12 CapitalPress.com
October 23, 2015
Urban-rural divide over guns mirrors
disagreements over farming practices
GUNS from Page 1
and La Grande before Alba-
ny. He’s spent plenty of time
in Portland and Salem. He
guesses the urban-rural divide
in Oregon isn’t much different
than a lot of other states.
“I think typically the notion
is, and I’m sure it’s true, in pre-
dominantly rural places people
are more concerned about gun
rights, more interested in them
and more concerned about in-
trusion” on those rights, Hare
said.
Part of that attitude comes
from heritage. Many rural
Westerners grew up handling
guns at relatively young ages.
Tap a current or former country
boy of a certain age and he’ll
tell you of the single-shot .22
rifl e leaning against the wall in
the closet. Squirrels beware.
“When I was a kid,” Hare
said, “you could go out in the
country and shoot a gun, and it
wouldn’t cause much of a stir
— in part because there weren’t
as many people around.
“If you live on a ranch, who
cares if you shoot a gun?” Hare
said. “You won’t hit anything.”
Hare had a .22 for plinking
and a Winchester .308 for hunt-
ing deer. Gun ownership was
part of the culture.
“That doesn’t mean there
weren’t problems with guns,”
he said. An eighth grade class-
mate was accidentally shot
and killed by his father while
hunting. A kid living nearby
was shot by his brother but
survived. A friend’s father com-
mitted suicide with a gun. An
elderly neighbor shot his wife,
then killed himself.
“Guns were very much part
of the culture, but so were gun
deaths,” Hare said.
Senior Trooper Kreg Cog-
gins, who works from the Ore-
gon State Police outpost in En-
terprise, in Oregon’s northeast
corner, said he interacts with
armed, legal hunters 12 months
of the year.
“I’m somewhat de-sensi-
tized to people who have guns,”
he said. “It’s kind of odd for
them not to have guns.”
Means of protection
In the rural West, help from
sheriff’s deputies or state troop-
ers may be spread thin and
miles distant.
Some residents, it’s fair to
say, own guns and keep them
handy out of a belief that they
may need to protect them-
selves, their families and their
livestock, equipment, crops or
other valuables.
Two-legged troublemakers
are a worry, but many rural
Westerners also share the land-
scape with coyotes, cougars,
wolves or bears.
Eastern Idaho rancher Brian
Mays, who leases a 300-acre
private pasture southeast of
Henry’s Lake, estimates griz-
zlies have killed 14 of his cows
in the past four years — four
this season. He recently round-
ed up some heavily-armed
compatriots to help him scour
E.J. Harris/EO Media Group
Nick Goit, owner of Eastern Oregon Tactical, puts up a U.S. fl ag outside his store front while opening up the shop Tuesday in Hermiston,
Ore. He carries a weapon with him through the day.
Gun ownership
in the U.S.
(Millions of guns)
Rifles and
shotguns
Handguns
*Figures are
approximate
188
65
192
127
92
106
65
1994
Common ground
2000
2007
Source: Congressional Research Service
E.J. Harris/EO Media Group
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Nick Goit, owner of Eastern Oregon Tactical, unlocks a cage covering a display of rifl es while getting his
shop ready for business Tuesday in Hermiston, Ore. He carries a weapon with him through the day.
the brush for cattle, or bears.
“They’re not the warm
fuzzy creatures everybody
seems to think they are,” Mays
said. “If urban people could see
how vicious they are with their
prey when they kill them, it
might wake them up.”
Urban reality
It’s different in cities.
Some urban areas put up
with the occasional cougar
scare or coyotes carrying off
cats, but most city wildlife en-
counters involve raccoons or
possums, not wolves or griz-
zlies.
Gang shootouts are a danger
in some city neighborhoods.
The presence of unruly street
kids and unkempt homeless
people, some of them clearly
mentally ill, may add to urban
unease about weapons or an in-
terest in possessing them.
