The Oregon Supreme Court on March 5 released a ruling in favor of an appeal filed by NRA and OHA challenging the ballot title for Initiative Petition 40 (IP40). As a result of the Supreme Court decision, IP40 is referred back to the Attorney General for modification.” IP40 contains locked gun storage requirements, reporting of stolen guns, and strict liability for injuries.

In an Oct. 15 letter about the proposed ballot title for IP40, OHA stated:

“The Draft Ballot Title for IP 40 is misleading by omission and does not adequately summarize the full and far-reaching effects this Initiative Petition could have on hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Oregonians including hunters and who are members of our association.”

Paul Donheffner, OHA’s Legislative Committee Chairman, called the Supreme Court decision a great win. “The Attorney General completely glossed over the implications of IP40, and ignored OHA’s comments. We are very pleased that the Supreme Court agreed with us in handing down this important decision.”

We would like to thank OHA members, the NRA and the other gun rights advocacy groups for a job well done. OHA is also closely watching the progress of several other gun initiatives with restrictions similar to IP 40.

• IP 40 – Requires locked gun storage, reporting stolen guns, strict liability for injuries. OHA appealed the draft ballot title in cooperation with the NRA and won, and it has been sent back to the attorney general for modification.
• IP 60 – Regulates semi-automatic guns and large-capacity magazines. Appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court on Feb. 28.
• IP 61 – Sale/transfer of certain semiautomatic firearms requires gun dealer, safety course, waiting period, age 21. Appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court on March 3.
• IP 62 – Prohibits firearm magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition; provides for exceptions. Allows persons who have magazines over 10 rounds to keep them. Appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court on March 3.

            The 2020 legislative session started in early February at a fast pace with hearings being held and bills being passed.  Then, on Feb. 24, Senate Republicans announced a boycott and on Feb. 25 the House Republicans announced a boycott.

OHA was supporting several bills and following many others. The session never recovered.

Here’s a list of the bills that died as the session reached an early end:

• HB 4005 Gun Storage Bill – This bill requires a gun owner or possessor of firearm to secure firearm with trigger or cable lock, in locked container or in gun room except in specified circumstances. Imposes strict liability if stolen gun is used to injure or kill someone. It would also decimate youth shooting sports. OHA has submitted testimony against the bill. A work session was held in the House Committee on Judiciary. Two amendments were adopted that only make the bill worse. One amendment says you will not be required to lock up your self-defense firearm if you are completely alone in your home and all your doors and windows are locked.

• HB 4075 Bans Coyote Contests – An amendment was added to the bill that allows for OHA to continue its current practice of holding coyote contests.

• HB 4052 Residency Bill – This is the bill that OHA requested as part of our anti-poaching campaign. This changes some ambiguity in statute related to the definition of residency by amending residency requirements for wildlife license, tag and permit applications. In order to claim residency, a person must have resided in Oregon at least six months before applying for tags, licenses or permits.

• HB 4091 Sage Grouse Fund – This bill establishes a “Sage-Grouse Mitigation Program In-Lieu Fee Fund.” The money in the fund goes to ODFW to support, restore, protect, or increase habitat for sage grouse. The monies for this fund would come from developers paying an in-lieu fee for mitigation rather than doing on-the-ground mitigation activities.

• SB 1543 Group Sports Pac – This bill would create a Group Sports Pac for hunting and fishing events for disabled veterans. The bill had one hearing, where a work group was established to “fine-tune” the bill. At issue is what groups qualify for these benefits and if the Group Sports Pac should apply to hunting. During the second week of the session, an agreement was reached on an amendment to the bill. OHA testified in support of the amendment, which removed hunting from the bill, before the Senate Committee on Veterans.