Opinion
4A
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Writers on the Range
Self-described
‘gun nut’ has
a warning
hen I was a young man growing up in rural
Oregon, there was a term for people like me:
“gun nut.”
By my 20s I had a sizable collection of fi re-
arms. Some people I knew had a “pre-64” Win-
chester, a rifl e renowned for its quality. Or they had
a Browning Auto 5, a beautiful shotgun. A friend
had 10 of those
in various
gauges.
BRIAN
But gun
SEXTON
nuts today are
‘GUN NUT’
a different
breed. They
don’t describe graceful lines, tight grain wood or
immaculate bluing.
At gun stores today what I hear praised is fi re-
power that comes out of black plastic and steel.
These weapons are assault rifl es, sometimes called
“modern sporting guns.” The kind of sport they’re
good for is not spelled out.
One of the gun stores I visited recently boasted a
back wall lined with assault-style rifl es, pistols and
defensive shotguns, all black except for a choice few
in hot pink “for the ladies.” The staff mostly wore
black as well.
Their T-shirts for sale featured some amalgam
of the American Flag and warnings such as “Don’t
tread on me” and “ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ” (Molon labe),
an ancient Greek phrase roughly meaning “Come
and take them.” Everybody — and I mean staff and
other customers — was packing holstered pistols. I
felt out of place and time.
In my sleepy Oregon town, sentiments like this
don’t stop at a gun store. A trip to the supermarket
is not complete without several sightings of men or
women packing a pistol on their hip.
It is as if we are living in a fetishized version of
the Wild West.
My town boasts one of the oldest indepen-
dent newspapers in Oregon, but the readership is
a quarter that of the Facebook page for the local
police scanner. Every crime is pinged to each follow-
er’s cell, providing a steady feed of this world’s ills.
When we see the world through a lens of fear, it is
no wonder we look at our neighbors with suspicion.
Maybe that explains the amazing statistic last year
from Axios.com that “an estimated 5 million Ameri-
cans bought their fi rst gun.”
Dana Loesch, the former spokesperson for the
bankrupt National Rifl e Association, talked about
this free-fl oating fear: “The government has proven it
cannot keep us safe, yet some people want to disarm
all of us.”
This new group of men and women who wear
guns as political statements apparently no longer
experience weapons as tools for hunting or for sport.
Even claims of defense are suspect. What type of
threat necessitates military fi repower?
Guns have become identifi ed as symbolizing
freedom, individuality or just plain cantankerous-
ness. It makes me miss the old days when a gun was
just a tool — albeit sometimes a beautifully crafted
one.
The irony of the modern gun movement is that a
take-no-prisoner stance on gun rights might just turn
into a groundswell of support for tighter gun regu-
lations. When the patriots start to lose gun nuts like
me, they teeter on the brink of irrelevance.
The so-called patriots of today risk the very rights
they’ve pledged to uphold with their lives. I know it’s
a far less exciting thing to promote, but what makes
America great is getting things done by talking and
compromising.
I do not own an AR-15, and depending on my
mood I can make an argument both for and against
further regulations. After all, is my favorite deer
rifl e any less deadly than the scariest-looking assault
weapon?
But on Jan. 6 at the Capitol, as I witnessed some
of my countrymen threaten to use their weapons
against our government, I found regulations more
appealing.
It may be tedious to take part in politics on the
level of reading about issues and engaging with
people, but so far, that’s what makes America the
best place to live. If I had to come up with a T-shirt
slogan about a weapon, it wouldn’t be a threat, a
warning or a brag. How about: A gun is just a gun.
———
Brian Sexton is a contributor to Writers on
the Range, writersontherange.org, a nonprofi t
opinion service dedicated to spurring lively
conversation about the West. He hunts, fi shes and
writes in rural Oregon.
W
Our View
Fee-based government results in haves and have nots
O
n occasion we are
reminded that the budget
process used by the
Oregon Legislature and state
agencies is a bit curious.
