The state goverment of Oregon, under one party rule, is going whole hog on gun control.

I have discussed Senate Bill 501 before.  I have now seen the text of the bill.

It’s worse than I thought.

SECTION 2. (1) Except as provided in subsection (9) of this section, a person may not purchase or otherwise receive a firearm unless the person has first secured a permit to receive a firearm under this section. 
(2)(a) A person may apply for a permit to receive a firearm from the sheriff of the county in which the person resides.
(b) The sheriff may charge a reasonable fee for processing applications for permits under this section.
(3) Within 30 days of receiving an application for a permit under this section, the sheriff shall issue a permit to receive a firearm if the applicant:
(a) Is at least 21 years of age;
(b) Has no prior criminal convictions;
(c) Has not been found in contempt of court for violating a restraining order, stalking order or other court protective order;
(d) Is not an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance; and
(e) Provides proof of completion of a firearm safety course.

So:

Permits to own must be issued by the Sheriff.  This is a breeding ground for corruption, see the NYPD de Blasio special for details.

The Sheriff may change a “reasonable fee” but that is not defined by the bill.  From the people who keep calling banning all semi-autos “reasonable gun restrictions” I can imagine a sheriff saying that a $500 fee is “reasonable.”

Once again, I fully support gun training.  I believe that mandatory training is tantamount to a literacy test.  It allows the antis to set training standards that are so difficult to meet that many people can’t clear the hurdle.  That is exactly the Illinois did with their CCW.  Training is 16 hours and costs more than $500.  Many working class people can’t give up two full days and $500 to do the training.

I’d like to give credit to CMBTTek for his comment:

“On one hand, the gun grabbers talk about how mandatory training is necessary, and that only the well trained should be able to own guns, etc…

Then they introduce a law that will prevent people from training.”

Elsewhere in this bill, there is the proposal to limit ammo purchases to 20 rounds per month.  If the state mandates live fire training, a gun owner may be required to buy 20 rounds per month for 5 months just to get the minimum number of rounds needed for the course.

That’s not all.

(6) Notwithstanding subsection (3) of this section, a sheriff may deny a permit to receive a firearm if the sheriff has reasonable grounds to believe that the applicant has been or is reasonably likely to be a danger to self or others, or to the community at large, as a result of the applicant’s mental or psychological state or as demonstrated by the applicant’s past pattern of behavior involving unlawful violence or threats of unlawful violence.
(7) If a sheriff denies an application for a permit, the sheriff shall provide in writing the reasons for the denial. The denial shall be sent to the applicant by certified mail within 30 days after the application was made.

What is reasonable?  Facebook posts, Tweets, old yearbook quotes?  Those are all fair game now as matters of politics go.  New York is trying to make providing your Facebook history mandatory for a gun permit.

Now if you don’t like being denied a gun permit because you have a picture of you in a MAGA hat, which is the modern day clan hood and literally violence against black people, you can appeal.

SECTION 3. (1) A person denied a permit to receive a firearm under section 2 of this 2019 Act may petition the circuit court in the petitioner’s county of residence to review the denial. The petition must be filed within 30 days after the receipt of the notice of denial.
(2) The judgment affirming or overturning the sheriff’s decision must be based on whether the petitioner meets the criteria that are used for issuance of a permit to receive a firearm and whether the sheriff had reasonable grounds for denial under section 2 (6) of this 2019 Act.

Reasonable was never defined.  The Democrat judge can agree with the Democrat sheriff that your MAGA hat is enough of a justification to deny your permit.

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of ORS 9.320, a party that is not a natural person, the state or any city, county, district or other political subdivision or public corporation in this state, without appearance by attorney, may appear as a party to an action under this section.

So anti-gun groups can show up to your hearing as a party.  I can’t wait for anti-gun volunteers to start trolling the court rooms looking for appeals for denial they can use for activism.

(4) Petitions filed under this section shall be heard and disposed of within 15 judicial days of filing or as soon as practicable thereafter. 

So 15 days or… whenever the Judge decides his docket is free.  There are a lot of illegals needing refugee status ahead of you.

(5) Filing fees for actions shall be as for any civil action filed in the court. If the petitioner prevails, the amount of the filing fee shall be paid by the respondent to the petitioner and may be incorporated into the court order.

So the court has a financial incentive not to overturn the sheriff on appeal so the sheriff doesn’t have to pay the filing fee.  Brilliant.

The word of the day today is Chicanery. Merriam-Webster defines Chicanery as:

One) deception by artful subterfuge or sophistry
Two) a piece of sharp practice (as at law)

Appropriately, both examples used are political.

One) He wasn’t above using chicanery to win votes.
Two) resorted to political chicaneries

If you think I am being cynical with this bill, understand that the modern Democrat party has taken the worst of political satire and used it as a How To manual.

AOC and the SJW’s read Harrison Bergeron and think that Handicapper General  Diana Moon Glampers was the hero.  Clearly the Pigs of Animal Farm are the model of behavior for the party elite, who damn the rest of us to environmental austerity and budget breaking electricity bills while they jet set to Davos for a climate change summit.

I can only assume that their intended vision here is to emulate Franz Kafka’s The Trial, where in a rational person is condemned as guilty by a cornucopia of legalistic and  bureaucratic abuse.

Want proof?

SECTION 5. (1)(a) A person who owns or possesses a firearm shall report the loss or theft of the firearm to a law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the location in which the loss or theft occurred within 24 hours of the time the person knew or should have known of the loss or theft.

