2A Newsletter: Week of November 25th!

Federal court to review Oregon’s Measure 114 in Emergency Motion

Last week we talked about how Oregon just took a pretty big ‘L’ (gun control legislation wise) as Measure 114 was passed which presented multiple problems for both sides of the aisle. Supporters of the new gun restrictions would have made legally purchasing and owning guns exponentially more difficult, borderline impossible, as the state simply isn’t prepared with the necessary infrastructure to support its own policies - Ballot Measure 114 changes the traditional method of buying a gun in Oregon and requires citizens to:

• pay a fee of up $65 for a firearm purchase permit that is good for five years (similar to the Firearm Safety Certificate card that is issued for Californians)
• to get the Oregon Firearm Purchase Permit you’ll have to provide your photo ID
• will also have to provide fingerprints
• will have to complete a state approved training course
• pass a criminal background check to prove you a not a ‘prohibited person’
• arbitrarily not be judged as a danger to yourself or others by the officer processing your application

BM114 is supposed to go into effect next month on December 8, 2022.

If we look at the map of Oregon, 30 out of 36 counties voted against this measure, showing that the urban voting bloc within the state’s liberal-leaning counties was strong enough to barely get it passed. Apparently a group of faith leaders were championing the bill which is also confusing as it directly contradicts a biblical basis for self-defense. These proponents claim that by passing this law, it will make Oregonians safer by reducing access to guns… thereby somehow reducing gun violence.

Luckily, the Oregon Firearms Federation, Sherman County Sheriff’s Department and a gun store owner filed an emergency motion this week to challenge the Measure which means that they’re seeking a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order. Their main argument - being that this law is unconstitutional and violates the Second Amendment.

The federal court will review this case as early as December 2, next week, before the Measure goes into effect so fingers crossed for our Oregonian friends!

However, for gun rights advocates and (some in) law enforcement alike, this policy doesn’t really make sense and it’s caused a huge gun-buying frenzy this holiday season. Since the state isn’t prepared to issue said permits, what’s happening is that stores are preparing to cease their operations beginning Dec 8 which is essentially creating a de facto gun ban in Oregon.

Even if the system was up and ready - at best, the barrier for someone purchasing their first or next firearm has become very difficult. At worst, this new policy could render it impossible for Oregonians to buy guns at all anymore.

Multiple counties’ Sheriffs have already come out to say that they will not be enforcing this law when they don’t have the budget, infrastructure or support to do so. Taking away Americans’ rights to purchase or possess firearms for any period of time simply is not acceptable.

The NICS system in Oregon is seriously backed up with as many as 4500 background checks going through it per day. If you live in Oregon or have gun owning friends that live there, make sure that they have a couple of guns on the Christmas shopping list this year because there is no telling how the District Court judge will rule on this issue or when the state would be able to actually enforce their new system suggested by the new law.

ATF is moving on pistol brace ban 2021R-08

We’ve been reminding our readers for sometime now to not forget about the other ATF proposed rule which also came about last year - the pistol brace ban, aka 2021R-08 or “Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached ‘Stabilizing Braces.’”As the proposed rule stands now, we’re currently waiting for the “final version” to be posted next month in December (which is only a week away). If it goes uncontested, the rule would hypothetically be enforced beginning around April 2023.

The main takeaways of this crazy rule are the following…

Your rifle/AR15 pistol will be judged based on the ATF Worksheet 4999 and if you score too many points, it will be designated as a short barreled rifle (which requires a NFA stamp).

If your build is designated as a SBR then you have very few options to stay “in compliance:”

• complete and submit ATF Form 1 and $200 check for the tax stamp
• surrender your gun to your closest ATF office
• destroy your gun
• change out your barrel for a 16” or longer one
• permanently remove or alter your pistol brace in a way that no stock could be attached again

Biden recently said that he’d be pushing on additional gun control legislation during the lame duck session.

What is a lame duck session?

Glad you asked. A lame duck session is the period of time where Congress has a session after an election for the next Congress has already been held but before the current Congress has reached the end of its term.

To break that down further, we just had our 2022 midterm elections but the newly elected or reelected politicians in the House of Representatives and Senate won’t take their positions until the next term begins in the new year, which in this case will be January 3, 2023.

That means that Biden will be heavily pushing for whatever gun control laws to be passed in this last month of 2022 while they still have the House Majority. The current Congress’ Senate makeup is very close (Republican: 50 members | Democratic: 48 members | Independents: 2 members) between the two major parties so it’s not impossible for new gun laws to get passed in the next month.

Biden’s choice of poison will likely be targeting a new federal assault weapons ban which may be tied into the ATF’s 2021R-08. If that is the case, California’s definition of what an “assault weapon” may very well serve as a template for what Biden and his anti-gun cronies have in store for us.

This Thanksgiving, give thanks for being the Silent Majority

We often tell our readers that we need to speak up more so that the opposition isn’t louder than us and so that they don’t confuse others into believing that their values are the norm.

Well, amidst the craziness of this world, we also want people to take heart after seeing these stats:

1. 75% of people in the U.S. never tweet.
2. On an average weeknight in January, only 1% of U.S. adults watched primetime Fox News and 0.5% tuned into MSNBC.

What do you think that means? It means that the rest of us folks are too busy being… normal. So when things get weird take a breath, keep on being normal and don’t freak out.

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