Below, I am quoting Kevin Starrett in a recent OFF newsletter that he sent. I think he is right on the money and would like to encourage everybody to contact Peter Courtney regarding the bad gun bill that is currently in the Oregon Legislature.
The Oregonian reported that the Williamson/Barker bill to add more restrictions to your ability to purchase a firearm was likely dead in the Senate. The bill uses a totally fabricated “loophole” to allow the State Police to deny you a purchase (with no justification) even longer than they can now.
The reality is that the current law which allows, (but does not require) a gun dealer to transfer a firearm after three business days have “elapsed” contains a safeguard, not a “loophole.” The purpose of the safeguard was to address the kinds of problems we see in Oregon every single day, where qualified buyers are delayed and denied by the Oregon State Police for no reason.
Adding time to these delays (the original bill would have allowed the delay to be forever) could very well be a death sentence for a person whose life was in jeopardy.
So now the rumor is that the Senate President, Peter Courtney, does not want to have HB 4147 come to the Senate floor for what will surely be another divisive battle, especially not in an election year.
This bill is not officially dead, and in the past, Courtney as revived bills that were officially dead, given them a new bill number and tried to slip them through in the closing moments of the session. We have no reason to think he won’t try it again.
The future of this bill is now in the hands of Courtney. Please contact him and tell him to keep HB 4147 off the floor. Courtney can be reached at 503-986-1600, or by email at: sen.petercourtney@state.or.us.