A8
STATE
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Impassioned testimony highlights hearing on gun storage bill
Over three hours, legislators
listened to sometimes impassioned
testimony about a proposal to
require safe gun storage in Oregon
By Sam Stites
Oregon Capital Bureau
In two-minute turns on
Friday, more than two dozen
citizens staked out their
views on legislation that
would require Oregonians
to keep their firearms under
lock or face penalties.
They appeared before the
House Judiciary Committee
over three hours, speaking
on House Bill 4005.
Before that testimony, the
bill’s sponsors Rep. Janeen
Sollman, D-Hillsboro, Rep.
Rachel Prusak, D-West
Linn, and Rep. Alissa Keny-
Guyer, D-Portland, took a
moment to explain why their
purpose.
“Unsecured firearm stor-
age is an important con-
tributor to access and is
especially dangerous to
children,” Sollman told the
committee. “We need pro-
tections for youth and for
those in mental crisis, and
we need to keep firearms out
of the hands of unauthorized
users.”
The legislation would
require gun owners to secure
their firearms with a trigger
or cable lock, in a locked
container such a safe or gun
room. Violators could be
fined up to $500.
If a minor gets their hands
on a gun that was found to
be unsecured, the owner
could be fined up to $2,000,
and a gun owner could be
held liable for an unsecured
firearm that causes injury or
property damage with some
exceptions.
Under the legislation, gun
owners would be required to
report to police within 72
hours of finding their fire-
arm has been lost or stolen.
The Oregon Health Author-
ity would establish regula-
tions for trigger locks and
storage.
Testimony was evenly
split between those for and
against the bill, including
impassioned presentations
Oregon Capital Bureau/Sam Stites
Rabbi Michael Cahana of Portland’s Congregation Beth Israel gives testimony in favor of the
safe gun storage bill during a hearing at the Capitol Friday, Feb. 7, on behalf of interfaith
nonprofit organization Life Every Voice Oregon.
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and fear for personal safety.
Among the first wit-
nesses was Paul Kemp,
whose brother-in-law Steve
Forsyth was one of the
three who lost their lives in
the Clackamas Town Cen-
ter shooting in 2012. The
shooter in that event had sto-
len the firearm he used from
an acquaintance. The bill is
named for the victims.
Kemp recounted noti-
fying his nephew that his
father had died in the inci-
dent, and how he hopes no
one else has to shoulder that
duty.
“The circumstances that
allowed the Clackamas
Town Center mall shoot-
ing years ago will finally be
addressed by the 2020 Leg-
islature with passage of HB
4005,” Kemp said. “My sis-
ter and I learned (after the
event) the owner of those
guns had no obligation
under Oregon law to report
them as stolen. In fact, the
legal gun owner did not
call the police until the mall
shooting was national news
that afternoon.”
Kemp and others cited
numbers showing that sui-
cides involving firearms in
the U.S. have increased by
19% over the past decade,
that in Oregon, 82% of gun
deaths are suicides, and
that less than 5% of sui-
cide attempts without a gun
result in death.
According to Ben Hoff-
man, a pediatrician and
expert on child injury at the
Oregon Health and Science
University, Oregon’s rate
of suicide for children and
teens is 34% higher than the
rest of the country, and in the
last five years, the rate has
increased by 50%.
Klamath County resident
Scott DeCarlo said he’s sad-
dened by statistics, but told
legislators that doesn’t give
the Legislature the right
to infringe on his Second
Amendment right.
“I’m definitely sorry that
some children have taken
their lives. That’s awful, but
statistically, the number is
quite small,” DeCarlo said.
“We should not be hav-
ing this hearing,” he contin-
ued. “We have no right to do
this. It’s ludicrous to think
that when I fall asleep, tech-
nically, that gun is no lon-
ger under my control, so I
have to lock it. So, some-
body kicks in my door in
the middle of the night, I’m
supposed to lock my firearm
up when I’m supposed to be
safe in my home?”
Rabbi Michael Cah-
ana, representing the inter-
faith nonprofit Lift Every
Voice Oregon, pointed out
that there are no more safe
spaces with the prolifera-
tion of firearms in America
today.
“There are no safe spaces
in malls, in schools, as we’ve
heard, and religious insti-
tutions as well, are under
threat,” Cahana said. “The
safe storage of owned weap-
ons is something we should
all be able to unite behind.
We stand strongly behind
this bill and urge it’s moving
forward.”
The testimony went on,
back and forth, for the better
part of the afternoon Friday.
As contentious as the bill is,
both sides contained their
emotions to the tables sitting
before the committee’s dais,
except for a witness iden-
tified as Manuel Martinez,
whose testimony against
the bill included mentions
of “Marxism,” “Commu-
nism,”
“impeachment”
and “Trump” and contin-
ued in spurting shouts as he
exited.
A work session is sched-
uled for the bill on Wednes-
day, Feb. 12, at 1 p.m. at
the Capitol. It’s expected
that amendments to the
bill, including clarifica-
tions on situations in which
the owner of a firearm may
or may not be held liable,
will be subject to public
testimony.
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