The Oregonian newspaper
reported in 2013 that 1-in-16
10.9 million: Up
251% from 2004
12 million
10
8
Firearms manufactured
in the U.S., 2004-13 *
is simply carrying out orders
from USDA leaders, but he is
implementing these policies
with zeal and a “big smile on
his face,” Kastel said.
“We have a government
agency operating by fi at,”
said Jay Feldman, executive
director of Beyond Pesticides.
“Miles just happens to be the
man at the helm.”
Beyond Pesticides is in-
volved in another lawsuit
against McEvoy and USDA
that alleges the agency has
unlawfully permitted compost
that’s contaminated with pes-
ticides to be used in organic
production.
A federal judge recently re-
jected USDA’s motion to dis-
miss the case.
Feldman said the National
Organic Program under the
Bush administration ignored
recommendations by NOSB
but at least followed proce-
dures that allowed for public
input on policies.
The situation under the
Obama administration is
“clearly worse. It’s a clear vi-
8.6
(Millions of firearms)
Shotguns/misc. †
Rifles
Pistols/revolvers
6
4
3.1
3.2
2004
’05
3.7
3.9
6.5
5.6
5.5
’09
’10
4.5
2
0
’06
’07
’08
’11
’12
2013
* Excludes production for the U.S. military. Includes firearms manufactured for export or
purchased by domestic law enforcement agencies.
† Examples include pistol grip firearms, starter guns and firearm frames and receivers.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
Oregonians held a concealed
handgun license, or CHL. At
one point in the early 2000s in
Gresham, a Portland suburb,
two members of the city coun-
Organic groups once praised McEvoy
ORGANIC from Page 1
Among the 14 plaintiffs
were the Cornucopia Institute,
the Organic Consumers Asso-
ciation and the environmental
groups Center for Food Safety,
Beyond Pesticides and Food &
Water Watch.
A federal judge recently
dismissed the case, ruling the
plaintiffs lacked legal standing
to challenge the rule, but they
will be allowed to re-fi le their
complaint to correct the issues
identifi ed by the judge.
The dispute over synthetic
materials is just one example
of heavy-handedness during
McEvoy’s tenure at USDA,
Kastel said.
Kastel said McEvoy has
disregarded recommendations
by NOSB to prohibit the use
of nanotechnology and hydro-
ponics in organic production,
failed to suffi ciently investi-
gate large livestock farms for
compliance with organic rules
and concealed the identities of
scientists who review the safe-
ty of materials.
It’s possible that McEvoy
259
294
million:
Up 53.1%
from 1994
olation of process and law,”
he said. “This is just bad for
business because it undercuts
public trust.”
It appears that McEvoy is
acting at the behest of large
corporations that want to cap-
italize on the growing popu-
larity of organics, said Barry
Flamm, a former chairman
of the NOSB who once con-
sidered McEvoy a “breath of
fresh air.”
“Organic has grown. It has
become a money-maker,” said
Flamm.
McEvoy’s policies seem
aimed at removing obstacles
to the way he wants to run the
National Organic Program,
such as when he disbanded a
key policy-setting commit-
tee, stripped the NOSB of the
ability to set its own agenda
and otherwise undermined the
board’s authority.
“I was totally shocked,
surprised and angry,” Flamm
said. “They really cut back on
the public transparency. All
these changes were made uni-
laterally.”
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
cil and its city manager held
CHLs.
Open carry is legal in Port-
land, but guns must be un-
loaded unless the carrier has
differences. Of people living in
urban areas, 60 percent believe
it’s more important to control
gun ownership and 38 percent
believe gun rights should take
priority. The results are re-
versed in rural areas, with 63
percent saying gun rights are
more important. Suburban res-
idents were evenly divided on
the question.
The question of whether to
ban the sale of military-style
assault weapons also illustrates
the divide. Sixty-two percent
of urban residents favor a ban,
while agreement drops to 56
percent of suburban residents
and 48 percent of rural resi-
dents, according to the Pew
report.
