Stand for Freedom – Contact Your Legislators!
Today, the Joint Interim Committee on Judiciary held a work session on LC 38, a firearm storage mandate bill that was pre-filed for the 2020 Legislative Session. This bill contains some of the same egregious provisions from SB 978 that failed to pass last year. These same provisions are also found in Initiative Petition 40 that has been filed for the 2020 Election.
Please contact your state legislators and ask them to oppose LC 38 when the session begins on February 3rd.
LC 38 would require all firearms to be locked with a trigger-locking device or kept in a locked container, unless carried by the possessor of a firearm, with each firearm not secured constituting a separate violation. Anyone who has their firearms lost or stolen would be strictly liable for any injury to persons or property if the firearm were not stored in compliance with the law. And, this liability will last for up to two years! Firearm owners would also be held liable for any injury occurring within two years that results from a firearm transferred to another individual if the firearm was not transferred in a locked container or with a locking device.
Gun safety and storage is a matter of personal responsibility and every person’s situation is different. It is unreasonable for the law to impose a one-size-fits-all solution. This poorly thought out proposal is without any consideration for personal circumstances. In short, this measure invades people’s homes and forces them to render their firearms useless in self-defense.
This bill would also require firearm owners to report lost or stolen firearms within 72 hours or face charges, with each firearm constituting a separate offense. In addition, those who do not report their firearms lost or stolen would be held liable for any injury that occurs within two years involving those firearms. A firearm owner should not be held liable for the crimes committed by a person who has illegally obtained their firearm. Individuals should not be further victimized after experiencing a burglary or other crime.
Again, please contact your state legislators and ask them to oppose LC 38 when the session begins on February 3rd. In the meantime, please stay tuned to your email inbox and www.nraila.org for further updates on issues impacting your Second Amendment rights in Oregon.