The big push is on for a transfer ban in Oregon, and all the stops from the other side are coming out. But as we’ve seen, these victories for the other side are entirely symbolic, and Oregon is looking like it’s going to go the path of Washington, where massive resistance outside of the lefty-govorned urban areas are rendering the law meaningless and unenforceable. With large parts of the state refusing to comply, any victory here is symbolic and meaningless. The law will be in place, and surely the other side will claim victory, but it’s a pyrrhic one at best.
Whether they like it or not, the effectiveness of these kinds of gun control laws as tools to enhance public safety is completely dependent on the willingness of gun owners to accept them and help enforce them. If our community instead chooses to ignore them, they can never be effective. By this point, anti-gun forces have blown enough goodwill and trust that even casual gun owners no longer trust their intentions, and have no intention of complying with their regulatory schemes.
As someone subject to the insane, inscrutable vagueries of the new law in WA, I quite object to calling it merely “symbolic”.
Maybe it’s just me… but as someone who was quite active in teaching firearms to people with NO experience, this has had a HUGE impact on what I can do legally.
Symbolic from their point of view, not ours. If people can be expected to not comply, it can never achieve their claimed goals.
It can’t achieve their claimed goals, but it does achieve their actual goal of making gun ownership more difficult.
Oregon State Sen. Kim Thatcher – one of the few solidly pro-gun rights folks in the OR Legislature – proposed a couple amendments to the bill that, if approved, are all but guaranteed to scuttle it.
First option: Remove the “universal background check” (i.e. private transfer ban) language from the bill, and instead require the DoJ to report felons to the DMV, and have their driver licenses and ID cards marked.
Second option: Remove the UBC language from the bill and replace it with language that deletes the “knows or reasonably should know” language from the statute that makes it a crime to sell a firearm to a known or suspected prohibited person. End result: people more likely to voluntarily run background checks, but they’re not generally needed (or required) if you’re selling to someone you know well.
We’re watching it.
I’m giving you a kudos on the great post and an upvote just because I love the game Oregon Trail and any references to it. Keep up the superb work!
That’s my go-to graphic for all things Oregon related!