Working to create new legislation

[Hal Jordan]

I left Oregon in 1971 and finally moved back at the end of 2015. While I was in Arizona for the last 29 years, I joined a great RKBA group called the Arizona Citizens Defense League. Like most other pro-Second Amendment groups, they notify their members when bad legislation is on the way, but they do even more. They actually propose new legislation. One of their greatest accomplishments (IMHO) was working to create the Constitutional Carry bill in 2010 which removed the requirement for citizens to ask permission from the state before carrying a concealed weapon. As you can see on their Accomplishments page, they were responsible for proposing several other pro-gun bills that were passed in the Arizona legislature.

Is there a similar group in Oregon, that works with legislators to create new laws to protect our rights?

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[Stomper]

In theory there is... but you'll have to find their forum.

 

[etrain16]

I don't know of any in Oregon that are pro-actively proposing new legislation and working to get it passed. I would love to see one though. Being reactive seems to cost us every single time.

We have OFF (Oregon Firearms Federation), but to my knowledge they do not propose/author or bring forward pro-gun legislation.

 

[DuneHopper]

OFF is a reactionary group, not a pro-active group. In slow years like this year they are pretty silent and in busy years they mostly post about new laws and sometimes go after politicians in rants in newsletters to let us know whom is a bad guy. This information is also on the state website so we do not have a very pro-active setup. It would be great to have a group that actually did something similar to the pro-active status the NRA does.

 

[maddog]

I must respectfully disagree with you DuneHopper. I get alerts via email each and every time a proposed piece of legislation is introduced for discussion just as soon as they are made public by the government. The contact information for the individual legislators is generally also in the email, or a link on how to find out.

Oregon Firearms Federation, or OFF, can be found here http://www.oregonfirearms.org/ and in the menu on the right of the screen contains an "ALERTS" heading. Clicking on this will bring up the legislative proposals concerning firearms by the State Legislature.

It's free to sign up to receive these alerts and I strongly encourage all members to do so.

OFF is a great organization.

 

[Hal Jordan]

OFF is a reactionary group, not a pro-active group.

Thanks, DuneHopper, I was thinking of the word "reactive" as opposed to "proactive." I follow OFF on Facebook. Usually they are sending out alerts about pending bad legislation, but when times get slow they post things like this article bashing the Oregon Gun Owners group. And they took a lot of heat for this "fat shaming" post about Amy Schumer. Apparently she became fair game because she doesn't like firearms.

For a blue state, Oregon seems fairly friendly to firearms. We have open carry, we're a Shall Issue state for concealed carry, and we have state preemption of local laws mostly, and concealed carry in schools. But the only legislation I have heard of in relation to firearms are bills that remove our rights and make things harder for us. It would be interesting to see how far a pro-gun bill could advance.

I'm a lifelong Republican, but I'm actually impressed with my State Senator who is a Democrat. Maybe I'll talk to her and see what it would take to get something going. If we don't have an organized group that will do it, maybe we can do it ourselves.

 

[Defense Minister]

Based on your optimism, it's clear you've been away from Oregon for a while. I admire your willingness to give of yourself for the cause, and I don't want to discourage you, but I think you're in for an unpleasant surprise.

 

[Hal Jordan]

Defense Minister, thank you for your most excellent diplomatic response! Yes I have been gone for years, and things do change over time. All I can think of at the moment is a bunch of cliches:

• You never know until you try
• A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step
• The worst they can do is say "no"

There is a process for turning an idea into a law, and one way it can start is with a concerned citizen contacting their Representative or Senator. The Legislature is in session now, so it's probably too late to do anything this year. But maybe next year!

 

[etrain16]

Defense Minister, thank you for your most excellent diplomatic response! Yes I have been gone for years, and things do change over time. All I can think of at the moment is a bunch of cliches:

• You never know until you try
• A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step
• The worst they can do is say "no"

There is a process for turning an idea into a law, and one way it can start is with a concerned citizen contacting their Representative or Senator. The Legislature is in session now, so it's probably too late to do anything this year. But maybe next year!

