The Oregon Senate Thursday approved a gutted House gun control bill, which leaves only a ban on the possession or sale of guns without a serial number.
The amended House Bill 2005 eliminated two other significant provisions, which would have prohibited people under 21 from buying semi-automatic guns and allowed cities or counties to bar people licensed to carry concealed handguns from doing so in public buildings and on adjacent grounds.
The watered-down bill was part of the deal Democratic lawmakers made to draw Senate Republicans back to work after a six-week walkout as the legislative session nears its June 25 adjournment.
Two other major gun bills, which incorporated many of the gun control regulations that voters approved under the now-stalled Measure 114, also appear to have died as part of the deal. They set out a procedure to apply for a permit to purchase a gun, and sought to increase the waiting period before a gun can be sold. A state judge has blocked the measure from taking effect. A group of gun rights groups have also challenged the measure in federal court.
Gun control advocates blasted Republicans for holding the Senate “hostage.”
The Oregon Alliance for Gun Safety, which spent last week defending Measure 114 in federal court, said the amended House Bill 2005 banning so-called ghost guns is “not enough.”
“We are extremely frustrated. Republican Senators again abandoned their jobs in extreme obstructionism and in the deal-making process, community safety took a painful hit. Oregonians deserve more from our elected leaders,” Jess Marks, the alliance’s executive director, said in a statement. “Partisan divisions and the gun lobby won out over community safety.”
The alliance argued that the age limitation for buying semiautomatic weapons was broadly supported by Oregonians.
“Nearly 7 in 10 Oregon voters support increasing the age to purchase semi-automatic weapons from 18 to 21. That includes support from 63% of gun-owning households. Additionally, research shows that individuals ages 18 to 20 years old commit gun homicides at a rate nearly three times greater than adults 21 and over.”
On Thursday afternoon, the Senate Rules Committee passed the amended House Bill 2005, which restricts the possession and sale of firearms that have no serial numbers. While the original bill was to become effective upon passage, any penalties for possessing an unserialized gun won’t take effect until Sept. 1, 2024, under the amended bill.
Ghost guns are untraceable, with their parts typically bought online and assembled at home. They also lack commercial serial numbers.
People convicted of possessing an untraceable firearm would face a misdemeanor on the first offense, which carries up to 364 days in jail and a $6,250 fine. Second offenses and beyond would carry up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The Senate then voted 17 to 3 to pass the bill hours later, with nine lawmakers absent and one excused. Those who voted against it were Senate Minority Leader Tim Knopp, R-Bend, and Sens. Dick Anderson, R-Lincoln City, and Lynn Findley, R-Vale.
The bill now goes to the House floor for a vote, where it’s expected to be approved and then signed into law by Gov. Tina Kotek. Oregon would become the ninth state in the nation to ban ghost guns.
“Ghost guns are dangerous to our communities’ safety and are notoriously the weapon of choice for people who commit crimes. As a law enforcement officer, my goal every shift was to make it home safely at the end. As a legislator, my goal is to make sure all of our law enforcement officers are able to make it home safely at the end of theirs. House Bill 2005 keeps our peace officers and the neighborhoods they serve safer,” said Sen. James Manning Jr., D-Eugene, who carried the bill on the floor.
Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, who pushed for the ghost gun ban, thanked the Senate for advancing the legislation. “Oregonians can sleep a little better tonight knowing the end of untraceable and undetectable guns is in sight,” she said.
House Republican leader Vikki Breese-Iverson, R-Prineville, applauded the deal she helped broker in an email, calling it a “victory” for “law-abiding gun owners,” saying Republicans “held the line” and amended “the worst parts” of House Bill 2005.
The Oregon Firearms Federation, though, called the deal a “cowardly surrender” by Oregon Republicans, as it staunchly supports Oregonians’ “rights to build or possess a personally made firearm that does not have an approved serial number.”
Hilary Uhlig, a volunteer with the Oregon Chapter of Moms Demand Action, said the group is celebrating the movement of the ghost gun bill.
“This is a crucial step in tackling gun violence in our state,” she said in a statement.
Yet she said she wanted to remind Oregon voters that “Republicans held this chamber hostage to gut this and other important measures.”
Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, said in a statement Thursday that a workgroup will be established “to study policy solutions to gun violence” and suicide prevention and $10 million will be invested in community violence prevention in the state’s 2023-25 budget.
Marks, of the alliance for gun safety, said the nonprofit is thankful the ghost gun ban remained intact and expects additional funding for community intervention to have an impact. But as a whole, she said those steps won’t be sufficient to address the harm from gun violence.
“We will continue to press all our elected officials to take bold action to reduce gun violence,” she said. “Oregonians deserve nothing less.”
— Maxine Bernstein
Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212
Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
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