BAKER CITY HERALD • THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 2022 A3
LOCAL & STATE
OSP handled over 338K gun background checks last year
BY MAXINE BERNSTEIN
The Oregonian
SALEM — Background
checks for gun sales in Oregon
remained high last year but did
not top the state’s record year
in 2020, according to a new
state police report.
Oregon State Police last
year conducted 338,330 back-
ground checks on prospective
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 back-
ground checks in each of the
three previous years from 2017
through 2019, figures 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 back-
ground check, according to the
state police’s latest report ob-
tained Tuesday.
Last year, 95%, or 320,735,
of the purchases were ap-
proved after background
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 back-
ground checks.
Under Oregon law, the po-
lice agency conducts state and
national criminal background
checks for federally licensed
gun dealers and private people
before a gun is sold or trans-
ferred. 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 firearms to
eligible buyers while also keep-
ing guns out of the hands of
those that are prohibited under
state or federal law, according
to state police.
Under federal law, however,
a gun dealer may sell a firearm
to someone if a background
check is not completed within
three business days.
Last year, state police ap-
proved 320,735 gun purchases
and denied 1,129 purchases
after conducting background
checks. The total does not
equal 338,330 because it does
not include figures for two
other categories contained
in the report: canceled, those
stopped by either the dealer or
purchaser after the initial re-
quest for background checks,
and pending, those requiring
more investigation before final
determination.
In 2020, 394,011 were ap-
proved and 2,119 denied, ac-
cording to the latest report.
In 2021, most denials oc-
curred because the person had
been convicted of a felony, was
on probation for a criminal
conviction, or had been con-
victed of domestic abuse.
Last year, 1,101 people were
denied guns due to back-
ground checks in Oregon. Of
those denials, 58 were people
who previously had been com-
mitted to a mental health insti-
tution, according to the data.
About 100 were denied be-
cause the guns sought for sale
came back as having been re-
ported stolen.
In 2021, the top three coun-
ties recording the most gun
purchases were Washington
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 Mult-
nomah County, with 23,789,
according to the state police.
But when analyzed per
10,000 residents 18 or older,
Harney County recorded the
most gun buys with 2,180 per
10,000 adult residents, fol-
lowed by Union County with
1,851, and Crook County
with 1,795.
Nearly 40% of the state po-
lice gun background checks
were completed within three
days.
Yet about 14% took six
months or longer to complete,
meaning the gun sales could
check volumes soared with the
onset of COVID-19, followed
by months of social unrest
both locally and nationally, as
well as stimulus money distri-
bution and finally the presi-
dential election.”
The higher demand for guns
came at a time when the fire-
arms unit suffered staff short-
ages due to absences resulting
from COVID-19, coronavirus-
related safety directives that
restricted staffing in the office
and remote work that chal-
lenged the background check
function, the report said.
Since 2011, the firearms unit
has allowed gun dealers to sub-
mit a request for a background
check online as an alternative
Philip Kamrass/The Associated Press, File to placing a phone call, and a
majority of the requests come
Oregon State Police reported 338,330 background checks requested
into the unit via the internet,
for gun purchases in 2021, according to a report. The total fell below
according to the report. The
the number requested in 2020 but was still higher than those for the
state police website now says
years 2017-19.
the unit will only accept re-
quests for background checks
proceed before a background
regular session last year ap-
via its online portal.
check was done.
proved $2.6 million in one-
While staff in the unit typ-
State police said the agency time general fund spending
fielded more calls last year
to support 17 additional posi- ically review and conduct
the checks, about 38% of the
from people challenging the
tions, including 12 part-time
denials of their background
staff, to help address a backlog requests were automatically
checks or calling with ques-
of gun background checks. Re- processed.
That occurs if there’s no
tions about the checks that
cruitment began in November
were pending. As of April of
to try to fill those jobs, and the possible matches to criminal
this year, the unit would only first new hires will start train- justice databases and no dis-
receive people’s challenges
ing in January, according to the crepancies detected in the in-
formation submitted, accord-
of denied sales due to failed
state police report.
ing to state police.
background checks by email
“It takes awhile to recruit
Completion of background
or U.S. mail.
and then train, and the peo-
checks sometimes are depen-
The state police Firearms
ple who are training are of-
dent on agencies out of state to
Instant Check System Unit
fline and their production is
operates seven days a week,
reduced,” said Capt. Stephanie respond to questions about a
14 hours a day and is closed
Bigman, a state police spokes- person’s criminal record, and
states’ response times vary
two days out of the year, on
person.
widely from several days to
Thanksgiving and Christmas
As a result, the unit logged
several months, the report said.
