A6 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2018
NEWS
Second Amendment advocates launch initiative petition
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
The Second Amend-
ment Preservation Ordi-
nance movement has come
to Umatilla County.
Gun rights advocates are
collecting signatures to get
an initiative on the Novem-
ber ballot that would restrict
Umatilla County from using
any resources to enforce
state or federal laws that
will “infringe on the right of
the People to keep and bear
arms.” The initiative desig-
nates the county sheriff as
the authority to decide which
state or federal laws meet
the definition of unconstitu-
tionally infringing on those
rights.
Umatilla County’s chief
petitioners are Jesse Bon-
ifer of Athena and Kevin
Pettey of Hermiston, but
Bonifer said similar efforts
to pass an ordinance with
matching language are tak-
ing place in counties around
the state. Four — Wallowa,
Coos, Curry and Wheeler
counties — already have
passed a Second Amend-
ment Preservation Ordi-
nance through their county
board of commissioners or,
in Coos County’s case, via
ballot initiative.
“This is a firewall for
anyone coming into Uma-
tilla County to take our
guns,” Bonifer said.
The ballot initiative —
gathering signatures under
the official title “Umatilla
County Second Amendment
Preservation Ordinance” —
is a response to statewide
initiatives that would restrict
firearm ownership, Bonifer
said. He referenced current
efforts to gather signatures
for IP 43, which aims to ban
certain guns defined by the
measure as “assault weap-
CHRISTOPHER OERTELL/PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP
A group will try to collect enough signatures to get a Second
Amendment Preservation Ordinance on the ballot in Umatilla
County, which would direct county government to not spend
county resources enforcing any gun ownership laws the
county sheriff deems unconstitutional.
HH FILE PHOTO
“TRUMP” and “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” are engraved
on a gun grip at the Crosshair Customs booth on March 10,
2018 at the Pendleton Gun Show at the Pendleton Convention
Center. A group will try to collect enough signatures to get
a Second Amendment Preservation Ordinance on the ballot
in Umatilla County, which would direct county government
to not spend county resources enforcing any gun ownership
laws the county sheriff deems unconstitutional.
ons” and magazines holding
more than 10 rounds, and
said people in rural Oregon
were tired of people in Port-
land or Salem trying to take
away their constitutional
rights.
“We should be able to
pack anything, any time or
own any type of weapon,”
he said.
The language of the ordi-
nance cites several parts
of the U.S. Constitution,
including the well-known
Second Amendment and the
Ninth Amendment, which
states that certain rights in
the Constitution should not
be used to deny other rights
not specifically listed. It
then states that the “Uma-
tilla County Government
shall not authorize or appro-
priate governmental funds,
resources, employees, agen-
cies, contractors, buildings,
detention centers or offices
for the purpose of enforcing
any element of such acts,
laws, orders, mandates, rules
or regulations that infringe
on the right of the People to
keep and bear arms” and that
it is the duty of the Umatilla
County Sheriff to determine
whether any laws relating
to firearms, ammunition or
accessories were enforce-
able in their jurisdiction.
The Umatilla County ini-
tiative is matched by identi-
cal initiatives for other coun-
ties, in part of a movement
coordinated by Rob Tay-
lor of Coos County. Since
the gun rights/gun control
battle has reached a fever
pitch in recent months, Tay-
lor said he has gotten a flood
of calls from people in many
counties asking for help in
passing their own Second
Amendment Preservation
Ordinance. He said so far
this year people in 18 coun-
ties have submitted paper-
work to their county elec-
tions office and have been
cleared to start gathering
signatures in 12, includ-
ing Umatilla County, with
legal help from the Commit-
tee to Preserve the Second
Amendment, of which Tay-
lor is chair.
“I didn’t realize how far it
would go,” he said.
Opponents of such initia-
tives question the legality of
a county ordinance to super-
sede state and federal law,
but Taylor said it doesn’t
overrule that law so much as
defunds it and de-prioritizes
Bounds headed for Senate confirmation vote
Bounds
has
since
denounced those writings,
calling them tone-deaf “col-
Hermiston native Ryan lege kid” opinions that “do
Bounds is headed to the not reflect the views I have
Senate floor for con-
hewn to as a law-
yer and, frankly, as a
firmation after the
grown-up.”
