To illustrate this story I had to go back into the files for this 2019 image from an Albany gun show.
Democrats in the Oregon legislature are working on a bill intended to make it harder and more expensive to buy a gun. The most likely effect of their efforts is to stimulate gun sales again before the new restrictions take effect.
This is what happened after a slim majority passed an anti-gun initiative, Ballot Measure 114, on Nov. 8, 2022. Oregon’s Firearms Instant Check System (FICS) showed that in the rest of that month, especially on the day after Thanksgiving, gun sales went through the roof.
“Black Friday in 2022 had the highest single day transaction volume in FICS history with 6,055 transactions,” the Oregon State Police reported. “In the month of November 2022, the FICS unit experienced five days of transactions greater than 4,000 and eight additional days with transaction volumes above 3,500.”
The 2022 ballot measue has been suspended pending a court challenge, but on March 8 a panel of the Court of Appeals said the measure did not violate the state constitution. Unless the Oregon Supeme Court takes the case, the restrictions on gun purchases could soon take effect.
The result? One Albany firearms dealer says on its website:
“Concerns over the passage of Oregon Ballot Initiative 114 have caused an increase in firearms sales transactions. Oregon State Police is experiencing substantial demand for firearm background checks. Please expect significant delays completing gun purchases due to the difficulties OSP is having processing these checks.”
The additional legislation now in the works in Salem is sure to pass, raising the expense of obtaining permits and imposing a three-day waiting period for buying firearms.
As usual, proponents say this will increase public safety. How, exactly? They can’t say, because public safety is not affected by how easy or hard it is to purchase a firearm in a legal way.
Take a look at the Oregon State Police report on the instant check system for 2024. It shows that Oregon citizens made more than 1.6 million gun purchases in just the last five years.
OSP cleared 243,023 gun transactions in 2024 alone. The state police also denied 2,610 purchases, mostly because the would-be buyers were convicted felons.
In Linn County, the OSP did background checks for 10,868 gun purchases in 2024, and 3,478 in Benton County.
If the local figures seem big, they are not. Washington County led the state with nearly 39,000 gun purchases during the year, followed by Lane County with about 25,000 and Clackamas County with about 23,500.
We have about 3.3 million adults in Oregon (of whom nearly 800,000 are senior citizens). Roughly 30 to 40 percent of adults own firearms, according to a survey by the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center. The percentage is greater in rural areas, smaller in urban centers.
Considering how many guns there are in Oregon and how many people own one, it’s hard to see how the additional restrictions can make any difference other than add to the red tape and cost of buying more. (hh)
Do the liberal Democrats have stock in gun companies? It surely would seem they are padding their portfolios…things that make ya go hmmm.
We live in a blue state where stupidity reigns supreme.
Measure 114, among other things, would require a permit to purchase. One would have to take an approved class and obtain a permit which of course has a fee. No system is in place to fulfill this requirement. Also a background check to purchase is part of the bill but background checks are already required on any firearm purchase. Also anyone who has a concealed carry permit has already taken a class. The bill makes no allowance for this. I understand people wanting to stop gun violence but fail to see how this will have any effect. It will make it harder if not impossible for law abiding citizens to purchase firearms but maybe that is the real intention.
You say “it’s hard to see how the additional restrictions can make any difference other than add to the red tape and cost of buying more.”
The difference is for future generations. If fewer guns are sold, and the ones that are sold are to solid, sound, mentally healthy individuals, then we have less people in Oregon anyway, that will try to do a mass shooting. I would say that enough of our country has died in a mass shooting. The only way to prevent more is to sell fewer guns. What are handguns for any way? to shoot people!! I say we shouldn’t see any more, ever!!
And knives were made to stab people, so ban them too. You obviously are extremely ignorant about the many various types of handgun competitions. It’s even an Olympic SPORT!
I have military training, guns should be controlled and not in the hands of amateurs.
Having competed in High Power Rifle competitions, I’ve seen that being a Veteran does not automatically mean proficiency in firearms.
So maybe restrict anyone who elects to purchase alcohol products from getting drivers license and and driving their car because they might drive drunk?
It sounds pretty typical: a group of addled persons who believe their only hope is to possess as many weapons as possible. In typical knee-jerk reaction, these troubled lemmings rush out to purchase even MORE guns whenever they think, in a way similar to needle-popping junkies, that their killing-machine supply might be drying up. Smoking their own product, as it were.
One can easily imagine imagine the gun manufacturers being the people behind these soft-core gun control measures. Companies so desperate for additional revenue that they gin-up political movements and/or legislation that would appear to deprive Oregonians of their precious weapons, thereby driving-up sales as faux-panic sets in and gun fever explodes in yet another orgy of deadly sales.
In short, between Oregon Reactionaries obsession with guns and Hasso’s insistence on pumping-up the the fear volume level whenever even mild regulations are proposed, it is no wonder gun sales jump. Perhaps local community Influencers such as Herring are paid to pump-up the volume on this issue.
If I were Hasso Hering, I would focus on the real threat to American freedom – the person currently sitting in the White House. If you fear for democracy and you’re blaming these weak Oregon Legislative attempts at gun control, then you are seriously misguided.
Fortunately, the real threat to American freedom came in second place in November. Not that Trump doesn’t have issues (he has many), but Kamala would have continued to drive us even more to the radical left.
The Founders of our Democracy made the Second Amendment for a very real purpose: in the event the Government decided to rid itself if our First Amendment protections, or others, like due process, they would be confronted by citizens exercising their rights under the Second Amendment. If you think this is a fiction, then you are not paying attention to current events.
Absolutely CORRECT! People need to read the Federalist Papers and similar documents to know what was in the minds of our country’s founders.
(1) “To disarm the people, was the best and most effective way to enslave them.” – George Mason (2) “The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.” – Samuel Adams (3) “Placing a heavier burden on responsible gun owners will do little to prevent troubled individuals from carrying out violent acts. The Second Amendment is very clear and so is my commitment to protecting the Constitutional right of law-abiding citizens to bear arms.” – Mike Johanns (4) “The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns, we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise, they will win and the decent people will lose.” – James Earl Jones
The fact that this legislation will stimulate more gun sales is irrelevant to the Progressives.
You, an ordinary person, simply do not possess the fullness of information to make sound judgements on gun policy. They do.
Oregon has implemented the Woodrow Wilson dream – the way to evolve into higher and better existence is through Progressivism.
The people do not govern. The elites do.
The fraudulent ballot system got this measure to initially pass by a slim margin. Fix that!
Law abiding people do not commit the mass murders. That is done by the mentally deranged. The criminals use not only guns, but anything they can get their mentally deranged hands on. More people die from impaired drivers than from guns.
Maybe the gun background check and drivers license should both include an IQ test.
If evil has a gun, I will use two.