A4 THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2021
Brecken
Continued from A1
He’s been remembered as
a good older sibling who in-
cluded his brother in fun and
games, and also as a “steadfast
and devoted” friend.
“Brecken Boice was a bright
and pure soul who brought
so much joy to this world,”
reads his obituary. “He was so
kind and beautiful and easy
to love.”
Brian Boice and his wife,
Angela, are lawyers in Tacoma,
partners at the family-run
Boice Law Firm. Brian has
practiced in civil litigation for
more than a decade, but An-
gela took a less conventional
route to the bar, working first
as an assistant in her husband’s
office until starting law school
in 2017 and, last year, joining
Brian as an equal partner at
the firm.
Brian Boice said the fam-
ily doesn’t yet know if it will
pursue litigation against Mt.
Bachelor.
“We haven’t made any de-
termination that way. It’s
one of those deals,” he said,
his voice nearly trailing off.
“We’re emotionally crushed
right now.”
After returning to Tacoma
from Bend, Angie Boice re-
plied to a post on the Face-
book page of St. Patrick Cath-
olic School, where Brecken
attended the fourth grade. She
was mourning one son and
watching out for the other,
Toren.
“Toren is 89% sure that he
wants to go to school tomor-
row. Please remember that he
needs to be a normal little boy
right now,” she wrote.
For now, the Boices are fo-
cused on maintaining their
daily routines. They acknowl-
edge this is next to impossible
given the magnitude of their
loss, but still, it’s important
to try.
“We have another son,”
Brian Boice said. “When you
lose one son, you can’t lose
’em both.”
The family is not plan-
ning a memorial service. A
GoFundMe page had raised
nearly $60,000 for the Boices as
of Friday.
e e
Reporter: 541-383-0325,
gandrews@bendbulletin.com
Guns
Continued from A1
With so many purchases, the
state, which performs its own
background checks, is back-
logged. In 2019, there were
276,912 background check
requests, compared to 2020
when there were 418,061 re-
quests.
That backlog is mostly due
to near hits on the National
Instant Criminal Background
Check System because of in-
correct information, missing
information or invalid gov-
ernment-issued identification
or missing information, Capt.
Timothy Fox, an Oregon State
Police government and me-
dia relations officer, said in an
email.
Jefferson County District
Attorney Steven Leriche said
he was not aware of increased
crime being associated with
increased firearm sales. But he
did say there is a correlation
between drug and alcohol use
and gun ownership and serious
crimes.
“Guns themselves are gen-
erally not my worry,” Leriche
said. “The combination of
drugs being plentiful and guns
being plentiful, that’s a worry.
We’ve had five murders so far
and at least two involve a fire-
arm.”
According to the FBI data,
there was a 44% increase in
firearm background checks in
Oregon from 2019 to 2020 and
an 86.9% increase from 2015
to 2020.
Jefferson County Sheriff Jim
Adkins said he preferred to
have an armed citizenry, as it
is difficult sometimes to get to
someone in need and they can
help themselves.
“Police cannot always be
there at the moment they are
needed most,” Adkins said. “I
always encourage citizens to be
more self-reliant.
“Everyone should be pre-
pared with food, water,
warmth and self-defense, so
they can handle any emer-
gency on their own until help
arrives. Sometimes help can
be pretty slow. Especially a
life-threatening event.”
In Bend, at Hammer Down
Firearms, not only are firearms
Concealed
Continued from A1
The Oregon State Sher-
iff’s Association also offers a
cheaper, online version of the
course, which is also NRA-ap-
proved.
Madras firearms instructor
Paul Sumner attributed the up-
tick to a “nonspecified fear.” It’s
typical to see interest in con-
cealed carry courses increase
following the installation of
new presidential administra-
tions.
Sumner said some of the fear
Scott Wyke,
owner of Ham-
mer Down Fire-
arms in Bend,
straightens a
case of guns
while working
at his store.
Ryan Brennecke/
The Bulletin
selling rapidly, so is ammuni-
tion, said owner Scott Wyke.
He agreed with Koch that cus-
tomers are coming into the
store looking for protection be-
cause of the recent civil unrest.
For months, protests per-
sisted in Portland that were
mostly peaceful. A march
drawing several hundred was
held in May in downtown
Bend to protest the killing of
George Floyd, who died after
a Minneapolis police officer
kneeled on his neck. The pro-
test was held in conjunction
is from residents worried about
left-wing activists destroying
property, but not all.
“I am seeing an uptick in
people being concerned,”
Sumner said. “It’s more of a
general concern, and we’ve
seen that before. But some-
thing that’s truly not been ex-
pressed is how traumatic it has
been for people faced with liv-
ing through the pandemic.”