Senate
Judiciary
But after the
Committee voted 11
op-eds came to
to 10 on Thursday
light Senators Ron
to forward his nom-
ination for the 9th
Wyden and Jeff
U.S. Circuit Court
Merkley declined to
Bounds
of Appeals.
issue a “blue slip”
Bounds’ judicial
of support, which is
nomination was thrust into customarily given by a nom-
the spotlight after liberal inee’s home state senators
activists Alliance for Jus- before the Senate Judiciary
tice publicized four op-eds Committee moves forward.
Bounds wrote for the Stan- Democrats have criticized
ford Review during col- the committee for going
lege, which spoke mock- ahead with the nomination
ingly of ethnically based process without the blue
student clubs and “sensitiv- slips, and last month Wyden
ity” and criticized universi- on the Senate floor called
ties for using a lower stan- ignoring the advice and con-
dard of proof than “beyond a sent of home state senators a
reasonable doubt” when tak- “dangerous mistake.”
ing action against students
“What is clear to me is
accused of sexual assault.
that the majority is now
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
chipping away at a century
of bipartisan tradition that
has protected the interests
of those in our home state
and served as a check on the
power of the executive,” he
said.
Committee Chair Chuck
Grassley, R-Iowa, addressed
those concerns at Thurs-
day morning’s vote, accord-
ing to the video recording
of the proceedings, stating
that it was his policy that
negative or unreturned blue
slips should not necessarily
block a nominee from hav-
ing a hearing, and pointing
out that a screening com-
mittee convened by Wyden
and Merkley had recom-
mended Bounds as a nom-
inee in the first place. He
said that during the hear-
ing Bounds had been able to
answer questions about his
college writings and “clarify
the confusion” about why he
had not previously disclosed
them (Bounds testified that
staff from Wyden’s office
had only asked for materials
going back to law school).
“We shouldn’t assume
that views expressed years
ago during college and law
school represent the nomi-
nee today, especially when
the nominees tell us that
they don’t. Let’s let all 100
senators — not just two —
decide whether Mr. Bounds
deserves to be confirmed,”
he said.
Bounds graduated from
Hermiston High School,
then received an undergrad-
uate degree from Stanford
in 1995 and his law degree
from Yale. He has practiced
commercial law in Portland,
was a federal prosecutor for
the District of Columbia and
is currently an assistant U.S.
attorney in Oregon.
If the Senate approves
his nomination he will have
a lifetime appointment as a
judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals.
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Audra at 541-564-4538
enforcement. Sheriffs make
decisions all the time about
what to prioritize, he said.
“This really isn’t giv-
ing them any authority, it’s
just using the discretion-
ary authority they already
have,” he said.
In fact, Taylor said lan-
guage in the initiative mir-
rors language in Oregon’s
“sanctuary state” law direct-
ing that state and local law
enforcement resources and
personnel should not be used
to enforce federal immigra-
tion laws.
“They’re already doing
it,” he said. “Why not do it
for guns, if they can do it for
illegal immigrants?”
He also pointed to legal-
ization of marijuana, which
law enforcement is not
arresting people for use of
despite it still being illegal
on a federal level.
In Umatilla County, Bon-
ifer said people are collect-
ing signatures at various
local gun shops, including
Garner’s Sporting Goods
and Blagg Rifles in Pendle-
ton and Columbia Outdoors
and Smitty’s Outpost in
Hermiston, and at Advanced
Tarps and Covers in Athena.
He said they need 1,200 reg-
istered Umatilla County vot-
ers’ signatures and have to
turn them in by Aug. 6 to
get them on the November
ballot.
“The people of Oregon
are finally standing up and
speaking,” he said.
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567-3013
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541-567-8441
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567-8241
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567-9497
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Home Church
235 SW 3rd
Phone 567-7678
Rev. Ed Baker - Rev. Nina Baker
Sunday:
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Worship...................11:00 am
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Sunday Worship 11am • 541-567-3002
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Rev. Dr. Jim Pierce, pastor
LANDMARK BAPTIST
CHURCH
125 E. Beech Ave. • 567-3232
Pastor David Dever
Sun. Bible Classes...................10:00am
Sun. Worship Service..............11:00am
Sun. Evening Worship..............6:00pm
Wed. Prayer & Bible Study......6:00pm
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With Jesus.
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Family service 9am Sunday
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t. PH: 567-6672
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Our Lady of Angels
Catholic Church
565 W. HERMISTON AVE.
DAILY MASS: Monday-Friday
...............................English 7:00 am
Thursday...............Spanish 6:00 pm
SATURDAY:.........English 5:00 pm
...............................Spanish 7:00 pm
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..........................Bilingual 11:00 am
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Offi ce..............................567-5812
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