Our biggest fight this year will be trying to end the majority held in Salem in both the house and senate by the anti gun party. They currently have enough votes to pass any anti gun bill they want, with no way to stop them. This year is a short session, with limited ability for them to pass new laws. 2017 can and will be devastating if we don't get some anti gun folks replaced with pro gun folks in November. The last election, we lost some key blocking votes, and that cost us. We also need pro gun candidates not only to run, but to find a way to get every gun owner in Oregon to actually vote, and vote pro gun. This states policies are determined largely by anti gun areas like Portland and Eugene - we can stop that, but only if the pro-gun areas take full advantage of voting pro-gun in their areas.

I appreciate your optimism and encourage you to jump into the fight. The coastal areas have been becoming less friendly to gun owners as more anti's from places like CA retire there. Maybe you an help get the coasties more involved.

 

[PiratePast40]

......I'm a lifelong Republican, but I'm actually impressed with my State Senator who is a Democrat. Maybe I'll talk to her and see what it would take to get something going. If we don't have an organized group that will do it, maybe we can do it ourselves.

Your senator, Betsy Johnson is a shining light in the darkness of the Democratic party when it comes to 2A rights. Both she and her staff are quick to respond to phone calls, emails and letters. For her to oppose her party on gun rights takes courage and resolve. I have the utmost respect for her and am not shy about letting her know it. I recommend that others do the same.

 

[Hal Jordan]

Agreed! She is very active on Facebook and she does a weekly radio show, the archives of which are here.

BTW, I was an ELT on SSN592 during the 70s.

 

[PiratePast40]

I was an ELT on Sunfish, SSN649 during the mid 70's. Sounds like we were boring holes in the ocean on different sides of the planet. I did spend some time on the Orion at Ballast Point before nuke school so may have seen the Snook. I remember seeing the Pintada and remember the mini sail, and NR-1 was there for a time also.

 

[Hal Jordan]

I spent probably a year and a half at Mare Island for refueling right after I came on board, so I missed a lot of the fun stuff that happens out there. I did get to see the Halibut sitting in dry dock with herculite hanging down to cover the bottom half of her. As we all found out a few years ago, she had skids installed so she could sit on the bottom and tap into a Soviet communications cable. When we were in San Diego after that, I did get to visit one of the 637 class boats like yours once, to borrow some S/G chemicals because we ran out. That thing seemed HUGE compared to mine.

 

[Defense Minister]

one way it can start is with a concerned citizen contacting their Representative or Senator.

Which I have done hundreds of times in the past several years! If you question my willingness to get involved, please see the thread entitled "Ran into Prozanski today". This is one example.

What you may not be aware of is that in November 2014, the anti-gun Democrats won a majority in the Oregon House, and a supermajority in the Oregon Senate, for the first time ever in state history. With this came Michael Bloomberg's bottomless pockets to bankroll the promotion of any and all anti-gun legislation that they may dream up. This gives them the ability to pass carte blanche whatever they want to as long as it can hold up in court.

Looking at California, New York, Connecticut, and Illinois, that includes "assault" weapons bans, magazine capacity restrictions, ammo sales restrictions, "Firearm Owner ID" card requirements, limits on how many guns a person may own or purchase, etc., so it appears that SB 941 that passed last year is just a warm-up.

So, you see, I'm simply trying to help you to have realistic expectations while I continue to fight for our rights alongside you.

 

[Hal Jordan]

If you question my willingness to get involved, please see the thread entitled "Ran into Prozanski today".

Okay, wow, not sure where that came from, but I am not questioning anyone's willingness to get involved. Please, let's not become adversaries. We're all on the same side here.

