A few years ago, Oregon voters passed Measure 114, a massive gun control ballot initiative that has been nothing but problems ever since, and not just because it infringes on gun rights.
Now, a bill meant to stack on top of Measure 114 has been gutted by the state Senate Rules committee.
The bill still exists, but it's a shadow of its former self.
The Senate Rules Committee early Wednesday gutted all significant changes to Measure 114’s gun control regulations that had passed the House last week.
The committee voted 4-1 to adopt a slimmed-down version of House Bill 4145, leaving only a provision to move the measure’s effective date back to January 2028 if the Oregon Supreme Court finds the voter-approved law constitutional.
The bill now goes to the Senate floor.
The sudden change to the bill comes two days after Republicans provided Democrats the quorum they needed to push through another controversial bill, which moved the date of a vote on transportation taxes from November to May.
HB 4145 would have raised the cost of gun permits from $65 to $150 and extended the period allowed before a permitting agent could issue or deny a permit to buy a gun from 30 days to 60 days.
Measure 114 has never gone into effect, blocked by a judge almost immediately after being voted on, and while arguments have been heard at the state supreme court, there's been no ruling, so all of this might be a moot point anyway.
Then again, this is Oregon. They allow Portland to exist, so I suspect they'll keep allowing Measure 114 to exist, at least to some degree or another.
Even if it does, though, these measures not going into effect with them is important, because the "gun permit" mentioned above is a permit to purchase a gun, not just carry one. That means they wanted to more than double the cost of a purchase permit, thus making it difficult for poorer people to exercise their Second Amendment rights at all, and to double the waiting time, all in hopes that people would just decide not to bother trying to buy a gun.
At least, not lawfully, anyway.
Unfortunately, this is part of a deal, most likely, and isn't a sign that Oregon lawmakers have figured out they can't push too hard to restrict gun rights in this country. No, they'll probably be back next year to do the exact same thing, just with a new bill number.
Still, for at least this year, should Measure 114 go into effect, its impact won't be quite as bad as it could be.
That would be something to really be thrilled about if Measure 114 weren't about a permit-to-purchase law in the first place. No one should be forced to get permission from the government just to go out and spend their own money on a constitutionally protected weapon. However, it would be worse if the permit cost as much as some lower-cost firearms, and you could be forced to wait two months for it, so I guess folks should take what they can get for now and figure out a way to replace the anti-gun nutbars that make up so much of the legislature anyway, then overturn it with new legislation.
But this is Oregon. I might as well ask for a unicorn made out of chocolate that can sing opera.
