A 2A victory was secured against deeply entrenched anti-gunner politicians in Oregon with the death of SB 978.

Senate Bill 978 innocently started out as Oregon anti-gunners’ calling for “research” into “gun violence” and morphed into a far reaching bill attacking the Second Amendment rights of every Oregonian.

Overnight, underhanded manipulation of senate rules and guidelines morphed SB 978 into a 44-page gun control omnibus bill that would have created mandatory “safe storage” regulations, expanded “gun free zones,” held private property owners responsible for firearms crimes committed by thieves or criminals, and allowed retailers to create purchasing age restrictions.

With an overwhelmingly Democrat anti-gunner majority in the Senate, Firearms Policy Coalition and others saw that the only sure way to stop SB 978 was if all pro-gun Senators walked out of the Senate - thus preventing the quorum needed to pass many of the remaining bills backed by the Democrat majority.

In a coordinated campaign, Firearms Policy Coalition and its Oregon allies were able to encourage enough opposition and alert enough Senators to walk out and deny a quorum; meaning that SB 978 was successfully shot down because of the efforts of gun rights supporters in Oregon. 

Minority Leader Sen. Herman Baertschiger, and Senate Republicans in Oregon were motivated to hold the line and not budge – stopping SB 978 and preventing the wholesale, overnight, change of gun laws in Oregon.

However, there is still the danger of Governor Kate Brown and the Democrat anti-gun majority “piece-mealing” SB 978 through the legislature in other bills, or, a similar push in 2020.

In a Statesman Journal article, Spokesman for the House Republicans, Greg Stiles, is quoted saying:

“These bills never go away. They always come back in one way or another. It's almost for certain these things will be re-introduced."

And Mr. Stiles wasn’t wrong. Already on the horizon are bills like:

• HB 2505 & SB 817 (Mandatory Safe Storage aspect of SB 978).
• SB 925 (Expansion of Gun Free Zones aspect of SB 978)
• HB 3265 (“High Capacity” Mag Ban)
• HB 3223 (“Assault Weapons” Ban)

While this victory was important, there is still fight to be had in Oregon and its critical that pro-freedom people fight the good fight under a banner that stands for uncompromising Second Amendment freedom.

We believe that FPC is that organization and implore you to become a member of FPC.

Join in the fight for your Second Amendment rights.