A bill that would tighten storage requirements for Oregon’s gun owners is headed to the Oregon State Legislature in 2019.
Titled the Cindy Yuille and Steve Forsyth Act, this bill would require gun owners to safely store and lock a firearm when it is not in use, and when it is being transferred to another person; report a lost or stolen gun with 24 hours; supervise children under 18 at all times when they are handling firearms; and use locks and containers approved by the state attorney general. Failing to follow these rules would result in a fine.
The legislation, which is sponsored by State Representative Barbara Smith Warner and State Senator James Manning, would also impose a “strict liability” on gun owners who failed to follow these measures. That means that if someone failed to properly secure their gun, and that gun was then used by someone else to commit a crime, the gun owner could be held liable by the victims.
The bill is named for two victims in the Clackamas Town Center shooting, which occurred exactly six years ago. Cindy Yuille’s daughter, Jenna Yuille, spoke at a press conference announcing the bill Tuesday morning at the Portland Association of Teachers office.
“I wanted to make sure that [my mother’s] death wasn’t for nothing,” Yuille said. “This is the only true form of justice that I could find, which is working to make a difference in gun safety on her behalf. … We still have not passed any laws in Oregon that still might actually prevent a shooting like the one that happened at the Clackamas Town Center.”
Earlier this year, Yuille was part of the effort to get two initiatives on the November ballot that would have accomplished many of the same goals as the new bill. The National Rifle Association and two local Oregon firearms groups opposed putting the measures on the ballot, and the Oregon Supreme Court ended up blocking them, saying that they needed to be reworded so as to not potentially violate the Second Amendment.
Backers of those ballots later formed the nonprofit State of Safety Action. The group said that in addition to supporting this legislation, it plans to put another measure on the 2020 ballot.
In addition to preventing mass shootings and accidental deaths, this bill could also help to reduce underage suicides in Oregon. According to State of Safety Action, 14 children and teens committed suicide using firearms in Oregon last year. Lisa Reynolds, a pediatrician and board chair for the nonprofit, said that having a gun available makes a person much more likely to act on a suicidal impulse.
“We know that if these kids had not had access to a gun—almost always a gun in their own home—they would likely be alive today,” Reynolds said at the press conference.
Smith Warner, a Democrat, hinted at the press conference that she hopes for the bill to have bipartisan support in the legislature, calling it “the kind of bill that is reasonable, commonsense gun legislation, [and] can and should be supported by gun owners and non-gun owners alike.” But Democrats will have a strong majority in both houses in the 2019 session, meaning they won’t necessarily need Republican support to pass this bill.
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, the Portland Suicide Lifeline is 503-972-3456. And for those outside of Portland, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 1-800-SUICIDE (784-2433) or 1-800-273-8255. You can also text “help” to 741-741.
“Held:
“3) …the requirement that any lawful firearm in the home be disassembled or bound by a trigger lock makes it impossible for citizens to use arms for the core lawful purpose of self-defense and is hence unconstitutional.” – D.C. v. Heller (2008)
There are over 370 “mental disorders” listed in the latest version of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.) The list includes “Tobacco Addiction Disorder” among other equally mundane and ridiculous so-called “mental illnesses.”
If the DSM is the standard by which politicians wishes to remove our rights to own guns, then I’d guess 90% of the American people could probably be classified with a mental disorder of one kind or another.
BEWARE, BEWARE
Mental health as a weapon against the people is communist in origin..
Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
Deceptive Transformation: The Truth of Soviet Influence in America and Gun Control…The idea of using mental health as a weapon against the people is communist in origin, and the social sciences, or the studying of human behavior has its roots in early twentieth century Russia when Ivan Pavlov developed his “classical conditioning” theories.
MY OTHER COMMENT WAS NOT POSTED SO LETS TRY AGAIN..
voting on gun rights?
Gun Control/restrictions, etc are UnConstitutional and such enumerated, recognized and protected Rights are NOT subject to popular vote by The people. The States are asking the People to vote their own rights away!!!!
In writing to William Jarvis, Jefferson said, “You seem . . . to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions; a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy.”
The germ of dissolution of our federal government is in the constitution of the federal Judiciary; an irresponsible body (for impeachment is scarcely a scare-crow) working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped.”
Sorry, but someone who steals your gun and wants to use it is also going to be able to remove/disable any trigger lock on the market today. And – rhetorical question – how is this going to be enforced, police knocking on your door to inspect all your guns??? Not going to happen.