Last week's passage of House Bill 2535 in the House Judiciary
Committee was seen as a victory of compromise. Law-enforcement
officials and gun-control advocates seemed to have gotten
what they wanted, and gun lobbyists appeared satisfied.
In reality, the National Rifle Association took a beating.
HB 2535 is the work of Rep. Kevin Mannix, who entered
the session promising to work out a gun-law deal. His
bill, which includes revisions of Senate Bill 700, a
controversial gun-show law, requires background checks
at any gun sale with 25 or more guns.
From the beginning of his negotiations with Mannix,
NRA lobbyist Rod Harder vowed to oppose any expansion
of background checks unless the state agreed to destroy
purchase records after one year, not five, as is the
current practice. Harder gave in last Wednesday, allowing
the bill to move through Mannix's committee without
any reductions in the record-keeping provisions.
In the end, credit for the compromise is going to Oregon
Gun Owners, headed by lobbyists John Nichols and Jon
Hellen, who had said from the beginning that they were
willing to work out a deal ("Under
Fire," WW, April 28, 1999).
Harder, who did not return calls from WW, has
not endorsed HB 2535, but at this point he is remaining
neutral. That could change. There is disagreement over
minor details of the bill, including what happens to
gun sellers who do not perform background checks. Harder
wants the penalty to be a violation rather than a misdemeanor
and has indicated that he may oppose the bill if he
doesn't get his way.
But Harder has two big problems. First, his opposition
may have little effect. In the aftermath of Littleton,
it will be easier for lawmakers who need to take home
a gun-control bill to ignore the lobby that used to
hold such sway.
"I think the momentum is so great and the public opinion
so strong they won't be able to stop it,"says Chris
Dearth, legislative aide to Gov. John Kitzhaber.
The second problem is that the NRA is starting to seem
too soft to some gun owners. The Oregon Firearms Federation
is slamming the NRA for rolling over, calling HB 2535
the most dangerous threat to gun rights in years. OFF
director Kevin Starrett says the NRA has sold out.
Starrett's group is part of the national Gun Owners
of America, based in Springfield, Va. While the group
is small--Starrett estimates there are 5,000-6,000 members
in Oregon--he says it's growing. Five years ago, he
had few NRA defectors. Now, he says, the NRA is no longer
immune.
"NRA was the gun group--the most powerful gun
lobby in the world. Criticizing them was like calling
grandpa a child molester," Starrett says. "Well, sometimes
grandpa is a child molester."
Though Starrett seems to have influence with only the
most conservative lawmakers, he has caused problems
for both the NRA and OGO. Whenever the other lobbies
stray too far toward compromise, he attacks. All the
gun lobbyists use e-mail to alert their members of happenings
in the capitol, and lawmakers are used to hearing from
angry gun owners. But the members of OFF are reputed
to be particularly venomous and intimidating.
When Starrett told his members that state Sen. Veral
Tarno, R-Coquille, was wavering on SB 700, the original
gun-show bill, the senator received e-mail messages
so vile and vicious that he blew up at Starrett during
a committee hearing. Ultimately, however, Tarno voted
against the bill, and Starrett takes the credit.
Starrett wasn't invited to Mannix's work sessions,
and he knows why: He isn't interested in compromise.
"The reason I'm considered the extra-chromosome right
winger of the gun lobby is because I don't believe I
can go in there and lobby away someone's rights," he
says.
While the rest of the gun lobby folds up like a two-dollar
suitcase, Starrett says he plans to spread the word
that not all gun owners are backing down.
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Willamette Week | originally
published May 19, 1999
