WASHINGTON, D.C. — NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, filed a challenge to Oregon’s Measure 114, the gun control ballot initiative that was narrowly approved by voters. NSSF is filing the challenge along with Mazama Sporting Goods, the Oregon State Shooting Association and two individual gun owners.
The measure, called “Changes to Firearm Ownership and Purchase Requirements Initiative,” threatens to halt the lawful sale of firearms in Oregon, which would deny the most basic Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. That right begins with the ability for lawful purchasers to obtain a firearm through the legal sale from a licensed firearm retailer. Oregon’s “permit-to-purchase” scheme is antithetical to the Second Amendment.
“Oregon’s Measure 114 is blatantly unconstitutional,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “The right to keep and bear arms begins with the ability of law-abiding citizens to be able to obtain a firearm through a lawful purchase at a firearm retailer. Oregon has created an impossible-to-navigate labyrinth that will achieve nothing except to deny Second Amendment rights to its citizens. The measure is an affront to civil liberties which belong to People, not to the state to grant on impossible and subjective criteria.”
Oregon’s Measure 114 requires lawful firearm purchasers to obtain a permit-to-purchase, which entails non-existent and impossible-to-achieve criteria. Purchasers must complete a “firearm training course” to satisfy strict new criteria. However, the state provides no such training course and no existing course meets the new criteria. Purchasers would be required to submit fingerprints and photos to the local sheriff, police chief or Oregon State Police before requesting that law enforcement authority conduct a criminal background check. Measure 114 sets no requirement or timeframe in which law enforcement must complete this check, who could endlessly delay permits. Measure 114 further allows for roadblocks by authorizing law enforcement to request any additional information determined necessary.
That discretion to demand any additional information is in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bruen decision.
Additionally, the Measure’s ban on magazines with a capacity exceeding 10 rounds would turn law-abiding citizens into criminals overnight, subjecting those who own standard magazines to unconstitutional confiscation schemes and imprisonment for up to 364 days and fines exceeding $6,000. Americans own more than 115 million magazines, making these clearly commonly-owned and commonly-used and protected by the Second Amendment.
Oregon’s Measure 114 is being rushed into an effective date of compliance without the requisite resources necessary to sustain this permitting process. That means on Dec. 8, no one in Oregon will be able to lawfully purchase a firearm in Oregon.
NSSF is grateful to support from Oregon’s Leupold & Stevens, Inc., and Radian Weapons.
