By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Beaver State gun owners may have to wait a while before a three-judge panel for the Oregon Court of Appeals hands down a decision on whether gun control Measure 114 is valid under the Oregon State Constitution, according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
Judges Josephine H. Mooney, Kristina Hellman and Darleen Ortega heard oral arguments in the state’s appeal of a ruling by Harney County Circuit Judge Robert S. Raschio that tenets of the citizen initiative violated the state constitution. The measure was narrowly passed (50.7%) in November 2022, and almost immediately, a slew of lawsuits—four federal and one state—were filed. While U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut declared in 2023 the measure to be constitutional under the federal constitution, Judge Raschio ruled just the opposite at the state level.
According to Oregonlive, the measure remains in legal limbo until the appeals court issues an opinion. That could take several months.
Measure 114 would ban ammunition magazines holding more than ten cartridges, and require training and a permit to purchase, issued by a police agency, before anyone can buy a gun in Oregon. This process includes a background check, which is in addition to the required background check required by federal law at the time of purchase.
Attorney Tony Aiello, Jr., told the court panel, “This is a second background check. Prophylaxis upon prophylaxis. It’s unnecessary.”
Senior Assistant Attorney General Robert A. Koch argued the magazine ban part of the measure “promotes public safety,” but the Oregon Firearms Federation (OFF) notes on its website that this argument—an interest-balancing approach—“cannot be used to justify an attack on constitutional rights.”
In the 2022 Bruen decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the use of means-end scrutiny to decide Second Amendment cases.
Virtually every gun rights organization in the country filed lawsuits against Measure 114. There were two federal actions filed by the Second Amendment Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition, and others involved the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Gun Owners of America, National Rifle Association, Oregon Firearms Federation, Oregon State Shooting Association, and various private citizens, and at least two businesses. The federal actions are currently under appeal to the Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco, but it is the state case which is now moving forward.