The reason I started this thread was to ask whether there was an organized group in Oregon that sponsors new laws to protect our Second Amendment rights. It appears that the answer is "no." A little research shows that any ordinary raggedy old citizen can propose legislation. So if no organized group wants to do that, I will step up and give it a try. I already have a couple of ideas, but I won't post them here in public.

Thanks for the knowledge about the supermajority. I had the impression from a while back that Democrats and Republicans were almost evenly balanced. Should have checked the numbers more recently. But even with a majority like that, the Dems are apparently running scared whenever an anti-gun bill pops up, as evidenced by their continuous compromises on HB 4147. They are afraid to vote on it without all their troops in place, too. And I'll bet many of them would be afraid to vote "no" on a pro-gun bill. Can't wait to see what happens there.

Does anyone know when the last pro-gun law was enacted in Oregon?

 

[DuneHopper]

I must respectfully disagree with you DuneHopper. I get alerts via email each and every time a proposed piece of legislation is introduced for discussion just as soon as they are made public by the government. The contact information for the individual legislators is generally also in the email, or a link on how to find out.

Oregon Firearms Federation, or OFF, can be found here http://www.oregonfirearms.org/ and in the menu on the right of the screen contains an "ALERTS" heading. Clicking on this will bring up the legislative proposals concerning firearms by the State Legislature.

It's free to sign up to receive these alerts and I strongly encourage all members to do so.

OFF is a great organization.

Its cool we all don't have to agree, as I know there are many whom wont hold OFF accountable even though they state they are accountable. Its not just enough in my opinion to pander for funds and then copy paste material from the state website. I also am not keen on how funds are spent come election time my opinion was very very iffy. I see OFF more and its operator as a honorary politician, perhaps they were once different but being pro-gun is not enough for me. Prosanski says he is pro-gun and I wouldn't trust him to save a life, I am sure people could try and beat my head over this by continuing to say join join join. I recall Obama like to say change change change. For me words are not enough not anymore and I do respect your response but it kinda verifies that OFF is words not actions in my experience and opinion. But by all mean please join if you think OFF is going to save our gun rights I say that sincerely . I don't have that faith anymore in them its just how I feel about it.

 

[PiratePast40]

We're limited in what we can do when the dems have a super majority, and some seem to take their frustrations out on our allies.

One of the things we can do is try to limit the use of the emergency clause. Here's a link to the petition: <broken link removed>. I'm not sure about the current status but have sent them an email to see where it sits now.

Oregon Council on Firearms Rights is another group. You can link up with them on facebook.

The very least we can do is keep making phone calls and keep sending emails in the hope that we can at least be on the record as being opposed to the current crap. The House vote on 4147 will most likely be tomorrow so make sure you have something in early.

 

[maddog]

DuneHopper,
I understand your sentiments. I send in personalized emails to the politicians and mark the ovals on my ballots for the candidates that support the 2A but it just hasn't seemed to be enough. Somehow, liberal anti-gun legislators keep getting elected in this State. So all I can do, as Pirate Past40 says, "is keep making phone calls and keep sending emails in the hope that we can at least be on the record as being opposed to the current crap." And keep renewing my OFF and Second Amendment Foundation memberships.

Going to be an interesting election this November, isn't it?

 

[Defense Minister]

To the OP, you are correct, there are no groups that are regularly and actively introducing new pro-gun legislation to our reps for their consideration. The one suggestion I sent to OFF, the most active pro-gun organization in our state, was shuffled aside rather quickly...

I believe the only reason that HB 4147 has stalled is that we are in an election year. They know that if they wait until after re-election to pass their anti-gun agenda that most Oregonians will have long forgotten their actions by the time the election comes around again. That's the reality of living in a head-in-the-sand society, but at least it buys us some time.

Please stay involved, and stay active. It does make a difference, but how much and for how long is debatable.

 

[Koda]

one problem with introducing a pro gun law is it can be re-written as it goes thru the process and in some cases actually turn out the opposite, anti-gun. Be careful, Im curious what kind of pro-gun legislation is being thought of?