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NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, November 2, 2022
Measure 114 ups ante on gun control
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Measure 114
is not the fi rst proposed gun
regulation to prompt a public
debate in Oregon.
But it is the fi rst on a
statewide ballot in more
than 20 years, since voters
in 2000 approved criminal
background checks for pur-
chasers at gun shows.
The Legislature has
passed several bills in the
past eight years, including a
2021 law requiring safe stor-
age of fi rearms and enabling
public schools, community
colleges and state univer-
sities to ban fi rearms from
their grounds.
Like the 2000 measure,
Measure 114 is an initiative
that qualifi ed for the bal-
lot by petitions sponsored
by Lift Every Voice Ore-
gon, a coalition of religious
and other organizations. The
petition drive stalled until
the May 24 mass shooting
at Robb Elementary School
in Uvalde, Texas, where 19
children and two adults died.
But it is opposed by gun
rights advocates, including
the Oregon Hunters Associ-
ation, Oregon State Shoot-
ing Association, Oregon Gun
Owners and Oregon Fire-
arms Federation. The Ore-
gon State Sheriff s Associa-
tion also opposes it.
Of the major candidates
for governor, only Demo-
crat Tina Kotek supports it;
Republican Christine Dra-
zan and unaffi liated candi-
date Betsy Johnson oppose
it. They also were on oppos-
ing sides of the 2021 law,
which passed as Senate Bill
554. (A petition drive came
up short to force a statewide
vote on it.)
Gun violence has been
prominent recently with two
deaths Aug. 28 at a super-
market in Bend and two stu-
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
Clay Winton, owner of Crosshair Customs in Baker City, chats with customers March 11, 2018, at the
Pendleton Gun Show. The passage of Measure 114 would make obtaining a gun more diffi cult and
outlaw magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.
dents wounded in a drive-by
shooting Oct. 18 near Jeff er-
son High School in Portland.
A summary
Key provisions of Mea-
sure 114:
• Firearms training: Peo-
ple must complete safety
instruction, including class-
room work and live-fi re
exercises, before city police
or county sheriff s can issue
them permits to buy or get
guns. Such permits must be
issued or denied within 30
days, and are valid for fi ve
years. Permits do not limit
the number of fi rearms that
can be obtained. The training
is at people’s own expense,
and must be conducted
by instructors certifi ed by
police.
Police can deny purchase
permits if they deem peo-
ple to be a danger to them-
selves or others. Police can
seize permits if the holders
are accused of crimes that
otherwise would disqualify
them from obtaining permits.
There is an appeals process
with a limit of 15 business
days for a decision.
These requirements apply
to purchasers, but they are
not retroactive to current
fi rearms owners.
• Background checks:
State police will continue
to conduct such checks —
the maximum fee is $65;
for renewals, $50 — and
compile a database of pur-
chase permits that local agen-
cies approve or deny, and
why applications are denied.
Annual reports by county are
required starting in January
2024. Checks must be com-
pleted; state police have 24
hours to determine if appli-
cants are barred from pos-
sessing fi rearms under one
of four categories, although
reports may be delayed lon-
ger if needed to complete
investigations.
• Ammunition magazines:
They are limited to 10 rounds.
Within six months of the
measure’s approval, sale, use
or possession of larger-ca-
pacity magazines is a Class A
misdemeanor. Exceptions are
made for use on the property
of a fi rearms owner, at shoot-
ing ranges and competitions,
and hunting while consis-
tent with regulations. Trans-
port to a permissible location
is a legal defense if the mag-
azines are secured separately
from fi rearms.
What supporters say
According to Centers for
Disease Control and Pre-
vention statistics, Oregon
recorded 592 deaths by fi re-
arms in 2020, the latest year
available, for a rate of 13
per 100,000 population. The
comparable rate for neighbor-
ing states: Washington, 10.9;
California, 8.5; Nevada, 17;
Idaho, 17.6.
Measure 114 advocates
say that unrestricted access
to fi rearms increases the like-
lihood of injuries or deaths,
either to those who possess
them or to others.
“When someone does not
handle a fi rearm safely, acci-
dental deaths can result,” said
John Hummel, Deschutes
County district attorney,
during a debate sponsored
Oct. 21 by the City Club of
Portland.
Hummel said a per-
mit-to-purchase
process
would not only allow police
to intervene if they deem
would-be purchasers are dan-
gers to themselves or others, it
would let them obtain needed
mental health treatment. Sui-
cide accounted for about 80%
of the deaths, homicides for
most of the rest.
Advocates mention a
study by the Center for Gun
Violence Prevention and Pol-
icy at Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity, which concluded that a
similar law in Connecticut
reduced the fi rearms murder
rate by 28%, and the fi rearms
suicide rate by 33%. In con-
trast, after Missouri in 2007
repealed a law requiring a
permit to purchase, the study
concluded that its gun homi-
cide rate went up by 47%, and
its gun suicide rate by 23%.
Connecticut tightened its
law in 2013 after the Decem-
ber 2012 shooting at Sandy
Hook Elementary School in
Newtown, where 20 children
and six adults died, plus the
20-year-old gunman and his
mother.
“The evidence from Johns
Hopkins says that Measure
114 will save lives,” Hummel
said. “It comes down to this:
Is the status quo acceptable to
you? The loss of 600 Orego-
nians every year to gunshots
is unacceptable to me.”
Miles
Rowe
Pend-
leton, president of the
Eugene-Springfi eld branch of
the NAACP, said the measure
also off ers spinoff benefi ts for
families and communities.
“While we correctly view
gun violence as a health-cen-
tered issue … gun violence is
also an economic issue,” he
said during the debate.
