State Sen. Floyd Prozanski on Monday publicly unveiled an extensively rewritten new bill incorporating many of the gun control regulations that voters approved under the now-stalled Measure 114, while raising the age for gun buyers and increasing the waiting period before a gun can be sold.
Senate Bill 348 sets out a procedure to apply for a permit to buy a gun and requires state police to complete a criminal background check before a gun can be sold or transferred to a permit holder, starting July 1, 2024.
It would raise the age to get a permit and buy a gun from 18 to 21 with one temporary exception: 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds could buy certain hunting rifles and shotguns without a permit until July 2026 -- as long as they have completed a firearms safety course.
The bill also would ban the sale or purchase of magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition, except for use by military or law enforcement officers. The large-capacity ammunition ban would become effective on the date the bill is signed into law if approved.
Prozanski said the proposal, drafted as a 64-page amendment to a placeholder bill, followed a monthlong work group that incorporated input from Measure 114′s chief petitioners, the nonprofits Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action, the state Department of Justice, Oregon State Police and the associations that represent the state’s sheriffs and police chiefs.
He said he wanted to honor the work of the Measure 114 drafters and provide more money for law enforcement agencies to carry out the new permitting process.
The bill would increase the fees to apply for a gun permit from a local police department or sheriff’s office from $65, as set out in Measure 114, to $150 and to $110 for a renewal permit.
The amendment comes as Measure 114, narrowly passed by Oregonians in November, is on hold over a legal challenge under the state constitution brought by the Gun Owners of America, based in Virginia. A Harney County judge has blocked all provisions from taking effect until he holds further hearings.
Prozanski, D-Eugene, didn’t answer directly when asked if the amendment is designed to get around the lawsuits over Measure 114. “This would be a statutory law. This is separate,” Prozanski said. “Can someone challenge it? Of course they could.”
During an afternoon hearing, leaders of the National Sports Shooting Foundation and Oregon State Shooting Association blasted Prozanski’s proposal as hastily drafted and a “mess” that will punish law-abiding gun owners and not reduce mass shootings.
By midday, more than 300 people had submitted written testimony objecting to the proposal.
“Senate Bill 348 is a disingenuous attempt to usurp the authority of Oregon courts,” Aoibheann Cline, Oregon’s state director for the National Rifle Association, told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday night.
The chief petitioners of Measure 114 said they hope the bill moves forward, but also cited some concerns.
The Rev. Mark Knutson, Marilyn Keller and Rabbi Michael Z. Cahana, all of Portland, said they’re concerned that Prozanski’s bill weakens some of Measure 114′s language that would bar someone from obtaining a gun permit based on concerns about their mental or psychological well-being.
It also doesn’t allow for a third party other than a police agency or sheriff’s office to accept a gun permit application, which they believe is crucial for some applicants who may be intimidated from walking into a law enforcement department. The measure’s petitioners suggest a civilian worker in a separate office be able to accept a permit application.
The measure’s petitioners also criticized the temporary hunting rifle and shotgun exception from the permit requirement.
“We hope this bill moves forward with more input and more changes to be made,” Cahana told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “This issue is far too important not to get it right.”
MORE TIME FOR CHECKS
Prozanski’s bill calls for gun permit holders to be at least 21, have completed a gun safety course within the prior five years and pass a criminal background check after providing their fingerprints to a local police or sheriff’s office.
They cannot have been been convicted of any misdemeanor involving violence within the past four years. Those misdemeanors include fourth-degree assault, menacing, strangulation, recklessly endangering another or a second-degree bias crime.
The initial fee to apply for a permit would be $150, with no more than $48 going to state police and the FBI to support the criminal background checks. The rest would go to local law enforcement.
The permit would be valid for five years. A renewal would cost $110 but applicants wouldn’t have to take a new gun training course. The names of those granted permits would be entered into the state Law Enforcement Data System database kept by state police.
The firearms safety course could be offered by a law enforcement agency, a community college, a private or public institution or gun training school using instructors approved by a law enforcement agency.
