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THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, MARcH 2, 2021
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
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GUEST COLUMN
Gun measure raises thorny issues
I
f this were a normal year, Room 50
in the basement of the Oregon Cap-
itol would have been packed for last
week’s gun-control hearing. The over-
flow crowd also would have filled addi-
tional rooms in the Capitol, with peo-
ple watching the hearing on big screens
and hoping to hear their names called to
testify.
Yet the final result would have been
the same: passage of the
gun-control legislation
on a party-line vote.
After a sometimes
heated debate Thursday
morning in the Senate
Judiciary Committee, the
four Democratic mem-
DICK
bers sent Senate Bill 554
HUGHES
to a vote of the full Sen-
ate over the opposition of
the three Republicans.
A couple of hours later, all 11 Sen-
ate Republicans boycotted the Senate’s
weekly floor session, depriving the Sen-
ate of a quorum to conduct business.
Newly Independent state Sen. Brian
Boquist, of Dallas, also was absent, but
that was previously scheduled.
Gun control was not mentioned in the
Republicans’ explanatory press release
and their letter to Gov. Kate Brown.
Rather, Republican Leader Fred Girod,
of Lyons, and his colleagues called
on Democratic legislators and Brown
to focus on the most important issues
affecting Oregonians: reopen public
schools ASAP, accelerate coronavirus
vaccinations for seniors and ensure rural
residents are treated equitably, speed the
reopening of businesses and forego tax
increases.
For decades, Oregon’s political party
leadership held little relationship to what
happens in the Capitol. That changed
when Sen. Dallas Heard, of Myrtle
Creek, was elected chair of the Oregon
Republican Party in February.
Heard also had been among those
pushing for a change in Senate Republi-
can leadership last spring, which resulted
in Herman Baertschiger Jr., of Grants
Pass, stepping down and Girod taking
over. Now a Jackson County commis-
sioner, Baertschiger is the newly elected
vice chair of the state GOP and Sen.
Dennis Linthicum, of Klamath Falls, is
party treasurer.
Why gun control: Sen. Ginny Bur-
dick, D-Portland, has long advocated for
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo
Oregon legislators are considering restrictions on guns.
the concepts in SB 554.
State law bars people from bring-
ing firearms into public buildings. How-
ever, that ban does not apply to people
who hold a concealed handgun license.
SB 554 would allow the state, school dis-
tricts and local governments to remove
that exemption, thereby barring anyone
other than police and a few others from
legally carrying weapons there. The bill
also would increase fees for concealed
handgun licenses.
Regardless of what you think about
gun control, the measure and last week’s
actions raise a number of issues.
The question I always try to start
with when analyzing an issue is this:
What is the problem for which this is the
solution?
Firearm violence remains at epi-
demic levels in the state and nationally,
yet Brown has refused to treat gun vio-
lence as a public health crisis. The over-
whelming percentage of gun deaths are
suicides, yet Oregon vastly underfunds
mental health care and fails to confront
the social, financial and other dynamics
that may contribute to suicides, whether
in rural areas or cities.
And though almost everyone agrees
that guns should be kept away from chil-
dren and from people in mental crisis,
Second Amendment protectors and gun
control advocates so distrust each other
that they have not worked together on
one obvious, albeit imperfect, answer:
jointly launching a massive public infor-
mation and education campaign to pro-
mote safe storage of guns. Instead, they
fight.
Which brings us back to SB 554. One
advantage of this virtual legislative ses-
sion is that people across Oregon can tes-
tify via phone or videoconference instead
of driving to the Capitol in Salem. More
than 300 people signed up to testify at the
Judiciary hearing on Feb. 22. Over 2,000
pieces of written testimony were sub-
mitted, according to Sen. Kim Thatcher,
R-Keizer, the committee vice chair.
The hearing lasted almost four hours.
At the allotted three minutes per person,
listening to everyone who initially signed
up would have taken 16 hours. To expe-
dite the testimony, Sen. Floyd Prozanski,
D-Eugene, the committee chairman,
asked committee members not to ask
questions of people testifying and said
committee staff could provide their con-
tact information to members afterward.
More than two-thirds of people speak-
ing were against the bill. Much of the tes-
timony was thoughtful — the kind that
anyone, regardless of viewpoint, should
learn from. A bit was off the wall. Almost
all was repetitive of what’s been said
before.
Senate President Peter Courtney,
D-Salem, has been proud that — pre-
COVID — Oregon had perhaps the
most open capitol in the country.
