be a bill that placed a marking on the back of the Oregon drivers license that shows if a person is a felon. This would create an easy way that private sellers can determine if a person can legally possess firearms. It would help gun owners follow existing laws rather than imposing harsh new penalties attached to a confusing set of bureaucratic rules.
Vote no on any expansion of background checks.
