‘Is Oregon the Next Virginia?’: Republican Leader Decries Latest Proposed Gun Mandate

A firearm storage mandate similar to Senate Bill 978, a controversial proposal that failed to pass last year, has been prefiled for the 2020 legislative short session, and conservative leaders are expressing concerns.

ORegon Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr., from Grants Pass, released a statement this week calling the proposal, LC 38, the “latest attack on Oregonians’ Second Amendment rights” and describing it as “nearly the same legislation” as last year’s “safe lock-up bill.”

LC 38 is less comprehensive than last year’s omnibus gun bill, but does contain several of the provisions that gun rights advocates found, in the words of the NRA, “egregious,” including requirements that firearms be kept trigger-locked or in a locked container, almost at all times, including when they are transferred or sold.

Gun owners who fail to follow these provisions could be subject to fines and held liable if their weapons are used to commit a crime after being lost or stolen.

“This is the latest bureaucratic attack on Second Amendment rights,” Baertschiger said. “Obviously, the Democrats are continuing their crusade to turn law-abiding gun owners into criminals by making them liable for someone else’s criminal actions. Is Oregon the next Virginia?”

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