OREGON
A8 — THE OBSERVER
TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 2022
OSP handled over 338,000 background checks last year
Philip Kamrass/The Associated Press, File
Oregon State Police reported 338,330 background checks requested
for gun purchases in 2021, according to a report. The total fell below
the number requested in 2020 but was still higher than those for the
years 2017-19.
most gun buys with 2,180
per 10,000 adult residents,
followed by Union County
with 1,851, and Crook
County with 1,795.
Nearly 40% of the state
police gun background
checks were completed
within three days.
Yet about 14% took six
months or longer to com-
plete, meaning the gun sales
could proceed before a back-
ground check was done.
State police said the
agency fi elded more calls last
year from people challenging
the denials of their back-
ground checks or calling
with questions about the
checks that were pending. As
of April of this year, the unit
would only receive people’s
challenges of denied sales
due to failed background
checks by email or U.S. mail.
The state police Firearms
Instant Check System Unit
operates seven days a week,
14 hours a day and is closed
two days out of the year, on
Thanksgiving and Christmas
After the unit was del-
uged in 2020 with an
unprecedented increase in
gun purchases and back-
ground check requests, state
police asked lawmakers for
more budgeted positions.
The Legislature during
the regular session last
year approved $2.6 mil-
lion in one-time general
fund spending to support
17 additional positions,
including 12 part-time staff ,
to help address a backlog
of gun background checks.
Recruitment began in
November to try to fi ll those
jobs, and the fi rst new hires
will start training in Jan-
uary, according to the state
police report.
“It takes awhile to recruit
and then train, and the
people who are training are
offl ine and their produc-
tion is reduced,” said Capt.
Stephanie Bigman, a state
police spokesperson.
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NATIO
N
SALEM — Background
checks for gun sales in
Oregon remained high last
year but did not the top the
state’s record year in 2020,
according to a new state
police report.
Oregon State Police last
year conducted 338,330
background checks on pro-
spective gun buyers, a drop
from 2020, when the state
recorded the most, 418,061.
Yet last year’s number
was still far greater than the
background checks in each
of the three previous years
from 2017 through 2019, fi g-
ures show.
For the past 25 years,
less than 2% of people in
Oregon seeking to buy a
gun have been denied due
to a failed background
check, according to the state
police’s latest report obtained
Tuesday.
Last year, 95%, or
320,735, of the purchases
were approved after back-
ground checks were done.
The state police Firearms
Instant Check System Unit
has struggled to keep up
with the increased volume
of gun buyers and required
background checks.
Under Oregon law, the
police agency conducts state
and national criminal back-
ground checks for federally
licensed gun dealers and pri-
vate people before a gun is
sold or transferred. State law
also requires a background
check for all gun transfers,
including those that take
place at a gun show and
between private parties.
The goal is to ensure
the timely transfer of fi re-
arms to eligible buyers while
also keeping guns out of the
More budgeted
positions
15 % & 10 %
2
The Oregonian
As a result, the unit
logged 1,225 hours in
overtime last year, a drop
from the 1,354 overtime
hours in 2020 but much
higher than the overtime
put in each year from 2017
through 2019.
“Events that occurred
throughout 2020 severely
impacted service levels
within the (Firearms
Instant Check System) pro-
gram in nearly every way
possible,” the state police
report said. “Background
check volumes soared with
the onset of COVID-19, fol-
lowed by months of social
unrest both locally and
nationally, as well as stim-
ulus money distribution
and fi nally the presidential
election.”
The higher demand
for guns came at a time
when the fi rearms unit suf-
fered staff shortages due
to absences resulting from
COVID-19, coronavirus-
related safety directives
that restricted staffi ng in
the offi ce and remote work
that challenged the back-
ground check function, the
report said.
Day. The 30-member unit
includes 26 background
check staff and other support
staff and a program manager.
RD
By MAXINE BERNSTEIN
hands of those that are pro-
hibited under state or fed-
eral law, according to state
police.
Under federal law, how-
ever, a gun dealer may sell
a fi rearm to someone if a
background check is not
completed within three busi-
ness days.
Last year, state police
approved 320,735 gun pur-
chases and denied 1,129
purchases after conducting
background checks. The
total does not equal 338,330
because it does not include
fi gures for two other catego-
ries contained in the report:
canceled, those stopped by
either the dealer or purchaser
after the initial request for
background checks, and
pended, those requiring
more investigation before
fi nal determination.
In 2020, 394,011 were
approved and 2,119 denied,
according to the latest report.
In 2021, most denials
occurred because the person
had been convicted of a
felony, was on probation for
a criminal conviction, or had
been convicted of domestic
abuse.
Last year, 1,101 people
were denied guns due to
background checks in
Oregon. Of those denials,
58 were people who previ-
ously had been committed to
a mental health institution,
according to the data.
About 100 were denied
because the guns sought for
sale came back as having
been reported stolen.
In 2021, the top three
counties recording the most
gun purchases were Wash-
ington County, 47,761;
Clackamas County, 33,558;
and Lane County with
32,090.
Deschutes County had
the sixth highest transactions
at 25,018, one notch above
Multnomah County, with
23,789, according to the state
police.
But when analyzed per
10,000 residents 18 or older,
Harney County recorded the
TH
Total for 2021 fell
below checks in
2020 but were
higher than 2017-19
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