Editor's note: this is the third in a multi-part series which is a reprint of a letter from a desperate gun owner and her thoughts on the current proposals in the legislature.

I listened as an individual claimed that getting a CHL was about as easy as getting a library card. Registering to vote may be easier than getting a library card but this is not the case when it comes to getting a firearm and then your CHL, especially in today's climate. Proponents of SB 554 are not speaking from experience they are speaking from ignorance. Every time you purchase a firearm you have to go through a background check, that means paperwork and finger prints every time, even if you happened to purchase a firearm the week prior. You then wait for that background check to come back, sometimes weeks. To get your CHL you must prove that you have taken a safety course, most gun owners will pay over $100 dollars or more for a full day at the range which includes a firearms safety course.

Don't forget you also have to pay for your firearm and ammunition as well as your CHL (unlike a library card). To get your CHL, which you may need in order to carry your firearm in some cities (this is also an assault on our liberties) you need to make an appointment with the Sheriffs office which can also take a few months. Once you are called in for your appointment at the sheriff's office you again are fingerprinted, have to fill out paper work, answer questions, and get photographed. I have never went through anything similar to this to get a library card which I will admit is harder to do than registering to vote. Raising the fee for a CHL is only going to impact those who are experiencing financial hardship and who may live in high crime areas where the police are often already overwhelmed, those are the citizens who need your advocacy not objection to be allowed to exercise their second amendment right freely.

Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese even mentioned that the response time of officers can be up to 30 minutes in some situations, when seconds matter and the police are minutes away, ask yourself if it were you and your family would you want to be armed? With the unchecked and almost politically encouraged lawless violence, attacks and even murders that have taken place in the streets and neighborhoods of Portland by members of "Antifa" and BLM, with the calls to defund our police while releasing criminals from jail and politicians advocating for additional rights for felons, politicians now have the audacity to try and limit where we can carry our firearms.

Politicians seem to want to release the real criminals from jail or just ignore their criminal behavior, while instead focusing on law abiding citizens and removing our rights to carry our firearms so that special interest groups can "feel safe". What about the rights of Oregonians who want to actually BE safe and protect themselves and their families by exercising their second amendment? Citizens are at risk for attacks while out in public spaces, demanding that they give up their right to defend themselves and put their firearms in the car where they can then be stolen by a criminal is absolute ignorance. These laws will not protect our communities from criminals who are already intent on committing an illegal act, and from the looks of it that is not the true intent of the proposed SB 554 and others like it.

It makes no sense to talk about school violence and the dangers that lurk in these places while removing a teachers, a parents or a school resource officers ability to defend themselves against those coming into these spaces intent on committing criminal acts. By removing or limiting School Resource Officers and the ability of citizens to arm themselves in any setting is opening them up for violent criminal attacks. You are expecting individuals to wait around for police while the only people who have a firearm are criminals. Since police are responding to crimes as they are in progress it is up to citizens to protect themselves, add into that equation the fact that police have no obligation to protect citizens -- I would say that is even more of a reason to not restrict our second amendment rights -- more than has already been done.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

The senior council at an anti-gun group gave testimony on Monday in support of this bill. While listening to her speak I interpreted her testimony to insinuate that we as a society are less safe because of citizens who have a CHL, though FBI reports, such as the one released in 2018 titled "Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2016-2017", have shown that CHL holders have helped to end active shooter events and "likely saved many lives," a claim that she called "laughable". She also made a statement to the effect that individuals with a CHL will not be turned into felons if they simply "turned around" and go put their firearm in the car if they encounter a sign indicating firearms are not allowed in a certain area.

These type of statements show just how out of touch with the reality the proponents of this bill really are, they would rather a law abiding citizen be forced to leave their firearms in a vehicle that could then be targeted by thieves and subsequently turn into an actual crime. During her testimony she made another comment to the effect that there is a dangerous gap between the people and those passing the laws, I would have to agree with her on this point and this is exactly why I believe this bill and others like it should not pass.

I along with many other Oregonians you heard from on Monday believe that public safety decisions should be made by the citizens it impacts and not by the special interest groups who hide behind anti-gun lobbyists, politics and legislation. Your promise is to the people, not just special interest groups who use political influence, and bullying to obtain the outcome they desire. The belittling, gaslighting and divisive rhetoric needs to stop just as the consideration for Senator Ginny Burdick's SB 554 needs to be stopped in its tracks.

To be continued...


--A Fed Up Oregonian

Post Date: 2021-02-28 07:40:16

Last Update: 2021-03-01 09:50:48