By what standard should a person have known about a theft?

If you don’t report the the theft of a gun within 24 hours of when a prosecutor thinks you should have known it was stolen, you get to go to jail.

SECTION 7. (1) Notwithstanding the fact that ORS 166.412, 166.435 and 166.438 require a gun dealer or other person transferring a firearm to request a criminal background check only when transferring a firearm, a gun dealer or other person transferring ammunition shall comply with the requirements of ORS 166.412, 166.435 and 166.438 before transferring
any ammunition to another person.
(2) A person may not receive more than 20 rounds of ammunition in any 30-day time period.
(3)(a) Any person transferring ammunition shall maintain a record of all ammunition transferred by the person to ensure that a person does not receive more than 20 rounds of ammunition in any 30-day time period.
(b) The Department of State Police is not required to maintain a record of ammunition transfers under this section to ensure compliance with subsection (2) of this section.
(4) This section does not apply to ammunition purchased and used at a target shooting range.

So background checks and reported sales records for ammo.  That is going to go a long way in discouraging ammo purchases.  The 20 limit per month means no more Black Friday Sales at Cabela’s.  This is going to not just hurt shooters but hurt every gun store that doesn’t have an attached range.

So far, part four doesn’t address what happens if I go to the range, buy 500 rounds, shoot 5 and leave with the other 495 rounds.  Is that allowed?  How fast will the Democrats realize this loophole and close it down?

If I have read this bill right, the permit to purchase isn’t like a FOID or FID, where it is good for years.

A permit issued under this section is valid for a period of 90 days from the date of issue. 
(5) A person may apply, during any 30-day period, for:
(a) One permit to receive a handgun; and
(b) One permit to receive a rifle or shotgun

So you can get a permit for one handgun and one long gun every 30 days and the permit is only good for 90 days.

When you done with that, the dealer still has to run a background check on you, where they get another bite at the denial apple.  Then there is this little gem:

The gun dealer shall obtain the thumbprints of the purchaser on the firearms transaction thumbprint form and attach the form to the gun dealer’s copy of the firearms transaction record.

So the police get a copy of my thumbprint with each gun I buy.  I can’t see that being a total deterrent to buying a gun.

I’m not even including the parts about assault weapons or high capacity magazine bans.  That’s boilerplate at this point.  I’m just focusing on the part of the law that are rife for abuse where law abiding people can be systematically denied their rights or even turned into criminals for trying to comply with the law.

Then there is SB 0275 which goes even further to attach liability for gun crime to the victims of gun theft.

A person who owns, possesses or controls a firearm shall report the
loss or theft of the firearm to a law enforcement agency in the jurisdiction in which the loss or theft occurred within 24 hours of the time the person knew or should have known of the loss or theft.

Again, what is “should have known?”

(b) If a means of reporting a loss or theft of a firearm within 24 hours is not reasonably available, the person who owned, possessed or controlled the firearm that was lost or stolen must report the loss or theft within four hours of the means of reporting becoming available.

Four hours?  So if you lose your gun in a tragic boating accident, when you swim back to shore and your cellphone is waterlogged, what do you do?  When does the clock start on that four hours?

Each firearm for which a person does not make the report within the time required by subsection (1) of this section constitutes a separate violation.

God forbid you don’t remember every gun by serial number that disappeared, you can report the ones you thought were stolen, but if you miss one or discover a few more are missing later, congrats, you are guilty.

It’s clear that this law is intended to go hand in hand with an AWB to make sure that your AR-15 didn’t get lost in the woods on a camping trip or drown in a tragic boating accident.

These two terrible laws aside, there is one good one worth noting.

House Bill 2291 – Establishes tax credit against personal income taxes for purchase of qualifying gun safes or locking mechanisms.

“Qualifying gun safe” means a gun safe, or handgun vault, that is commercially available and that is made from steel and secured with a digital or dial combination locking mechanism.
(B) “Qualifying gun safe” does not include a glass-faced cabinet.
(2) A credit against taxes otherwise imposed under ORS chapter 316 shall be allowed for the purchase of one or more qualifying gun safes or locking mechanisms during the tax year.
(3) The amount of the credit allowed under this section shall equal the least of:
(a) The total purchase price of all qualifying gun safes and locking mechanisms purchased by the taxpayer in the tax year;
(b) If reported on a joint return, $100; or
(c) $50 on all other types of return.

My only complaint is that this not nearly enough money.

I have mentioned it before.  I am a big fan of gun safes.  Everyone should have one.

Usually I am a fiscal conservative, but since I can’t get rid of subsidies, I might as well put one to good use.  I’m all for giving tax deductions for the full value of an Underwrites Laboratory certified Residential Security Container – commonly known as a gun safe (for purposes of insurance, safes are very different things).

If I can do more to encourage the purchase of gun safes, I will.

The better news is that most UL RSC’s are made in the USA.  That little made in China Sentry safe-looking-thing for $150 in Lowe’s or Wal-Mart is not an RSC.  It’s a POS.

If I can support both American manufacturing and reduce the incidents of gun’s falling into the wrong hands, while being much more effective than a cable lock, that to me is a much better use of tax payer money than making it easier for drug addicts in New York to get high in parks.

Unfortunately, this bill makes too much sense.  It lowers taxes and increases safety, which means the Democrats will shoot it down.

Brace yourselves law abiding Oregonians, trouble is coming.