Measure 114 : Permit to Purchase a Firearm, Limit High-Capacity Ammunition

Position: Support Status: Measure 114 is is the law in Oregon.

Current Oregon law allows guns to get into the wrong hands, Measure 114 requires a permit to purchase a firearm, hands on training before a firearm is purchased, a successfully COMPLETED background check, and will limit high-capacity magazines to ten rounds.

Update

Measure 114 was passed by Oregon voters in November 2022. Implementation of the measure is on hold as opponents challenge the measure in court. Measure 114 is legal and withstands all constitutional scrutiny, even under the SCOTUS Bruen decision.

FACT: Gun violence in Oregon is increasing at an alarming rate.

Oregon has reached a grim milestone by setting a new record of gunshot deaths in one year. 

  • Since January 1, 2022, 170 Oregonians have been fatally shot in homicides (intentional, unintentional, or law enforcement-related shootings). 
  • At least 245 people suffered gunshot injuries but were not killed. 
  • The state has suffered six mass shootings (4 or more people shot) in 2022 alone.

FACT: Measure 114 requires:

  • a permit to purchase a firearm,
  • a successfully completed background check (closes the Charleston Loophole), and
  • successful completion of a firearm-training course including hands-on training.
  • Measure 114 also limits the sale of ammunition magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition.

FACT: Measure 114 will save lives and reduce gun trafficking 

  • Gun homicides in Connecticut dropped by 28% and gun suicides dropped by 33% after Connectict passed a permit to purchase law. (2020 American Journal of Public Health).
  • Permit laws that require an in-person application or fingerprinting also help prevent mass shootings. States with these laws have 56% fewer fatal mass shootings. (Webster, et al, 2020)
  • States with large capacity magazine bans saw a 38% reduction in fatalities and 77% reduction in non-fatal injuries from mass shootings. (Rocque, et al.,  2021)
  • An analysis of mass shootings between 1990 and 2017 found that attacks involving large capacity magazines resulted in a 62% higher death toll. (Klarevas, et al., 2019)
  • Firearms equipped with high-capacity magazines are estimated to account for 22 to 36% of crime guns in most places. (Koper, et al., 2018)
  • An estimated 40% of crime guns used in serious violent crimes, including murders of law enforcement officers, are equipped with high-capacity magazines. (Koper, et al., 2018)
  • The share of recovered crime guns equipped with large capacity magazines increased by between 49% and 112% in several major cities—and an estimated 33% nationally—after the 1994 federal ban on assault weapons and large capacity magazines expired. (Fallis, et al., 2011)

Fact: Measure 114 protects women, communities of color, LGBTQI communities, and people who are economically disadvantaged.

  • Black and brown Oregonians are disproportionately killed by guns. 
  • In Oregon, Black people are more than 11 times more likely to die by gun homicide than their white counterparts. (Johns Hopkins: Oregon Gun Deaths in 2020)
  • Laws similar to Measure 114 are associated with fewer homicides by firearm, fewer police shootings, and fewer mass shootings. 
  • Measure 114 created an Equity Committee comprised of local civil rights leaders and advocates who will ensure the measure is implemented in a non-discriminatory manner.
  • When Missouri repealed its permit to purchase law, the arrest rate for weapons charges increased for Black men. Therefore, Measure 114 is expected to decrease the arrest and incarceration rate for Black men. (Webster, 2022)
  • Measure 114 includes oversight protections that ensure the law will be enacted equitably and justly.

FACT: Measure 114 is supported by community leaders throughout the state.

  • Yes on Measure 114 coalition leaders include:
    • Reverend Doctor Leroy Haynes, Albina Ministerial Alliance Chairperson
    • Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform
    • Unite Oregon
    • Miles Pendleton, NAACP Eugene-Springfield President 
    • Marcus LeGrand, Co-founder of the Fathers Group and Bend-La Pine School Board Member
    • Oregon State Senator Lew Frederick
    • Oregon State Senator Kayse Jama, Chair of the Oregon Legislature’s BIPOC Caucus 
    • Oregon State Senator James Manning
    • Oregon State Representative Khanh Pham 
    • Oregon State Representative Tawna Sanchez                             
    • Antoinette Edwards, retired director of Portland’s Office of Youth Violence Intervention

FACT: Measure 114 holds the Oregon State Police accountable on equity by requiring Oregon State Police to present an annual report of the number of permits granted and denied and the reasons for the denial. Personal information is NOT included in these reports. 

