Oregon House passes wide-ranging gun control bill

The Oregon House passed a gun control bill on Tuesday that would make it illegal to sell, transfer, or possess untraceable firearms, such as ghost guns. The legislation would also require background checks for all gun sales in the state, including private sales.

“When guns are the number one cause of death of children in the United States and gun violence continues to rise, it is time to take action,” state Democratic Rep. Lisa Reynolds, chief sponsor of the bill, said in a press release.

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“Every single Oregonian has the right to feel safe in their communities. Today, we are making Oregon a safer place,” she added.

House Bill 2005, dubbed the gun violence prevention bill, passed in a 35-24 vote and is now headed to the Senate for a final vote in the state’s legislature.

The bill raises the age to buy or have guns to 21 but excludes certain hunting rifles and allows cities or counties to prevent people with a license to carry from bringing their firearm into public buildings or on similar grounds.

The legislation enforces a misdemeanor for those convicted of possession of an undetectable firearm on the first offense. That charge includes up to 364 days in jail and/or a $6,250 fine. After the first offense, penalties could increase to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

House Republicans have pushed back on the bill, arguing that new laws restricting access to guns won’t solve the problem of gun violence.

“Colleagues, we keep passing more gun laws and expected gun violence to decline,” state GOP Rep. Mark Owens said. “Gun violence is not declining.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Oregon’s gun laws are considered weaker than its neighboring states, such as California‘s and Washington‘s, but in recent years the state has moved toward enacting tighter regulations. In 2021, Oregon passed several pieces of gun control legislation, one of the most stringent of which was Senate Bill 554, which requires gun owners to store their firearms when they are not in use and bans guns on state Capitol grounds.

“There are a number of actions we will take this session to build safer and healthier communities, but to tackle the gun violence epidemic, we must also couple those efforts with common sense gun safety laws,” state Democratic Rep. Jason Kropf said.