According to the Oregon Blue
Book, the state’s revenue budget
for the current biennium is $85.8
billion. Of that, 26.1% is the gen-
eral fund, which comes mainly
from the state corporate and per-
sonal income taxes, the cigarette
tax and the estate tax.
About 44% of the state’s rev-
enue comes from money state
agencies take in as fi nes and
fees in return for services. Some
of that money is dedicated under
law or constitutional amend-
ment to specifi c agencies or
purposes.
About 1.5% of the revenue
comes for the state lottery.
Instead of having all of the
state’s revenue from taxes, fees
and the lottery fl ow into the gen-
eral fund, much of it fl ows into
cubby holes within various state
agencies instead.
As a result, when legislators
write the budget they are debating
the highest and best use of their
lunch money. Most of the rest of
the state budget is already spoken
for.
This results in haves and have-
nots among state agencies and a
sort of legislative panhandling
exercise as agency heads try to
make ends meet.
An example: Oregon Water
Resources Department Director
Tom Byler recently paid a visit
to a legislative committee asking
permission to raise fees for water
transactions and dam inspections
by 17% just to keep those divi-
sions functioning. Even with the
increase, several people will be
laid off.
The implication is the Legis-
lature doesn’t have the money
for OWRD and some other
“have-not” agencies to do their
job. The reality is the money is
tucked away elsewhere.
The Oregon Parks and Recre-
ation Department is an example
of a “have” agency. Under a
couple of constitutional amend-
ments, 7.5% of state lottery pro-
ceeds are earmarked for the
department. In the current bien-
nial budget, that’s $107.3 million
— more than twice the OWRD’s
entire budget. Much of the rest of
the Parks and Recreation budget,
$98.7 million, comes from
user fees and stays within the
department.
Assuming that transferring
water rights and inspecting dams
in a timely manner are important,
it should be up to legislators to
assure the agency is adequately
funded. That is not the case,
because of the cubby holes.
We cannot tell legislators how
to put together a state budget, but
we do know the current system
leaves some “have-not” agen-
cies dependent on squeezing
every penny out of farmers
and ranchers and others who
need water, inspections or other
state-mandated services.
At the same time, the “have”
agencies such as Parks and Rec-
reation, have more than enough
money to carry out their mis-
sions of managing state parks and
campgrounds.
The time is long overdue to dis-
cuss this shortcoming that leaves
some agencies chronically under-
funded and others overfunded.
Letter to the Editor
I plan to enjoy the
Biden presidency
Responding to John Kaufman (Jan.
28, 2021, edition of The Observer): I
marvel at the ability of one person to
reach in such a short, concise manner
new heights in hypocrisy, new lows in
self-awareness and for good measure,
some awesome examples of paranoia
and conspiracy theory — reeducation
and deprogramming hit just the right
note.
He bemoans the “torrent of hatred”
from “lefties” while his next sentence
describes President Biden as an “old
corrupt-o-crat,” and he continues to
spew vitriol and vent his rage at those
who might dare to disagree.
Write to us
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them to the address below.
Well done sir, well done. I espe-
cially enjoyed his closing statement:
“This is what you voted for. Enjoy,”
as if a Biden supporter would already
be so disillusioned that the “unity”
hasn’t come to pass yet, that’d we’d be
longing for the good old days when
a president entered offi ce speaking
of American carnage and went on
to spend four years embroiled in
scandal, incompetence, impeach-
ments, and corruption.
I do acknowledge that I am in fact
enjoying having as my president a
man whose life has been dedicated
to service to his country, a man who
understands that the presidency is
not a never-ending game of golf and
watching eight hours of TV a day, a
man who on his fi rst day is putting his
shoulder into the neglected corona-
virus response and trying to fi x prob-
lems that have plagued us for the past
four years.
So thanks for your invitation to
enjoy. I think I will.
Mary Chlopek
Lostine