By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The Oregon House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hear testimony today (Monday, Feb. 2) on House Bill 4145, described as modifying firearms permit provisions of Measure 114, which remains tied up in the state Supreme Court, and it is already drawing flak from the Oregon Firearms Federation (OFF).
The 27-page bill is filled with new language, but the critical part is a proposed hike on the cost of the fee to obtain a permit-to-purchase a firearm. Originally, this was not supposed to exceed $65, but HB 4145 seeks to hike this to $150.
The bill also moves back the effective date of the permit-to-purchase requirement to Jan. 1, 2028.
OFF, in an alert to its members, states, “This bill doubles the time you must wait to receive a “permit” to attempt to purchase a firearm and jacks up all fees. This dramatic increase in fees is no doubt another example of Oregon’s Democrats’ compassion for low‑income Oregonians—people most likely to live in high‑crime areas.”
The hearing is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. in Hearing Room B in the Capitol.
According to the Elk Horn Media Group, “The amount of time authorities will be allowed to issue the permits would double from 30 to 60 days.”
Measure 114 was immediately challenged in state and federal court by virtually every major gun rights organization on the map. While a federal district judge in Portland found it to be constitutional, a circuit judge in Oregon’s Harney County ruled the measure violates the state constitution. The federal case remains on appeal to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, but it is languishing there.
Since enforcement of the gun control measure, which passed barely in 2022, has been put on hold ever since the lawsuits were filed, anti-gun-rights Democrats controlling Oregon’s Legislature in Salem have been trying to work around the stalled provisions, anyway.
OFF also objects to language in HB 4145 which creates a “carve-out” for police officers and retired police officers, the latter who are private citizens.
“This is just another slap in the face of Oregon’s gun owners,” OFF says in its Sunday alert.
