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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (March 28, 2018)
SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2018 ❚ 3A Initiative seeks assault rifle ban Interfaith religious group filed petition Zach Urness Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK A proposal to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in Oregon has been submitted as a ballot initiative petition intended to prevent mass shootings. Filed by an interfaith religious group in Portland, Initiative Petition 42 would also require legal gun owners to surren- der or register their assault weapons or face felony charges, according to lan- guage released Tuesday. The group said it aims to get enough signatures to put the measure before voters in the November general election. The petitioners dropped off around 3,500 signatures to the Secretary of State Monday morning. They needed 1,000 signatures to begin the ballot title drafting process and then will need 88,184 signatures by July 6 to get the measure on the ballot, according to the Oregon Secretary of State website. The initiative could also face court chal- lenges. “We recognize that there are perfect- ly legitimate uses of guns for self-pro- tection and hunting that make a lot of sense,” said Rabbi Michael Z. Cahana of Congregation Beth Israel and one of pet- itioners. “But assault weapons are not used for either of those purposes. Many of these weapons exist only for killing and do not belong in civilian hands.” Surrendering guns controversial The proposal would outlaw any sale or possession of assault weapons in Oregon. It defines “assault weapons” as any semiautomatic rifle that has the capac- ity to accept a detachable magazine, any feature like a folding or telescoping stock, and that can accept more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Gun advocates denounced the pro- posal, saying it represents an unprece- dented attack on the public’s constitu- tional right to bear arms and would out- law numerous styles of guns. Even more controversial is the re- quirement that legal gun owners would need to surrender or register their cur- rent guns with authorities. The initiative would require any per- son in possession of an assault weapon to sell, surrender or remove the weapon from the state, or render it inoperable, within 120 days of passage, according to These are three variations of the AR-15 assault rifle. ASSOCIATED PRESS the language. A person that wanted to keep their assault weapon would need to register it with the Oregon State Police. OSP would look at a person’s criminal record — and other information — to determine whether they are “disqualified from possessing the weapon.” “People who legally own assault rifles or large-capacity magazines will not be required to surrender their firearms but will be required to register their fire- arms with the state,” said Penny Oka- moto, executive director of Ceasefire Oregon, which is supporting the pet- ition. Any violation would be a Class B felo- ny. For many, the proposal represented a step far beyond typical gun control mea- sures. “This is completely out of hand — I couldn’t believe it,” Oregon Rep. Bill Post, R-Keizer, told the Statesman Jour- nal Tuesday night. “I’ve been told so many times by people in favor of gun control: ‘No one is coming to take your guns.’ This explicitly comes for your guns.” Where is this coming from? The initiative was sparked by the re- cent spate of school shootings, said one of the petitioners, Pastor Mark Knutson of the Augustana Lutheran Church in Portland. “Young people in this country are crying out,” Knutson told the Associated Press. “This is the moment in time where we need to step alongside them as adults and do our part with them.” The group intends to tap the same young Oregonians that have been marching in recent protests against gun violence to help circulate the petition for signatures. “They may not be able to vote, but they can collect signatures, and it’s right for them to do that,” Cahana said. “We’ll also work through the networks in our congregations to highlight the is- sue.” Post said he didn’t expect the initia- tive petition to be successful and noted that no Democratic leaders had voiced support of the proposal. “This got zero comment or help from anybody in Oregon’s Democratic leader- ship,” Post said. “The reason they’re not supporting this is that they’re not stu- pid. They know this would bring out the greatest red wave of votes in Oregon his- tory.” Jim Moore, director of the Tom McCall Center for Policy Innovation at Pacific University, said the proposal would face a steep uphill challenge. “The challenge is not just getting sig- natures and people to vote for it — which won’t be easy,” he said. “The big- ger issue is that this will be challenged very strongly in the courts. “This goes much father than any- thing that’s been proposed in Oregon’s political culture, and I think it will be a pretty tough sell,” Moore said. Post said he planned to introduce “common sense” legislation in coming days or weeks that addresses gun vio- lence in schools. “We must do something,” Post said. “But this is crazy.” Zach Urness has been an outdoors writer, photographer and videographer in Oregon for 10 years. He is the author of the book “Hiking Southern Oregon” and can be reached at zurness@Statesman Journal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors. Cougar found in The Dalles motel euthanized Zach Urness Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK A two-year-old male cougar discov- ered in a downtown motel room in The Dalles was euthanized March 20 after wildlife managers determined it was a public safety risk. It's the second time in the past few days a cougar has been put down, fol- lowing an incident in Silverton, and the sixth time in 2018, officials said. Police responded at 9:30 a.m. to the Oregon Motor Motel after reports of a wild animal within the complex, accord- ing to a news release. The cougar was in a room under con- struction down a narrow walkway. Offi- cials with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife accessed the room through a vent in the wall and sedated the animal with drugs administered via dart gun. They transported the cougar off-site and euthanized it in a safe location, offi- cials said. The cougar had been spotted at this same location on March 18 in the eve- ning, according to a Facebook post seen by ODFW staff. Cougar sightings are not uncommon in the outskirts of The Dalles, especially this time of year when deer are on win- ter range just outside the city, ODFW of- ficials said. “But a cougar coming this far into downtown, into the business district and deep into a hotel complex, and not showing fear of people or wariness of urban environments? That’s just ex- tremely odd,” said Jeremy Thompson, ODFW district wildlife biologist. “This may have been a cougar that was unable to establish its own home range in its natural habitat. “Considering this cougar’s concern- ing behavior, it was deemed a public safety risk not suitable for relocation, and so it was euthanized,” Thompson said. ODFW continued in the news re- lease: "Under the state’s cougar manage- ment policy and state statutes, specific behaviors indicate that a cougar is a public safety risk. Those behaviors in- clude attempting to break into a resi- dence/structure and showing loss of wariness of humans. "ODFW does not relocate cougars that display these behaviors or cause agricultural damage. Cougars that have shown these behaviors and are relo- cated are likely to return to where they were causing problems in the first place and repeat the same behaviors, or re- peat them in their new habitat. Further, because cougars are territorial, relocat- ing cougars to new habitat can lead to conflict with other already established cougars, resulting in an animal’s injury or death. "Oregon has a healthy cougar popu- lation of approximately 6,400 state- wide, up from just 200 in the 1960s when they were reclassified as a game mammal and protected in Oregon. Cou- gars, especially males, are extremely territorial. The need of some cougars to estab- lish a home range could be driving them into urban and suburban areas." 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