In his “day job,” Sumner is
city attorney to six small Oregon
towns, so he’s familiar with so-
cial distancing requirements, he
said. Prior to the pandemic, he
with a nation-
wide move-
ment that
sparked vio-
lence in some
cities, includ-
ing Portland
and Eugene.
“All the ri-
ots started it,”
Wyke said.
“Now it’s the Democrats saying
they’re going to take our guns
away and people are purchas-
ing now. Ammunition is in
short supply now.”
Combined with demand are
ammunition plant shutdowns
or slowdowns caused by efforts
to control the spread of the
COVID-19 virus.
“Sales have been higher than
I expected and it’s mostly com-
ing from first-time buyers,” he
said.
e e
Reporter: 541-633-2117,
sroig@bendbulletin.com
taught as many as 60 students
in his monthly concealed carry
course. Now, due to COVID-19,
the classes top out around 12
people, though many more are
interested, he said.
He doesn’t think the backlog
is leading to less safety, adding
that one in two Oregon house-
holds have a firearm.
“Generally, we could all use
more training,” he said. “But I
think, by and large, gun own-
ers are law-abiding people and
want to follow the law.”
e e
Reporter: 541-383-0325,
gandrews@bendbulletin.com
“Creativity is just
connecting things.”
-Steve Jobs
STEPHANIE STANLEY
103 NW Oregon Ave. • Downtown Bend
541-306-3176 • redchairgallerybend.com
Firearms in capitol
buildings divide states
after armed protests
BY IRIS SAMUELS
AND LINDSAY WHITEHURST
Associated Press/Report
for America
HELENA, Mont. — In the
past year, insurrectionists
have breached the U.S. Capi-
tol and armed protesters have
forced their way into state-
houses around the country.
But the question of whether
guns should be allowed in
capitol buildings remains po-
litical, and states are going in
opposite directions.
In Montana, a law signed
Thursday allows anyone with
a permit to bring a concealed
firearm into the Statehouse,
reversing a decadeslong ban
and fulfilling a longtime hope
of Republicans who took con-
trol of the governor’s mansion
and the Legislature this year.
GOP-dominated Utah passed
a law this month allowing
people to carry concealed
weapons in its Capitol and
elsewhere in the state without
a permit.
Guns are allowed in state-
houses in some form in 21
states, according to a review
by The Associated Press.
Eight states allow only con-
cealed firearms inside their
capitols, while two states allow
only open carry.
Montana and Utah are two
of at least 13 states that do
not have metal detectors at
the entrance to their capitols.
The statehouses are open to
the public even as many have
closed because of the corona-
virus pandemic.
Several other states, though,
are moving to restrict guns
inside their capitols. In Mich-
igan, where armed protesters
forced their way inside the
Statehouse last year and the
FBI said it uncovered a plot to
kidnap the governor, a state
Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP, file
Protesters gather outside the Montana State Capitol on May 20 in
Helena. A bill signed into law Thursday by Montana Gov. Greg Gian-
forte allows concealed firearms to be carried in most places in the
state without a permit, and it expands the list of places where guns
can be carried to include university campuses and the state Capitol.
panel banned the open carry
of guns after the Jan. 6 riot in
Washington, D.C.
Democratic state Sen.
Dayna Polehanki said that
“tensions are high” in Mich-
igan following the assaults,
and she’s disappointed that
concealed weapons are still al-
lowed in the Statehouse.
“What they said is that
weapons, guns, bullets are still
welcome in our state Capitol
as long as we can’t see them.
It doesn’t make anyone safer,”
she said.
Vermont lawmakers, mean-
while, are considering ex-
panding their Statehouse ban
on guns to other government
buildings. In Washington
state, a measure that would
ban open carry of guns in the
Capitol and near permitted
demonstrations has cleared a
committee and is awaiting a
vote by the full Senate.
“The purpose of openly car-
rying a weapon is to chill other
people’s voices. And it works,”
said its sponsor, Democratic
state Sen. Patty Kuderer.
In nearby Oregon, crowds
opposed to the Statehouse be-
ing closed to the public during
a pandemic-related session
stormed the building, includ-
ing at least one person armed
with an AR-15. And in Idaho,
self-styled “patriots,” anti-vac-
cination groups and others
forced their way past police at
the Capitol in August, shatter-
ing a window as they pushed
and shoved into a gallery.
In Montana, though, Re-
publican Rep. Seth Berglee
said the U.S. Capitol riot
didn’t affect his thinking
about the law he sponsored.
“People that have a per-
mit are extremely law-abid-
ing, and they are the type of
people I would want to have
around. I see them as being a
deterrent to bad things hap-
pening,” he said.
There’s a similar proposal
this year in Oklahoma, where
gun rights advocates are again
pushing to allow people with
a license to carry firearms in-
side the Capitol. It hasn’t yet
had a hearing.