Day. The 30-member unit in- 1,225 hours in overtime last
State police also check and
cludes 26 background check
year, a drop from the 1,354
ensure the gun sought for sale
staff and other support staff
overtime hours in 2020 but
and a program manager.
much higher than the overtime has not been reported stolen.
The day with the most gun
put in each year from 2017
purchases last year was the day
through 2019.
More budgeted positions
after Thanksgiving. In 2020,
“Events that occurred
After the unit was deluged
in 2020 with an unprecedented throughout 2020 severely im- however, March 20 saw the
highest gun purchases.
increase in gun purchases and pacted service levels within
According to national fig-
the (Firearms Instant Check
background check requests,
System) program in nearly ev- ures from the Bureau of Alco-
state police asked lawmakers
ery way possible,” the state po- hol, Tobacco, Firearms and Ex-
for more budgeted positions.
plosives, 118 guns in Oregon
lice report said. “Background
The Legislature during the
County
Continued from Page A1
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Bill Taylor, left, and Ken Bain are longtime volunteers who help make the annual Haines Stampede rodeo
possible.
Rodeo
“For any ground improve-
ments, we rely on the derby,”
Continued from Page A1
Taylor said.
The cool spring slowed prog-
ress on this new addition, but
“We’ve never had a good
these volunteers are accustomed
place for people with a dis-
to last-minute adjustments.
ability or mobility issues to
“The first time we did this ro-
have a good seat,” said Bill
Taylor, who has worked with deo in 1991, we were nailing the
the rodeo since it was revived floor down in the announcer’s
booth the day before the rodeo.
in 1991. “All the handicap
parking will be at this end — We work well under pressure,”
Bain said with a smile.
easy to get to.”
Taylor said this project ben-
Half of the raised area
efited from equipment pro-
will be flat, for wheelchairs,
vided by Britt Corporation,
and the other half will have
the City of Haines, Lost Soul
bleachers.
Contracting Inc., Eric Swan-
A temporary awning will
lund, Tom Kerns, Steve Vir-
shade it this summer.
“The long-range plan next tue, Jim Aldrich Farms and
year is to build a permanent
Eastern Oregon Rental.
shaded area,” Taylor said.
Materials were donated by
The new seating area is just Harney Rock in North Pow-
north of the existing covered der and R.D. Mac.
bleachers. It required 340 cu-
Trucks were donated by
bic yards of fill dirt to elevate Adam Phillips Trucking,
it for a good view of the buck- Colby Thompson, Sherman
ing chutes and roping boxes.
Trucking, J2K Excavating,
“We decided this would be Floyd Morgan Excavating
a primo spot,” Taylor said.
and Triple C.
“The best seats in the
Jeff Petershon and Dirk
house,” Bain added. “90% of
Lien designed the railing.
the action is right here.”
Stampede
Volunteers
The schedule is the same as
The Haines Stampede hap- always for this Fourth of July
pens every year on July 3
tradition in Haines.
and 4.
On Sunday, July 3, slack is
And planning for the next
at 9 a.m. and the rodeo starts
year, Bain said, starts as soon at 5 p.m.
as the rodeo wraps up on the
On Monday, July 4, the ro-
deo begins at 1:30 p.m. This
4th.
day is also a celebration in
“Every year something
comes up that we can better,” Haines with a cowboy break-
fast at 7 a.m., vendors in the
he said.
park, a parade at 10 a.m. and
Any work on the rodeo
fireworks at dusk.
grounds is funded by pro-
Rodeo admission is $10
ceeds from the annual dem-
olition derby, which happens adults and $5 for ages 5
and older.
this year on Aug. 6.
Museum exhibit
The Haines Stampede
will unveil its new exhibit at
Haines’ Eastern Oregon Mu-
seum, 610 Third St., at the be-
ginning of July.
The display, located in the
museum’s carriage wing, fea-
tures history and artifacts
from the rodeo dating back
to 1915.
And Taylor said they wel-
come more additions to the
display.
“We’re still looking for
memorabilia,” he said. “We’d
like to see what people have.”
Taylor can be contacted at
541-403-0900 or through the
rodeo website, www.haines-
stampede.com.
Victory EMS of Boise is the
other.
Commissioners asked Kim
Mosier, the county’s attor-
ney, to prepare a notice of in-
tent to award the contract to
Metro West.
Metro West has been in
business for 69 years and op-
erates ambulances in seven ar-
eas in Oregon, three in Wash-
ington and one in California.
Randy Daugherty, a mem-
ber of the advisory committee
that commissioners appointed
last month to review propos-
als, said Metro West “seem
confident that they can do
it and I don’t know why we
would doubt that.”
