http://www.oregonfirearms.org/
First Gun Bills Scheduled.
Two gun related bills have been scheduled for hearings in the House Judiciary Committee.
The first is HB 4035. This bill allows corrections officers to have a firearm in their personal vehicles when parked in a "department parking lot."
The bill requires that the corrections officers have CHL's.
The bill also requires that the firearm be "locked in a gun box inside the vehicle."
We think corrections officers should have the same rights as everyone else so we support this, but we are a bit concerned by the term "gun box" and wonder why corrections officers will be required to have CHL's to keep a gun locked in their car when no one else does.
But clearly the intention of this bill is good and its sponsor is House Rep Jeff Barker who has been as solid a vote for gun rights as you could ever ask for.
The bill is scheduled to be heard on Monday Feb 3. at 1pm in Room 343.
The second bill is HB 4068.
This bill is scheduled to be heard on Wednesday Feb. 5 at 1pm, also in Room 343.
This bill addresses an anomaly in Oregon law.
Currently a person with a conviction for a small amount of marijuana (or a single diversion) can still apply for a CHL, but only if the conviction was in Oregon and only if it was after 1973.
This bill is intended to expand CHL eligibility to those with old or out of state convictions.
It is modeled after a bill we drafted last year that was introduced by House Rep Kim Thatcher. While it is not as well crafted as last year's bill and needs some fine tuning, it's a good step and we support it.
Oddly, this bill has as a cosponsor anti-gun Senator Floyd Prozanski. This bears watching. Since Floyd is the main mover behind a bill to expand Oregon's gun registration we have to wonder what his motives are in cosponsoring this bill. Politicians love to be able to appeal to as many people as possible. Maybe Floyd is trying to get some points with gun owners while doing all he can to ram through anti-gun legislation.
Speaking of Floyd's anti-gun legislation, Senator Michael Dembrow, who serves on Floyd's Senate Judiciary Committee and is part of the extreme anti-gun segment of the Oregon Senate, sent out an email today expressing his support for Prozanski's anti-gun bill and saying "Expect a long and contentious public hearing sometime early in the session."
Dembow is no friend of gun owners, but because he is an anti-gun insider, we assume his prediction to be accurate.
Please let the members of the House Judiciary Committee know that you support House Bills 4035 and 4068.
(Please keep in mind, Committee schedules can change at any time.)
Contact info and suggested message follow:
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Dear Representative,
While not perfect, House Bills HB 4035 and 4068 simply make sense. Corrections officers should have the same right to self defense as everyone else does and people with old or out-of-state convictions for small amounts of marijuana should have the same opportunities as those with in-state and more recent convictions. I strongly urge you to support these bills.
Yours,
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Chair Jeff Barker. [email protected]
Representative Brent Barton [email protected]
Representative Kevin Cameron [email protected]
Representative Wally Hicks [email protected]
Representative Andy Olson [email protected]
Representative Carolyn Tomei [email protected]
Representative Jennifer Williamson [email protected]