Leftist In Oregon Permanently Blocked from Infringing on Second Amendment Rights
A key victory for gun owners everywhere
Second Amendment advocates won a major victory in November after an Oregon judge placed a permanent injunction on one of the most restrictive gun laws in the country.
Harney County Circuit Court Judge Robert S. Raschio ruled in late November that Oregon’s Ballot Measure 114, better known as the “Reduction of Gun Violence Act,” violated the state constitution and placed an undue burden on gun owners. The state will have a chance to appeal the decision, but the ruling at current is designed to “relieve” gun owners of any uncertainty surrounding their rights “before wrongs have actually been committed,” Raschio wrote in the ruling.
“This court is preventing the undue burden of Ballot Measure 114 from being imposed on current, and prospective, gun owners who have a right to lawfully possess firearms for the purpose of defending themselves and the state against imminent threats of harm,” Raschio concluded.
If enacted, the measure would’ve required background checks, firearm training, fingerprint collection and a permit to purchase any firearm. Alongside new restrictions, the measure would have also cost taxpayers an additional $50 million to implement and would have placed nearly 300,000 residents in a gun owner database.
The decision marks one year of constant court battles, as Second Amendment advocates filed numerous lawsuits against the measure in 2022—just days after Oregonians voted to pass the measure by slim margins.
The Left constantly pushes for extreme gun control measures while continuing to tell Americans that they are working to reduce “gun violence.” The provisions of Ballot Measure 114 did not address gun violence. They simply worked to block law-abiding gun owners from purchasing firearms.
Funded by Deep Leftist Pockets
Oregon Ballot Measure 114 followed a landmark Supreme Court decision in June 2022 that required all firearms laws align with the historical tradition of firearm restrictions in America. That ruling, Bruen, further affirmed that it is every American’s right to carry a firearm.
In the wake of this ruling, many states were forced to change or remove restrictive gun control laws. While turmoil ripped through the anti-gun lobby in light of the Bruen decision, Oregon leftists decided to give residents a chance to vote for an unconstitutional law.
But why? Gun control advocates almost certainly knew the law would face harsh legal scrutiny, and—though they would never admit it—would very likely fail. What they did accomplish was making the constitution seem like the “bad guy” because after all, the people themselves voted for Ballot Measure 114, right?
Here’s a better explanation: the measure was simply a ploy.
If we look at who funded the measure, we quickly see it is another initiative of a multi-billion-dollar web of leftist “philanthropy” (read: unethical advocacy) and anti-American billionaires.
First, we must look at how much all donors spent to prop up a blatantly unconstitutional measure. In total, those who favored Ballot Measure 114 spent $3.2 million while those who were opposed only spent $173,000.
The anti-gun lobby outspent Second Amendment activists 18 to 1. With such a large disparity for a state-wide initiative, one must ask, where did the money come from?
One of the donors, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, is run by the ”dark money” behemoth Arabella Advisors, and donated $250,000 to support Ballot Measure 114.
Between 2019 and 2021, the Sixteen Thirty Fund donated $138 million to America Votes, the self-described “coordination hub of the progressive community.” The group often sponsors left-wing initiatives and has pushed $44 million into dozens of anti-Republican groups in 29 states.
Even Politico has labeled the group a “dark-money behemoth.”
Anti-gun juggernaut Everytown for Gun Safety’s action arm donated another $155,000 to the measure. The group—whose mission is to counter the National Rifle Association (NRA)—has become a household name for anti-gun initiatives and was founded by liberal billionaire Michael Bloomberg in 2014.
Rotten to the Core
After the measure passed, Second Amendment advocates began to highlight the deficiencies in the ballot.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), Oregon State Shooting Association (OSSA) and Mazama Sporting Goods filed a lawsuit in the Oregon District Court claiming the measure is unconstitutional and infringes on Second Amendment rights—referencing magazine capacity limits, new permits, and the gun owner database.
“It requires potential gun owners to take a class that has yet to be created, at a cost yet to be determined, so that they can obtain a permit that doesn’t actually give them permission to purchase a firearm,” NRA Oregon state director Aoibheann Cline told the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF).
The measure attempted to place large restrictions on firearms, firearms accessories, ammunition, and ease of purchase, yet one of the most extreme violations was the attempt to establish a gun owner database, according to the NRA.
The lawsuit by NSSF, OSSA, and Mazama claimed that the measure imposed “severe and unprecedented burdens on individuals seeking to exercise perhaps the most basic right guaranteed by the Second Amendment.”
“Oregon’s Measure 114 is blatantly unconstitutional,” NSSF senior vice president and general counsel Lawrence G. Keane said in a press release.
The lawsuit followed two initial lawsuits filed by the Oregon Firearms Federation (OFF), Sherman County Sheriff’s Department, Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC).
Gun Grabbers Sell Guns
Ballot Measure 114’s permanent injunction is a major win for Second Amendment advocates and reassures Americans that the court system will uphold the Constitution, but the measure also comedically backfired on Oregon’s leftist lawmakers.
After Ballot measure 114 was announced, gun sales in Oregon skyrocketed. Leading up to the 2022 midterm election, over 36,000 Oregon residents were backlogged in the background check process. During election week alone, Oregon state police reported more than 18,000 background checks.
Overall, day-to-day background check numbers jumped from 850, prior to the midterms, to 4,000 after the law’s passing.
“Two things are happening. There’s fear they won’t be able to get a gun, but there’s the actual logistics that they won’t be able to do the background check,” Karl Durkheimer, the owner of Oregon’s Northwest Armory gun store, said. “It’s going to take a year before an Oregonian has a permit.”
Blatant Attacks on America
Ballot Measure 114 represents a serious attack on the Second Amendment that serves only two functions:
- Push the bounds of firearm policy by releasing outlandish restrictions, and
- Convince Americans that the Constitution is working against them by funding and supporting a “citizen led” initiative that was always going to fail under Bruen and the Second Amendment.
The Left will continue to push for a disarmed populace as it advocates for “progressive” policies. We have seen their tactics and lack of respect for the Supreme Court and Constitution. We must now stand against senseless legislation that only hurts law-abiding Americans.