Mosier said the commit-
tee — whose other members
included Tony Alexander,
Wayne Endersby, Debra
Duggan, Pat Sullivan, David
Richards, Loran Joseph and
Jeanne Peacock — met for
about two and a half hours
on Monday, June 6 to review
the two proposals.
“It was a lot of time spent
with the proposals and discus-
sions,” Mosier said.
The county has not publicly
released either proposal.
Under Oregon’s Public Re-
cords Law, the county can
withhold the proposals until
the notice of intent to award is
finished.
Under Oregon law, the
county is responsible for en-
suring ambulance service.
Commissioners approved
the request for proposals ear-
lier this spring in response to
a notice from the Baker City
Council, on March 22, that the
city, which has operated am-
bulances since before World
War II, intended to curtail the
service Sept. 30, 2022.
City Manager Jonathan
Cannon told councilors that
he doesn’t believe the city
can afford to continue op-
erating ambulances because
revenue from ambulance
billing isn’t keeping pace
with the expense.
The City Council decided
on May 10 to submit a pro-
posal to the county, but coun-
cilors, by a 4-2 vote on May 24,
reversed the unanimous deci-
sion from two weeks earlier.
During the May 24 meet-
ing, Councilor Dean Guyer
suggested the city not send a
proposal to the county by the
June 3 deadline.
Guyer and councilors Jo-
anna Dixon, Johnny Wag-
goner Sr. and Kenyon Dam-
schen voted in favor of Guyer’s
motion to not respond to the
county’s request for proposals.
Mayor Kerry McQuisten
and Councilor Shane Alder-
son voted no. Councilor Jason
Spriet was absent May 24.
Guyer said during the
meeting that “the city still
has the possibility of stepping
back into” the ambulance ser-
vice issue depending on what
county commissioners decide
after reviewing any proposals
they receive.
Now that commissioners
have voted to move ahead
with awarding a contract with
Metro West, it seems likely
that the city is no longer a po-
tential candidate to continue
operating ambulances.
were reported lost or stolen
last year, with the majority, 78,
reported to have been taken
during a burglary.
The state does not have data
on background checks done so
far this year.
But the FBI has monthly
data for the first four months
of this year, based solely on
background checks initiated
through the FBI’s National In-
stant Criminal Background
Check System, known as
NICS, which are viewed as a
proxy for sales.
In the first four months of
this year, there were 135,610
background checks done for
prospective Oregon gun pur-
chasers through the national
check system, down from
175,907 done in the same pe-
riod in 2021.
The state police Firearms
Instant Check Unit conducts
both statewide criminal back-
ground checks and checks
through the FBI’s National In-
stant Criminal Background
Check System.
As of May 3 of this year,
there were 310,630 concealed
handgun licenses in the state,
according to Bigman.
“Different world events
cause a lot of these upticks in
gun sales,” she added, noting
there seemed to be an increase
in gun purchases following
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
this year.
Under Oregon law, a person
may not sell, deliver or trans-
fer any gun when the person
knows or reasonably should
know that the recipient is un-
der 18, has been convicted of
a felony, has any outstanding
felony arrest warrant, is free on
any pretrial release for a pend-
ing felony charge, was found
by a court to suffer from men-
tal illness and be committed to
treatment, was convicted of a
violent misdemeanor or found
guilty except for insanity of a
felony or a misdemeanor in-
volving violence, or if the gun
is stolen.
It’s not clear whether the city
will discontinue its service be-
fore Sept. 30.
The city’s budget for the fis-
cal year that starts July 1 calls
for reducing staffing in the fire
department from 16.25 full-
time equivalents in the current
fiscal year, to 10.5.
Casey Johnson, a Baker
City firefighter/paramedic and
president of the local firefight-
ers union, has said the layoffs
will significantly reduce the
department’s firefighting ca-
pacity, particularly in cases
where it might be necessary for
firefighters to enter a burning
building.
In that case, Johnson said,
the department would need at
least four firefighters, two to
go inside and two to serve as
backup.
City officials dispute that
contention.
In a section that Cannon
recently added to the city’s
website — www.bakercity.com
— the city poses the question,
“Will the Fire Department
still be able to enter a burning
building?”
The answer: “Yes they will.
Our skilled Fire Department
staff will still be able to enter a
burning building to save lives
per OSHA regulations and
laws, even with the proposed
staff model. The proposed staff
model actually offers MORE
staff on duty to respond to
fire calls. The City also has
mutual-aid agreements and
great partnerships with other
departments such as North
Powder and Baker Rural Fire
Department. They all can as-
sist when we have a larger fire
if needed.”
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