News As several news outlets reported last week, Geoffrey B. Roose of Corvallis faces 10 years in prison for allegedly selling stolen military rifle scopes on eBay.Previous accounts left out many key facts of the case, including colorful details such as Roose's eBay username: "mr.f.u.up." As of today, a week after his arrest, the U.S. Army veteran's eBay store remains online—with 100 percen...   More

News Last month, I bought a 9mm handgun in a Safeway parking lot in Northeast Portland, to show how easy (and legal) it is to get a gun on the street.When I published my cover story about the gun earlier this month, I'd planned to turn the pistol over to the Portland Police at the next city-sponsored handgun-surrender event in September.But after the story went to press, the Multnomah County Sheriff's ...   More

News The Associated Press has an interesting Oregon story out today about the sheriffs of Washington and Jackson counties fighting in court to deny a concealed-handgun license to a medical-marijuana patient named Cynthia Willis in Medford.Check out the whole story over at NPR. Here's the beef:The sheriffs argue that the 1968 U.S. Gun Control Act prohibits selling firearms to drug addicts, and they say...   More

News Portland City Council this morning unanimously approved Mayor Sam Adams' five-point plan to control illegal guns and curb youth violence. Before voting yes, Commissioner Amanda Fritz said the council should review the stricter measures against illegal guns in a year to see if the new rules are, in fact, suppressing violence. But Fritz supported the measure saying, "We need to try some new thi...   More

News The Legislature is inching closer to snuffing out Oregonians' right to know who their sheriffs let carry concealed handguns. The House judiciary committee yesterday sent a bill to the House floor with a recommendation of "do pass." That bill (PDF) would make secret who has concealed-handgun permits — unless a sheriff decides it's in the public's interest to know. But that seems unl...   More

News Commissioner Randy Leonard's proposal to make Water Bureau security guards armed police officers requires City Council approval, which could come this month. Commissioner Dan Saltzman is on record calling the idea —first reported Wednesday in WW— "totally unnecessary." What follows is the email exchange among Leonard; David Shaff, the Water Bureau director; John Minnis, former Rep...   More

News In response to the news that Commissioner Randy Leonard wants Water Bureau security guards to become armed peace officers, Commissioner Dan Saltzman today issued an eight-page memo [PDF] outlining all the reasons he opposes the effort. Saltzman, of course, oversees the Portland Police Bureau that Leonard at one point wanted to manage. The document, which proposes giving security guards less l...   More

News Continuing a trend that started with his predecessor, interim Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Staton is refusing to reveal the names of people his office has licensed to carry a concealed handgun. The county attorney's office told WW this morning that Staton "has determined that the list of names requested is exempt from public disclosure" under the state's open-records law. Prior Multnomah...   More

News Here's an odd event at City Hall: Commissioner Dan Saltzman has filed a public records request for "all written Activity Reports, Dispatched Incidents, and written Security Reports produced by Water Bureau personnel over the past 12 months." That highly unusual move last Friday by a city commissioner followed a meeting the day before between Saltzman and the Water Bureau's director, David S...   More

News The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence today released a 2009 scorecard that rates states on categories that include curbing firearms trafficking, strengthening background checks, protecting child safety, and others. Oregon scored a 17 out of 100. That may seem low until you peruse the state map on the Brady Campaign website and see all the single-digit scores. Oregon's 17 actually place...   More