What opponents say
But Kevin Starrett, exec-
utive director of the Oregon
Firearms Federation — which
bills itself as a no-compro-
mise organization on gun
rights — disparaged those
and other statistics, some
compiled by the joint pub-
lic health school at Oregon
Health & Science University
and Portland State University.
“All the statistics they
are citing are cherry-picked
data that are unreliable and
unsupportable to begin with,”
Starrett said. “These are the
statistics dredged up by insti-
tutions that already have a
bias and reach conclusions
that the people who pay for
them want to have.”
Starrett and other gun
rights advocates argue that
the measure simply would
result in more diffi culties for
people to exercise their con-
stitutional right to obtain fi re-
arms for self-defense, with-
out doing much to deter those
bent on violent crime.
“It was drafted by people
who admit they know noth-
ing about fi rearms and have
irrational fears of them,” he
said. “The measure is a fraud
promoted by dishonest media
and is as misleading as the
ballot measure that now has
our streets littered with bod-
ies of overdose victims.”
Paul Donheff ner, a spokes-
man for the Oregon Hunters
Association, said the mea-
sure enables delays and new
restrictions by city police,
county sheriff s and the Ore-
gon State Police without the
needed funding or staffi ng.
Starrett said none of the
bills that the Legislature has
passed starting in 2015 has
helped stem gun violence.
He said he supports stricter
laws against gun “predators”
and expanded access to men-
tal health.
“We have seen a massive
increase in fi rearms violence
concurrently with all the
new fi rearms regulations that
have been introduced since
2015,” he said. “I would sub-
mit that creating gun con-
trol is increasing fi rearms
violence.”
But
Hummel
said:
“He will never support
any gun safety regulation
whatsoever.”
Oregonians favor voting changes
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SALEM — While Ore-
gon’s voting rate remains
among the highest in the coun-
try, most Oregonians aren’t
satisfi ed with current election
systems, a new poll fi nds.
A survey conducted by the
Oregon Values and Beliefs
Center found that less than
one-third of Oregonians think
the process for electing the
governor and state legislators
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should stay the same. One-
third of Oregonians think vot-
ers should be able to rank their
top three candidates, while
24% think there should be
runoff elections if no candi-
date receives more than 50%
of the vote.
Alternative voting sys-
tems are increasingly on the
minds of voters as the Novem-
ber election approaches. With
Betsy Johnson running as an
unaffi liated candidate for gov-
ernor — with more funding
and support than minor party
or unaffi liated candidates in
recent history — vote-splitting
is a concern for some voters.
Voters in Portland and
Multnomah County will also
weigh in on ballot measures
that would implement ranked-
choice voting for county
and city offi cials in future
elections.
Statewide, just 36% of
Oregonians are satisfi ed with
the political party they’re reg-
istered with.
“I just wish that there was
something better because
it just doesn’t even seem
eff ective anymore,” Leanne
Spivey, a Marion County resi-
dent in her 50s, said of the cur-
rent election system. “I don’t
even feel like the average per-
son, the average citizen or per-
son that lives anywhere, their
voice really matters,” Spivey
said. “It almost makes me not
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want to vote — but I do vote.”
For many, ranked-choice
voting or other voting systems
seem confusing.
Spivey said she was consid-
ering voting for either Chris-
tine Drazan or Betsy Johnson
but was worried about split-
ting the vote by casting her
ballot for Johnson.
“If (ranked-choice voting)
could help somebody make
that decision, and not feel like
their vote is wasted, it would
probably be helpful, but I
don’t know how these things
are tallied and messed around
with,” Spivey said.
Benton County adopted
ranked-choice voting for
county commissioner races
when there are more than three
candidates. In Benton County,
county commissioner is a
partisan position, so ranked
choice voting is only used if
three or more parties nomi-
nate diff erent candidates. The
system was fi rst used in 2020,
but the winning candidates for
both positions received more
than half the votes in the fi rst
round, so the additional rank-
ings weren’t necessary.
Under ranked choice vot-
ing, voters rank candidates
on their ballots. When elec-
tions offi cials receive bal-
lots, they fi rst total all the
top-ranked candidates. If no
candidate receives more than
half of the votes, the candi-
date who received the few-
est votes is eliminated. The
votes that went to that candi-
date are then distributed to the
second-choice candidates. If
there is still no candidate with
more than half of the votes,
the process repeats.
“Ranked choice voting
could end strategic voting and
better refl ect the will of the
people,” Seth Hill, a Mult-
nomah County man, wrote.
“Right now I feel that as a
Democrat, the only choice
I have when voting is to
stick with whoever the party
selected, regardless of what I
think of them. “
Forty-three percent of Ore-
gonians said they would sup-
port an election system that
used ranked-choice voting
and multi-member districts.
Though that isn’t a major-
ity, only 28% of Oregonians
said they opposed that system;
29% said they didn’t know.
Some respondents voiced
concerns about the cost of
multi-member districts, driven
up by more elected offi cials’
salaries, and the diffi culty of
getting things done with too
many cooks in the kitchen.
Statewide, 37% of Orego-
nians said the Democratic and
Republican parties have too
much say in selecting candi-
dates to compete in the general
election, while 27% said the
parties have the right amount
of say and 8% said they have
too little say.
State primaries are han-
dled in a range of ways across
the country, but Oregon is
one of just nine states with
closed primaries, according
to the National Conference of
State Legislatures. Only vot-
ers registered as Democrats or
Republicans can vote in that
party’s primary election.
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139101
By ANNA DEL SAVIO
Oregon Capital Bureau