Oregon background check bill spurs heated debate
As noted yesterday, a bill in Oregon would seek to extend background checks to include private sales and transfers of firearms. As Katie McDonough for Salon reports, “the measure, which Democratic Gov. Kate Brown is expected to sign, closes existing loopholes so that a person purchasing a gun on Craigslist or from a neighbor would be subject to the same checks as someone buying from a gun shop or a gun show.”
Most Second Amendment proponents view the bill as an attack on the 2A rights of law-abiding citizens. The Oregon Republican Party released a statement on April 1st voicing opposition to the bill, where they declared:
This misguided legislation will make lawbreakers out of average citizens. The government does not have authority to register firearm sales between private parties. As such, this law is unjust and will create a black market in private party firearm sales, making it harder for law enforcement to do its job in investigating firearms-related crimes.”
Despite this, Salon has called this legislation a “pretty uncontroversial measure” and insists that conservative objections are merely “weakly justified panic.”
Fox News notes that under this bill, “The seller of a gun would face a misdemeanor for a first offense, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $6,250 fine. A second offense would be a felony, with a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.” Read more at Fox News.