Indeed, it was so wide open that a few
years ago I was showing the Capitol
to a vacationing federal law enforce-
ment officer from the East Coast, he was
stunned that he entered the building and
even ran into Brown without needing to
surrender the firearm he always carried
out of sight.
More questions: If the supermajor-
ity Democrats have the votes to pass SB
554 and then ban guns in the Capitol,
which they presumably do, will that pro-
hibition apply to legislators and legisla-
tive staff who hold concealed handgun
licenses and who regularly are armed?
Sen. Thatcher testified that strapping on
the holster is just a regular part of starting
one’s day. However, Sen. James Man-
ning Jr., D-Eugene, said he has a license
but supported the bill.
Federal courthouses and other federal
facilities allow only specifically autho-
rized people to be armed. They back
that up with metal detectors and secu-
rity guards. Will the Legislature install
and staff metal detectors at all entrances,
including the parking garage doors
used by lawmakers, staff and other state
employees?
Opponents of SB 554 say public
safety is enhanced when citizens are
armed and holders of concealed hand-
gun licenses are statistically less likely
than others to commit violent crimes.
Supporters say they are uneasy and feel
intimidated by being around firearms
in public places and that trained law
enforcement officers should handle pub-
lic safety.
How does that square with efforts by
some Democrats to remove all school
resource officers, who are armed, from
Oregon schools? Sen. Michael Dem-
brow, D-Portland, on Thursday clari-
fied that he would not allow such a bill
to move forward in the Senate Education
Committee, which he chairs.
dick Hughes has been covering the
Oregon political scene since 1976.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
We choose to adapt
T
he 2021 Astoria-Warrenton Crab, Sea-
food & Wine Festival will be a virtual
event. Online response to this news has
been colorful and voluminous.
Listen, in a perfect (and currently
imaginary) world, we would have a live
event with thousands of people eating and
drinking and celebrating, as in years past.
In the real world, the two options avail-
able to us were cancel or adapt.
We choose to adapt.
Thirty-eight times previously, we held
an event whose purpose and design was
to bring maximum benefit to our commu-
nity and stakeholders, including guests,
vendors, local business, performers, non-
profits and our own revenue needs. This
39th event will do the same.
The revenue we generate for the cham-
ber, incidentally, pays for people and
resources to serve our community and
members year-round — something we’ve
done with distinction for 147 years, and
never more capably than in the past 12
months.
Had we taken only our own revenue
needs into account, the decision would
have been simple: Cancel. The staff time
and effort, money and resources required
to put on this virtual event outweigh
expected chamber revenue.
But we have never solely taken our
own needs into account. That’s not how
the chamber is built. Instead, we think
of the whole community, and act accord-
ingly. So, we adapt and move forward
with an engaging, beneficial and enjoy-
able event.
Like everything we do, this decision
is designed to create the greatest benefit
to the greatest number. We’d love to have
you among that number.
DAVID REID
Executive director, Astoria-Warrenton
Area Chamber of Commerce
Astoria
Positive experience
I
n February, I was at the Clatsop County
Fairgrounds for my COVID-19 vacci-
nation. It was a positive experience.
Though there were a goodly number
LETTERS WELCOME
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letters per writer are allowed each
month. Letters written in response
of cars in the lot, I didn’t have a prob-
lem finding a place to park. I entered the
building and was met by friendly, courte-
ous people who directed me to each of the
stations where I needed to be.
After I’d had my shot and checked
out, I sat in the waiting area (15 minutes
to other letter writers should address
the issue at hand and should refer to
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published. Discourse should be civil.
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for me), and looked at the materials I had
been given: an identification card that
said I’d had the first shot, an appointment
reminder for the second shot, two sepa-
rate fact sheets about COVID-19, the vac-
cine, the vaccination process and a N95
mask.
I returned to my car and checked the
time — 45 minutes. A huge “thank you”
to those who organized the clinic and to
all the volunteers who made it happen.
DOLORES SHARP
Astoria
The pledge
I
t’s a small gripe, but it has been my pet
peeve for many years. My former stu-
dents would not forgive me if I didn’t
respond to the “Return the pledge” letter
in the Feb. 18 newspaper.
For over 30 years I taught my classes
to properly recite the pledge without the
comma (the pause) after “nation.” The
phrase is, “one nation under God.” Unfor-
tunately, it is not very often you hear the
pledge recited properly.
TOM SPAAN
Astoria