But a greater percentage of
rural and suburban residents
— 80 percent and 81 percent,
respectively, compared to 76
percent of urban residents —
believe mentally ill people
should be banned from having
guns.
Interestingly, the U.S. fi re-
arm homicide rate has been
steadily dropping since 1993,
according to the Pew study.
Homicides involving fi rearms
accounted for seven deaths
per 100,000 people in 1993,
but dropped to 3.6 per 100,000
people by 2010, according to
the study. Suicides account for
60 percent of fi rearms deaths
nationally, and about 75 per-
cent in Oregon, according to
the group Ceasefi re Oregon.
The group, based in Port-
land, describes itself as op-
posing gun violence and ad-
vocating for reasonable gun
control laws. Among other
things, Ceasefi re Oregon hosts
voluntary gun turn-in events
that since 1994 have resulted in
more than 7,800 weapons being
turned in and destroyed.
a concealed handgun license,
Portland Police Bureau spokes-
man Sgt. Pete Simpson said in
an email.
Portland police have re-
sponded to 911 calls involving
people who were openly car-
rying fi rearms, Simpson said.
Statistics on the number of
such calls are not readily avail-
able, but Simpson said offi cers
respond based on information
they receive. Open-carry advo-
cates such as Goit, the Hermis-
ton gun shop owner, might not
be received calmly in cities.
“It is problematic in an ur-
ban environment,” Simpson
said, “as it’s not something
people are used to seeing and
arguably could put the carrier
at risk from another carrier who
may perceive a threat.”
Armed with statistics
A report released in August
by the Pew Research Center,
based in Washington, D.C.,
documented the urban-rural
Executive Director Penny
Okamoto said the urban-rural
gun divide is not as deep as
groups such as the National
Rifl e Association would have
people believe.
The vast majority of gun
owners support background
checks, safe storage of weap-
ons and suicide prevention pro-
grams, Okamoto said.
Ceasefi re Oregon also ad-
vocates a ban on high-capacity
magazines and a limit of one
gun purchase a month to pre-
vent traffi cking, she said.
“We have a lot of common
ground,” Okamoto said. “Peo-
ple are not opposed to respon-
sible gun ownership, and that’s
the vast majority of gun own-
ers.
“There are a lot of things we
can do to reduce gun violence
and stay well within the Second
Amendment,” she said.
“I tell people gun violence
is like cancer,” she said. “There
are a lot of different kinds of
cancer, and a lot of different
kinds of gun violence.
“You can’t cure all cancer
with one pill, and you can’t kill
gun violence with one law or
one education program.”
Proposal would take away
grazing land from ranchers
GUNS from Page 1
“There are cattle every-
where out there,” Skinner said.
“If you take cattle out of (this)
economy, you have decimated
the economy. It would change
our way of life. Not only farm-
ers and ranchers, but every-
body around here is up in arms
about it.”
Malheur County Soil and
Water Conservation District
Manager Linda Rowe, who
opposes the monument pro-
posal, said that 2.5 million
acres would equal 43 percent
of the county.
If the county’s economi-
cally vital cattle industry was
devastated by it, a lot of hay,
corn and other grains wouldn’t
be grown here, she said.
“It would impact agricul-
ture in Malheur County as a
whole,” Rowe said.
Local elected offi cials and
members of Oregon’s congres-
sional delegation are holding a
town hall meeting on the issue
Oct. 29 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in
the Adrian High School gym-
nasium.
ONDA and other region-
al and national conservation
groups and businesses are
gathering signatures to back
their effort. According to ON-
DA’s web site, “a variety of
legislative and administrative
options (are) being considered
to permanently protect this
place.”
According to a news re-
lease from Rep. Cliff Bentz,
R-Ontario, it is anticipated
the groups are planning to ask
President Barack Obama to
use his power under the An-
tiquities Act to designate the
land as a national monument,
wilderness area or national
conservation area.