Firearm sales have been brisk at Tick Licker in Salem since Measure 114, which tightens Oregon's gun control laws, passed in November 2022. Oregon senators on Thursday significantly watered down a bill to chart the rollout of Measure 114 as it remains tied up in court challenges. (Photo by Connor Radnovich/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Oregon state senators on Thursday gutted this year’s legislation to bolster the rollout of a 2022 voter-approved gun control law currently being litigated, despite Democrats expending significant political capital to push a wide-ranging firearm safety bill through the House.
In a unanimous vote, the Senate passed the watered-down legislation on Thursday, sending it back to the House for reconsideration after its original vote on Feb. 25. Despite the GOP’s opposition to the bill in the House, several Republicans expressed support for the new bill’s push to solely delay implementation of Measure 114 until 2028, rather than beefing up the firearm permit or background check process.
“I want to thank the leadership and the Senate Republican Caucus and all the work that has gone into the amended version that we have here on the floor,” said Sen. David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford. “That frankly should have been what came over from the House.”
The move follows a Wednesday Senate Rules Committee hearing, where lawmakers unanimously agreed to adopt an amendment toHouse Bill 4145, pushing back implementation of Oregon’s Measure 114 until 2028 and cutting a 28-page bill to two pages. A Senate Democratic Caucus spokesperson told the Capital Chronicle that the Legislature “does not want to intervene” on a matter pending before the Oregon Supreme Court.
But the decision also came after House Republicanswalked out of theirchamber last week ahead of a vote on the original gun bill, citing a tense committee exchange between two Democratic lawmakers that they accused Democrats of sweeping under the rug. The disputecentered onconcerns over sharing information with the federal government that unnecessarily expose the sensitive data of gun owners, a fear which some House Republicans said they shared.
Oregon voters narrowly passed the law in 2022 following a campaign from gun control supporters and faith-based groups, though the move sparked ferocious opposition from gun owners. The law bans magazines with more than 10 rounds of ammunition and requires completed background checks, permits and firearm safety training before acquiring guns. But the measure still hasn’t taken effect because it promptly drew legal challenges in both state and federal courts.
Sen. Lisa Reynolds, D-Portland, said the bill would give law enforcement in the state enough time to implement the measure and its permitting process, though she acknowledged that the bill “may not be enough for many of my constituents.” She committed to revisiting the state’s permit system in a future legislative session.
“Measure 114 was brought to us by the voters and is the law,” she said. “It’s the job of the legislature to work to support an effective implementation process according to the will of the voters.”
The move to water down the legislation allowed lawmakers to avoid any additional scrutiny facing the legislation as the Oregon Supreme Court weighs whether to uphold Measure 114. While a federal judge ruled in 2023 that the law is allowed under the U.S. Constitution, a Harney County Circuit Court judge blocked it from taking effect in late 2022 and determined it was unconstitutional in November 2023.
The Oregon Court of Appeals disagreed with that Harney County judge’s ruling, and the state Supreme Court will determine whether the circuit judge or appeals court came to the right conclusion. Justices heard arguments in November over the ballot measure, though they have yet to issue a ruling.
Oregon is already among 15 states where state law enforcement act as an intermediary between gun sellers and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for background checks. The Senate’s move strips the bill of its provisions to increase permit fees, lengthen the timeline for permit approvals and send fingerprints to the FBI for background checks that state law enforcement would later be asked to request federal authorities destroy.
Similar guidance is already in place in Measure 114, though the measure does not explicitly direct state or local law enforcement to ask the FBI to destroy that information, instead suggesting the FBI “may not keep any record of the fingerprints.” Federal regulations currently direct the bureau to destroy information from successful background checks within 24 hours.
The House bill’s ban on high-capacity magazines would have also not applied to law enforcement officers, regardless of whether they acquired the firearm on or off the job. Measure 114’s high-capacity ban, meanwhile, doesn’t apply to gun owners who acquire their firearm before the law goes into effect.
Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, told her Senate colleagues that she had changed her mind despite voting no on the bill in committee. But she called the debate around the bill “toxic on all fronts.”
“The systematic attempts to tweak and do this and do that, that’s why I just want to make sure that the consequences of passing this bill are better than the consequences of not passing the bill,” she said. “And I decided, having received more information, that the consequences of passing this bill are much better than not.”
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