In response to Republican lawmakers’ questions, legislative counsel Jessica Minifie explained that the training courses either don’t exist or are just being created now, and the bill provides no funding for the courses.
The bill alters a provision in Measure 114 by saying that local police or sheriff’s officials may deny an application for a permit if there are “reasonable grounds” to conclude that person has been or is “reasonably likely to be a danger to self or others” based on objective facts or records. Measure 114 allowed for more subjective restrictions based on other information that police might obtain from people about an applicant’s mental health.
The new proposal would allow anyone 18 or older without a permit who has completed a firearms safety course to buy certain hunting rifles and shotguns with a pump, break, level or revolving action until July 1, 2026. As of that date, 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds could get those specific guns with a permit.
The bill exempts from public disclosure any records obtained from state police or the FBI during a background check and the state database on gun permits.
Local police or sheriff ‘s officials would have 60 days, instead of 30 days as set in Measure 114, to approve or deny a permit application. If a permit is rejected, the name of the applicant and reason for rejection must be shared within 24 hours with all local, state and federal law enforcement and the local district attorney.
State police also would be required to publish an annual report on the number of permit applications received, issued, denied, reasons for denials and include the gender and racial breakdown of the applicants.
People could petition a Circuit Court to review permit denials, non-renewals or revocations within 30 days after receiving notice.
72-HOUR WAIT ADDED
State police would have to complete a new criminal background check on a prospective gun buyer with a permit before the person can buy the gun or get a gun transferred to them.
Gun dealers would ask state police to do the check and submit a thumbprint from their customer. If state police aren’t able to determine within 30 minutes whether a person is qualified or disqualified, they must give the dealer an estimate of how long it will take them to complete the background check.
A seller may not transfer a gun to a customer without an “approval” number from state police and then must wait 72 hours after receiving the approval number for the sale or transfer. The 72-hour waiting period wasn’t part of Measure 114.
Michael Findlay, director of government relations for the National Sports Shooting Foundation, said he could see “no justification” for the extra 72-hour waiting period.
Under the bill, state police must have a phone line operating seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. to answer gun dealers’ inquiries.
Gun dealers would be immune from civil liability for any use of a gun sold, provided it was sold to a valid permit holder after a completed background check, an approval number and the 72-hour wait.
The sale of a gun to someone who doesn’t hold a valid permit would be a misdemeanor.
The unlawful manufacture, possession or sale of a magazine with more than 10 rounds of ammunition would become a misdemeanor, effective the date a bill would be signed into law.
Anyone who owns a large-capacity magazine before the law would take effect could maintain them on their private property, on the premises of a gun dealer or gunsmith for the purpose of repair or use them lawfully at a public or private shooting range or for recreational activities such as hunting or firearms competitions, as permitted by state law. While in transit, the magazine would have to be locked in a separate container and not inserted into a firearm.
Amie Rose, among the supporters of Measure 114, urged the committee in her testimony not to “weaken Measure 114 in any way” but fully implement its provisions as “Oregon voters supported and passed it.”
Kevin Starrett, executive director of the Oregon Firearms Federation that opposed and challenged Measure 114 in federal court, criticized Prozanski’s bill for “drastically” increasing the fees for a gun permit and doubling the time police have to grant or deny a permit.
“Of course, the thugs who are currently terrorizing Portland, killing people and shooting up homes and businesses, will continue to have access to a steady supply of firearms while the peaceful people will be left to hide in their homes and dodge gunfire,” he wrote to the committee.
Eric Lindquist, who also submitted written testimony, argued that Prozanski’s proposal would restrict lower-income Oregonians from obtaining guns by raising the permit fees.
“Making laws that limit law-abiding citizens is against everything we stand for as a constitutional republic,” he wrote.
Darren Harold-Golden of the ACLU of Oregon said the group is neutral on the bill and needs more time to review it. The bill was filed Friday after 7 p.m.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will accept written testimony through Wednesday at 5 p.m. before holding a work session on the bill Thursday at 1 p.m.
-- Maxine Bernstein
Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212
Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
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