CEASEFIRE oregon Advocacy
Ban Guns in Schools!
An Oregon Court of Appeals decision announced on Sept. 28, 2011, holds that the Oregon State Board of Higher Education lacks the necessary legal authority to regulate firearms on Oregon college campuses. The decision is Oregon Firearms Ed. Foundation v. Bd. of Higher Ed. The court invalidated a longstanding ban on guns on campus but also noted that the Second Amendment had nothing to do with its decision.
Ceasefire Oregon urgently calls on Governor Kitzhaber to seek, and the Oregon Legislature to enact, a legislative ban on guns in Oregon schools. Ceasefire Oregon concurs in the judgment of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators that guns on campuses pose an elevated and unacceptable risk to students and staff.
Join us in demanding that schols stay gun free. For more on this issue, please see our home page.
Make Your Voice Heard
When a bill that would endanger the safety of Oregonians comes before a legislative committee or to the House or Senate floor, your legislators need to hear from you. They hear frequently from the gun lobby and its followers. Your calls and messages urging your legislators to vote against dangerous bills are essential. Our legislators need to understand that we want them to stand up to the NRA and other elements of the gun lobby. We want them to vote against bills that would make guns too easily available to people who should not have them.
If you share our concerns, please send us your email address, so we can contact you about gun bills that are being considered by the Oregon legislature and the U.S. Congress. We will contact you only when necessary; we promise not to inundate you with email. Click here to send us your email address, and we will let you know when your representatives need to hear from you. Make your voice heard when it counts!
Visit the Oregon legislature's website to find out who your representatives are and to obtain information on other House and Senate lawmakers. Email your representatives to let them know that their constituency wants them to vote for a safer Oregon.
For information on current Oregon laws, please see our summary of Oregon laws concerning gun violence. You may print the PDF on both sides of an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, and then fold the paper twice to create a three-panel brochure. You are welcome to print and distribute the brochures.
To help with our work, please contact us at info@ceasefireoregon.org or 503.220.1669.
Work in the Oregon Legislature
Ceasefire Oregon has worked very hard for many years to defeat dangerous bills introduced by the gun lobby in the Oregon legislature. Many thanks to all our friends and supporters who have helped defeat those terrible bills.
In 2012, we are focusing on four bills:
SB 1550
Ceasefire Oregon Supports
As a result of the Oregon court decision last fall, people with concealed handgun licenses (CHLs) can now carry loaded, hidden handguns on Oregon's public college campsus. Gun extremists are insisting that they are also entitled to bring their loaded, hidden handguns into high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools throughout Oregon. They have, for example, already strong-armed the Newberg School District into dropping its ban on guns in schools.
HB 1550 would prohibit guns, including those carried by concealed handgun license holders, in all of Oregon’s public schools and colleges.
http://www.leg.state.or.us/12reg/measpdf/sb1500.dir/sb1550.intro.pdf
(Rep. Kim Thatcher demands that the Newberg School District permit guns in schools here: http://www.leg.state.or.us/thatcher/pr_110211.pdf.)
SB 1551
Ceasefire Oregon Supports
This bill is similar to SB 1550 but broadens the prohibition on guns from all public schools to all public buildings in Oregon.
http://www.leg.state.or.us/12reg/measpdf/sb1500.dir/sb1551.intro.pdf
SB 1574
Ceasefire Oregon Opposes
This bill would grant reciprocity to the concealed handgun licenses (CHLs) issued by other states if those states' requirements are "substantially similar" to Oregon's and some other conditions are met. The proposed law is unnecessary and would result in even more concealed handguns in our schools and communities.
Oregon already permits non-residents to drive through our state with their handguns without breaking the law. (If they don’t have an Oregon CHL, they must transport the firearm unconcealed or out of easy reach (see ORS 166.250); under some city ordinances, the firearm must also be unloaded.) Additionally, residents of California, Nevada, Idaho, and Washington who have a compelling business interest or other legitimate demonstrated need may already obtain an Oregon CHL under existing law (ORS 166.291 (8)).
If SB 1574 is enacted, non-residents will also bring hidden guns on our college campuses and perhaps even in our elementary schools. In addition, our tax dollars will be used to pay the Oregon State Police to establish the new reciprocity rules, determine which states meet those standards, send the information to the sheriffs, and then review all of that every year. SB 1574 will make Oregon less safe.
http://www.leg.state.or.us/12reg/measpdf/sb1500.dir/sb1574.intro.pdf
HB 4045
Ceasefire Oregon Opposes
This bill authorizes people applying for concealed handgun licenses (CHLs) to limit the ability of a public body to disclose records or information that identifies the person as an applicant for, or holder of, a CHL. In other words, the bill would permit people who have concealed handgun licenses to keep that information secret. Also, the bill would prevent victims of crime and abuse from finding out whether their assailants have concealed handgun licenses. The real reason the gun extremists want this bill passed is to prevent the media from finding out (and telling the public) how many concealed handgun license holders commit serious crimes.
http://www.leg.state.or.us/12reg/measpdf/hb4000.dir/hb4045.intro.pdf
Click here to send us your email address, and we will let you know when your representatives need to hear from you about these bills.
Work in the U.S. Congress
Ceasefire Oregon strongly opposes a bill in the U.S. Congress that would require states to recognize permits to carry concealed handguns issued by any state. Please see our home page for more on this dangerous bill and to make your voice heard.
