20,000 dead each year and the answer is talk.
Oregon passed a gun control initiative (OR Measure 114) by a slim margin but we did pass it with a fair amount of votes coming from gun owners. Specifically, it:
- Requires a permit before a person may buy a gun. To get the permit, the applicant must take a class in gun safety that include safe storage, discusses suicide, its causes and where to reach out for help. It also requires the applicant to demonstrate proficiency in the use of a gun, safety practices when handling loaded gun.
- Another part of the measure was a ban on the SALE of guns and gun magazines that hold more than ten rounds. Ownership of existing hardware is grandfathered in. But it can't be sold legally.
- Another part of the measure was closure of the gun show loophole that allows sales without background checks and provides more time and resources for conducting background checks.
These laws are not new, they are already in place in districts in this country. A midwestern state actually reversed a law that required a permit before purchasing, so we have a clear example of what happens when the opposite became law. The data are clear. These measure save lives. Hard data shows rates of gun deaths are reduced by 25% when these measures are in place. Numbers of people harmed in mass shooting are greatly reduced. Suicides are reduced. Accidents in the home go down. Why would anybody NOT want that?
Despite all of this, the NRA and other gun lobbies have this measure tied up in state courts and a hick judge in a county of less than 15,000 people is obstructing the movement of this measure throuh his court, preventing it from review in higher courts where his "unconstitutional" ruling will be challenged. I believe his ruling will be overturned if it gets its day in court.
I'm kind of bothered by all this talk of talk when we have a bill that was legally passed into law and is being prevented from even proceeding through the courts at an appropriate speed. The will of the people have spoken. That should be enough but its not.
So OK, we will double down. The state legislature is taking up this issue and drafting its own bill patterned after Measure 114. Gun adocates aren't going away and neither are proponents of Measure 114.
Measures in OR 114 will not prevent anybody with the legal right to own a gun from getting one. Pro gun groups who are obstructing Measure 114 are not protecting the constitution. They simply don't care about the lives guns cost our society. I'm not really interested in having a conversation with people like that. Our objectives aren't aligned. I don't think they can win without majority support and they don't have it. I think the time for talk is running out. It's time for gun advocates to put up or shut up.
www.gunviolencearchive.org
