Interfaith gun-control group Lift Every Voice Oregon has revealed three proposals for the upcoming legislative session, which have been opened to the public for feedback.
Pastor Mark Knutson of Augustana Lutheran Church, a member of LEVO, told The Oregonian “There’s not a student in Oregon that has not had to deal with the threat of mass shootings. We have to be concerned about life.”
The first proposed measure, Initiative Petition 60, is the most comprehensive. Under IP 60, the sale of semiautomatic assault-style firearms would be to limited to gun dealers, and purchases would require proof of training and mandatory criminal background checks, with a five-day waiting period. Furthermore, the measure would raise the minimum purchasing age for semiautomatic firearms to 21, and ban the sale and manufacture of magazines that hold more than ten rounds, excluding the military or law enforcement.
The second proposed measure, IP 61, lacks the magazine regulation, but is otherwise identical to IP 60. IP 62, on the other hand, consists of the high-capacity magazine ban alone.
According to Knutson, LEVO will select one petition to gather signatures for after proposal language has been approved.
Predictably, the initiatives have met pushback from local gun advocates. A statement from Executive Director Kevin Starrett of the Oregon Firearm Federation reads “We oppose any effort to limit people’s rights to protect their families, to punish the victims of theft while doing nothing to deter criminals or violate the very clear and unambiguous language of the Second Amendment.”
By Brandon Urey
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