Oregon Loses Key Gun Rights Overnight
Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed and approved a gun control law, Senate Bill 719A, this week. This legislation is based on a similar law passed in California in 2014, and is effective immediately.
Of course, this didn’t leave law-abiding Oregonians a lot of time to actually read through the bill, so let’s take a closer look at what it does.
What does SB 719A Do?
SB 719A is a state law that allows for the creation of an “Extreme Risk Protection Order” or ERPO. Under this new law, an ERPO could be requested by a police or law enforcement officer, someone living in the home, a family member or other individual; the ERPO would deprive the person targeted of their rights under the Second Amendment without requiring an additional hearing or procedure.
Under SB 719A, the process to deprive someone of their 2nd Amendment rights is outlined. Basically, an order is requested by someone who knows the individual or who is a law enforcement official. Once the order is granted by a civil court judge, the person is not allowed to possess, carry or buy a firearm or ammunition for one year.
If the person already has firearms or ammo, the police are then able to search for and seize those items, even if they are stored with a third party or gun dealer, according to the NRA. Once an ERPO has been requested, the individual targeted has 30 days to request a hearing to contest it.
SB 719A Concerns
This new bill allows people who are not mental health professionals to make complaints and infringe upon the 2nd amendment rights of others at any time. They could be mistaken, not have the proper ability to determine someone else’s fitness or even have an agenda when attempting to remove an individual’s rights.
This order calls for an ex party hearing that allows a judge to strip gun owners of their property simply because someone petitioned them to do so. The individual has no chance to defend themselves or object to the process at this time; they need to appeal the decision after the ERPO is in place.
The bill, which does not require any allegations of criminal behavior to issue or request an ERPO, was signed into law by Democrat Kate Brown in August.
~ Firearm Daily