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July 25. 2012
Gun Violence Explosion
background check requirem ents as is 22-years-old w ith a clean record
long as the seller is dealing in few er and needs to m ake som e m oney.
felon, has any w arrants, and see if than 25 firearms, som ething she calls G ive this person m oney and have
there are any restraining orders or a problem because crim inals can get them go into a dealer and buy 200
g u n s,” she said. “The person w alks
dom estic violence problem s,” she guns w ith no questions asked.
“ You do not need to do a b ack out w ith as m any guns as the person
said.
Licenses dealers also see if a ground check for that. People can, w ants, and it is com pletely legal.”
person is o f age. In the state o f but it costs m oney w ith a sm all fee,”
Sim pson said state laws and local
O regon, you m ust be 18-years-old she said.
ordinances controlling firearm s are
A n o th er w ay to get a gun is good and helpful, but there is such
to buy a long gun, w hich is basically
a rifle, and 21-years-old to buy a know n as a ‘straw ’ o r ‘straw m a n ’ a prevalence o f firearm s in the c o m
purchase. It happens w hen som e m unity, it is difficult for them to have
handgun or an assault w eapon.
O kam oto said so-called kitchen one w ith a clean record is paid to a m ajor im pact.
table or private sales, such as p u r purchase a gun for som eone else.
“O ur goal is to m ake it harder to
“ Say you have got som eone w ho get a gun if a crim inal or juvenile,” he
chases on C ra ig ’s List, bypass any
c o n tin u e d fr o n tp a g e
A suspected gang member shows others his gun outside a
southeast Portland apartment. The police surveillance photo, with
the faces blacked out, was taken on July 17just before a high-
risk traffic stop that escalated into a police shooting o f a l 7-year-
old armed suspect.
On July 16, members of the Portland Police Bureau Gun Task Force and Gang Enforcement Team
recover three handguns from two apartments on Northeast 82nd Avenue. The guns had previously
been reported stolen.
PCC Seeks Candidates for
Zone 2 Board Vacancy
Portland Community College is seeking applications
to fill a vacancy on the Board of Directors. Applicants
must live in Zone 2 (North Portland, Northeast
Portland north of Sandy Blvd., and portions of eastern
Columbia County including St. Helens) and must be
registered to vote.
The selected candidate will serve on the Board until
June 30, 2013, and can seek election to the position
in May 2013.
Applicants must submit a letter indicating their interest
and qualifications, a current résumé and references.
Letters of recommendation are appreciated but
not required.
said. “T he law s are effective, but
you have to have enough people to
enforce them , and the sheer num ber
o f guns m akes it difficult to know all
the different avenues they can be
used w ithin the co m m u n ity .”
In 2010, in an effort to curb the
rate o f gun violence w ithin the city,
Portland M ayor Sam A dam s w orked
to pass five ordinances involving
gun safety.
T he local law s addressed the e n
dangerm ent o f a child by allow ing
access to a firearm ; increased co n
sequences fo r the failure to report a
lost o r stolen firearm ; enhanced sen
THE LAW OFFICES OF
Patrick John Sweeney, PC.
Patrick John Sweeney
Attorney at Law
Applications must be received
by Friday, August 10 at 5:00 p.m.
For more information, visit
www.pcc.edu/boardmember
or call 971-722-4696.
.
1549 SE Ladd
Portland, Oregon
m
2 X Portland
< g )> Community
College
i i ' i ' j ' i ' i
tences for the possession o f a loaded
firearm in a public place; ad d ed new
restrictions on youth curfew ; and
orbid the use o f illegal firearm s in
d e s ig n a te d
n e ig h b o r h o o d
“ h o ts p o ts .”
Police say the ordinances have a
direct im pact on the pervasiveness
o f guns w ithin the com m unity, but
O kam oto said these kinds o f laws
should be statew ide, if not n ation
wide.
“ W hat the gun control m o v e
m ent know s is once you put require
m e n ts in o n e c o u n ty , th e gun
d e ale r’s m ove out o f that county to
a different county, w here they know
they d o n ’t have to w orry ab o u t that
law ,” she said.
O katm oto said she w ould like to
see m ore en fo rcem en t o f the child
access prevention ordinance, in an
effort to prevent old er gang m em
bers from furnishing w eapons to
gang m em bers w ho are m inors.
“G et them aw ay from m essing
w ith these kids and m essing w ith
their lives,” she said. “T hese guys
are not going to stop because it is
illegal. M urder is illegal, but people
• • *
Portland:
Hillsoboro:
Facsimile:
Email:
(503) 244-2080
(503) 244-2081
(503) 244-2084
Sweeney@PDXLawyer.com
com m it is every day. B ut if you
d o n ’t m ake a law against it, then no
one w ould ever w orry about retribu
tio n .”
She w ould also like to see a back
ground check for every gun sold.
Sim pson sees the biggest im pact
on the reduction o f youth violence
beginning w ith the fam ily.
“Strong fam ilies can prevent kids
from becom ing gang m em bers. Po
lice have really low impact on whether
or not a child will becom e a gang
m em ber,” he said. “But if a 5 or 6 year
old grow s up in a hom e w here gang
violence is accepted by the fam ily, it
is incredibly likely they will becom e a
gang m em ber them selves.”
H e also said the gun c a n ’t be
blam ed for the high level o f violence
w ithin Portland. “It is like blam ing
spoons fo r obesity. T here is a h u
m an elem ent here that is at w ork that
is com plicit to getting guns into the
hands o f y o u th ,” he said. “G uns are
not the problem . L aw ful, legal gun
o w nership is not the problem . T he
problem is the guns that flow into
the hands o f people w ho should not
have th em .”
The biggest hope, he said, is that
parents will be more vigilant with their
children, w ho are vulnerable to gang
lifestyles. “W aiting for som eone else
to fix the problem is not going to help.
T he single biggest im pact to curb the
rising rate o f gang violence is going
to be fam ily,” he said.
O kam oto agreed. “W e need to
get o u r children educated, not ju s t
about gun violence, w e need to get
them into good schools and college
to give them a ch a n c e, so they a re n ’t
going to jo in g an g s,” she said.
Ceasefire sponsors their next
collection of unwanted firearms on
Saturday, Aug. 18, from 10 to 2 p.m.
at the north side o f Memorial Coli
seum, in the Rose Quarter parking
lot off North Benton Avenue.