Countering Common Disinformation

Over the past months, the gun lobby has doubled down on a Firehose of Falsehood strategy meant to promote disinformation and sow confusion about Measure 114. Below are answers to some of the most common forms of disinformation being promulgated. 

Measure 114 will NOT ban shotguns and other firearms.

Measure 114 bans the future purchase and sale of large-capacity magazines, not specific shotguns. Twelve states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington) and the District of Columbia all ban large-capacity ammunition magazines for use with any firearm. None of these states ban common shotguns because they can fit more “mini-shells” than the official shell capacity of the shotgun. Nor is Measure 114 intended to do that. Measure 114 also bans the future manufacture of high-capacity magazines for civilian use.

Measure 114 will save taxpayers money by reducing gun violence

Measure 114 will be an investment representing less than 1/1000th of Oregon’s annual budget. The measure provides for permit fees to cover a portion of the costs. The reduction in gun violence resulting from passage of Measure 114 will save significant taxpayer money–as well as lives. 

Data on permit holders is not  publicly available. 

Measure 114 does not make public any background check information. Permit holders’ names will be in an OSP database along with the serial numbers of the guns they have purchased. This searchable database will give law enforcement officers the tools they need to return lost or stolen guns to the rightful owners. 

Measure 114 will NOT change the ability to own a firearm. 

Measure 114 ensures that people who are prohibited from buying a gun cannot get a permit. It also increases the standards of gun ownership by requiring gun purchasers to have firearm training before buying a gun. Measure 114 does not change who can own a firearm or what type of firearm they may own.

Peer-reviewed research shows firearms are not more effective at preventing injury than other means of self-defense, and that a firearm in the home doubles residents’ risk of homicide and triples residents’ risk of suicide. (Anglemyer, et al., Annals of Internal Medicine, 2014 https://doi.org/10.7326/M13-1301)

Measure 114 requires reasonable gun training requirements.

At least 75 Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) shooting ranges are listed throughout Oregon at this time (from Burns to Astoria, Brookings to Joseph). Federal funds were approved in January 2022 to develop and improve non-profit public shooting facilities in Oregon as part of the ODFW Hunter Education program. 

Many shooting ranges will rent or provide free firearm use in connection with a training session. Current law (not altered by Measure 114) permits an owner to loan a firearm to a friend at a shooting range for a training class, provided the owner has no reason to believe the individual borrowing the firearm is prohibited from possessing a firearm or intends to use it to commit a crime.

None of the classroom or hands-on training will take away resources from law enforcement. The training will be available through many of the current programs (or ones slightly modified) that provide the required training for concealed handgun licenses.

Measure 114 closes a dangerous loophole in the law

Current Oregon law requires a request for a background check but not a completed background check.

Oregon law requires a gun dealer to request a background check for almost all gun sales, trades, or transfers. (Sales, trades, gifts, or transfers between immediate family members are not required to have a background check.) However, if a background check is not completed within three business days, the dealer is allowed to complete the sale. This is commonly known as the “Charleston Loophole.”  

In 2020  and 2021 alone, more than 11,564 Charleston Loophole sales of guns were completed because the background check was not finished within three days. The guns illegally purchased had to be tracked down and removed by law enforcement, which  is costly and dangerous for law enforcement and the public as a whole. 

Measure 114 is constitutional

Regulations including background checks, training, mental health record checks, and fingerprinting were expressly identified in the Supreme Court’s June 23, 2022 ruling, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.. Bruen voided New York’s requirement that concealed carry permit applicants demonstrate “proper cause,” or a special need for self-defense.  Measure 114’s permitting process is exactly the type of change that Oregon can adopt under the federal constitution. 

Oregonians put Measure 114 on the ballot because we need change now!

Waiting for future gun violence prevention legislation will sacrifice lives with no guarantee that such a bill would even get a hearing, much less be signed into law. The legislature had its chance to enact a permit to purchase law and high capacity magazine restrictions but has not been able to accomplish what the people of Oregon can now do on their ballots. The choice when you complete your ballot is simple: the blood-soaked status quo or voting YES on Measure 114 to save lives.