OREGON – Law enforcement personnel in Oregon are concerned that a new gun law will have a negative impact on them off-duty. They don’t know if they will be able to purchase new weapons without a permit or carry their service weapons while off-duty due to conflicts with the statute as it’s currently written.
In November, Oregon voters narrowly passed Ballot Measure 114, one of the more restrictive gun control acts in the country. The new law goes beyond Oregon’s pre-existing requirement for background checks by adding the permit-to-purchase program, a gun safety course regulated by the police, (an issue that has confounded law enforcement), and restrict magazine capacity to 10 rounds, Law Officer previously reported.
“It’s not clear how existing certified public safety professionals are treated under this ballot measure,” Chief Chris Skinner with the Eugene Police Department told Fox News. “Both the purchase of weapons and the possession of magazines in excess of 10 rounds, which all of our duty weapons have that.”
The new law was supposed to take effect last week, but is currently blocked by a judge in Harney County, a move that was subsequently upheld by the Oregon Supreme Court.
The measure does not provide a provision for off-duty law enforcement officers or members of the military when it comes to the magazine ban, but “solely for authorized use by that entity related to the official duties of the entity.” As a result, police personnel are left wondering if they will be criminally exposed by carrying their firearms off-duty.
“What does that mean for our off-duty officers that often are asked to, and in some cases by policy required to, be armed off-duty as well?” Skinner asked. “There’s a lot of those unanswered questions we’re hoping to get some clarity around.”
Deschutes County Sheriff Shane Nelson said in November, “This measure will not make our community safer. It will put our communities at greater risk for violence because it requires that every sheriff’s office and police agency divert scarce public safety resources to background systems that already exist.”
Sheriff Nelson was not alone. Five other Oregon sheriff’s voiced dissent after the measure passed, saying it is problematic for several reasons and they are openly refusing to enforce at least parts of the law.
Openly criticizing the new law while assessing their responsibilities to combat crime include Union County Sheriff Cody Bowen, Sherman County Sheriff Brad Lohrey, Malheur County Sheriff Brian Wolfe, Jefferson County Sheriff Jason Pollock, and Linn County Sheriff Michelle Duncan, Law Officer reported.
Sheriff Duncan told Fox News her department is looking to purchase 10-round magazines for deputies to carry when they are off-duty.
“We don’t want them potentially getting a charge in another jurisdiction that could risk their police certification and job so we will look at getting them the lower capacity mags for off duty,” Duncan wrote in an email.
Furthermore, law enforcement officials said they are unaware of a single training program in the state that currently satisfies all the permit requirements outlined in Measure 114. If and when the law takes effect, they say police may also have to apply for a permit to purchase a weapon.
“Every person, including law enforcement officers wishing to obtain a permit, will first have to complete training that does not yet exist,” Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association Executive Director Jason Myers wrote in a court statement.
Training mandated by the measure includes instruction on state and federal gun laws, safe storage, the impact of suicide and homicide on communities, how to report lost or stolen firearms, as well as an in-person demonstration of locking, unloading, firing and storing a gun.
“Many of our smaller agencies require new officers to purchase their own handguns for use as duty weapons,” Oregon Association Chiefs of Police Executive Director Kevin Campbell wrote in a court statement. “Those agencies do not have a current supply of handguns to provide to new officers, and new officers will be unable to purchase a handgun without first obtaining the required training and then obtaining a permit to purchase a firearm.”
Chief Skinner said he is refraining from issuing new guidelines to officers as he hopes to get more clarity on the law in the coming weeks.
“I want to make sure we have as much information as possible instead of constantly having to amend guidance to officers in the field,” he wrote on Friday.
A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in the Harney County case, according to Fox.
Beyond the new restrictions, the National Rifle Association (NRA) says the legislation’s ambiguous language fails to safeguard gun owner information by creating a searchable gun owner database.
“The ballot measure gives the power to each permit issuing department to annually publish ‘any additional information that it determines would be helpful’ to the process. That information includes names, addresses, and a whole host of additional personal information that would be released to the public,” NRA spokesperson Lars Dalseide previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “This ballot measure fails to safeguard law-abiding gun owners’ personal information – and, by proxy, information of families, friends, and employers – being made public. Failing to include those safeguards puts lives and property at risk.”
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