By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Oregon’s Democrat House majority has passed a state Senate bill outlawing “rapid fire activators” which are defined in Senate Bill 243 to include “but…not limited to, a bump stock, forced reset trigger, trigger crank, hellfire trigger, binary trigger system, burst trigger system, switch, auto sear or a copy or similar device, regardless of the producer or manufacturer.”
The Salem Statesman-Journal is reporting the measure passed “along party lines, 33-10” with 15 representatives excused and two marked unexcused. This was after House Republicans reported posted a message on social media encouraging GOP lawmakers to walk out, thus denying the Legislature a quorum.
But several Republicans were present, and the Oregon Firearms Federation is not happy, telling its members to remember those lawmakers. An OFF post at its website blasted those who voted for the measure.
“The ignorance demonstrated by the people who spoke in favor of the bill was staggering,” OFF asserts.
A few lines later, OFF contends, “SB 243 will make criminals out of thousands of good, law abiding Oregonians who legally possess certain firearms accessories considered to be “rapid fire actuators”. SB 243 will also strip concealed handgun license holders of the ability to protect themselves and others in countless public buildings.”
In addition to banning rapid fire devices, SB 243 also allows local governments to “adopt regulations restricting concealed handgun license owners from carrying guns within their buildings that are used for official meetings,” the newspaper said.
The Oregon Senate already approved the measure, also along party lines, the Statesman-Journal reported last month. The newspaper said Democrats contend the measure—dubbed the “community Safety Firearms Act”—will “prevent mass shootings,” which is the typical contention of gun control proponents.
Language in SB 243 defines a “Rapid fire activator” as “any device, including a removable manual or power-driven device, part or combination of parts, constructed so that, when built into, installed on or attached to a firearm:
“(i) The rate at which the trigger is activated increases to a faster rate than is possible for the firearm without the device; or
“(ii) The rate of fire increases to a faster rate than is possible for a person to fire the firearm without the device.”
This would apply to such aftermarket devices as the Hellfire trigger, forced reset trigger (FRT), burst trigger system or binary trigger system, along with bump stocks.
The Statesman-Journal quoted two Republican lawmakers who are former peace officers. Rep. Jeff Helfrich of Hood River, insisted the bill “would not make people safer.” His colleague, Rep. Rick Lewis from Silverton said the language allowing local governments to adopt their own regulations would result in a “patchwork” of confusing restrictions, an argument used to justify state preemption laws, which provide uniformity of gun laws from one state border to the other.
Earlier, Senate Republican Leader Daniel Bonham from The Dalles was quoted by the Statesman-Journal insisting, “What we’re doing here is an infringement upon our rights.”
It didn’t phase Democrats, who claimed the legislation will keep Beaver State children safe and protect neighborhoods from “gun violence.”
