Oregon: “Universal” Background Check Bill Scheduled for Hearing This Week

Senate Bill 941, legislation which seeks to expand background checks to private transfers, is scheduled to be heard in the House Rules Committee on Wednesday, April 22, at 1:00 p.m., in Hearing Room 50.  Unlike previous hearings on SB 941, the House Rules Committee is scheduled to hear two hours of invited testimony followed by public testimony from 3:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.  Please consider attending Wednesday’s hearing to provide testimony in opposition to this egregious bill.  Testimony will be limited to two minutes per person so please keep it concise.  Further details can be found here.  If you are unable to attend in person, the Committee meeting record will remain open and written testimony can be submitted to [email protected] until 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 23.  Please call and email members of the House Rules Committee as well as your state Representative and urge them to OPPOSE Senate Bill 941.  Also, please forward this email to friends, family and fellow Second Amendment supporters in Oregon and encourage them to do the same.

As previously reported, SB 941 would require individuals to appear before a gun dealer to request a criminal background check prior to privately transferring a firearm, absent limited exceptions.  Transfers include, but are not limited to, sales, gifts, loans and leases.  Failure to comply with this mandate could result in stiff penalties and possible loss of an individual’s right to keep and bear arms.

So-called “universal” background checks do nothing to reduce violent crime, and only affect law-abiding gun owners by imposing cumbersome mandates and restrictions on the lawful purchase and possession of firearms.  Criminals, by definition, do not follow the law and do not subject themselves to gun control schemes or background checks.  It is already illegal to knowingly sell or transfer a firearm to someone classified as a prohibited person, and is a felony for a prohibited person to buy, own or possess a firearm.  This is an ineffective and unenforceable piece of legislation that will only impact the law abiding.  

SB 941, like many other gun control schemes, is a step towards the full registration of firearms.  In January 2013, the Department of Justice said that background checks on all firearm transfers “depends on…requiring gun registration.”

House Committee on Rules:

Representative Val Hoyle (D-14), Chair
(503) 986-1414
[email protected]

Representative Barbara Smith Warner (D-45), Vice-Chair
(503) 986-1445
[email protected]

Representative Vic Gilliam (R-18), Vice-Chair
503) 986-1418
[email protected]

Representative Phil Barnhart (D-11)
(503) 986-1411
[email protected]

Representative Bill Kennemer (R-39)
(503) 986-1439
[email protected]

Representative Mike McLane (R-55)
(503) 986-1400
[email protected]

Representative Rob Nosse (D-42)
(503) 986-1442
[email protected]

Representative Dan Rayfield (D-16)
(503) 986-1416
[email protected]

Representative Carl Wilson (R-3)
(503) 986-1403
[email protected]