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Days before Measure 114 is set to go into effect, the fate of the gun control legislation remains uncertain. A state judge has blocked its implementation—only hours after a federal judge declined to do the same.
Tuesday afternoon, a circuit judge in Harney County (population: 7,495) issued a temporary restraining order preventing Gov. Kate Brown and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum from enforcing the law. Absent this order, Harney County Circuit Judge Rob Raschio wrote, “plaintiffs will be deprived of their right to bear arms.”
“We are still sorting through everything, but I can tell you we will be shortly filing a mandamus petition asking the Oregon Supreme Court to review it immediately,” a spokeswoman for Rosenblum told The Oregonian. (Disclosure: Rosenblum is married to the co-owner of WW’s parent company.)
Original post published 10:45 am:
Much of Measure 114, the sweeping gun control law passed by voters last month, can go into effect on Thursday, a federal judge has ruled.
On Tuesday morning, Judge Karin Immergut declined pleas from county sheriffs and gun rights advocates to issue a “preliminary injunction,” which would have blocked the law’s implementation until the court could rule on its constitutionality.
“Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that they will suffer immediate and irreparable harm if this Court does not block Measure 114 from taking effect on December 8, 2022,” Immergut wrote.
The law restricts the sale and use of “large-capacity” magazines holding more than 10 rounds and requires buyers to undergo training and obtain a permit before purchasing a gun.
Immergut did delay implementation of the permit program by 30 days to allow the state and local authorities more time to get it up and running. Sheriffs and police chiefs, who are responsible for administering the permits, had said that training courses wouldn’t be available before the Dec. 8 deadline.
Two days before the ruling, senior assistant attorney general Brian Mitchell submitted a letter to the court admitting that the permit program wouldn’t be ready, and requesting that the court create a “limited window” in which gun purchases could continue without a permit. In a press release, Attorney General Rosenblum requested a two-month postponement.
The judge settled on one.
Kevin Starrett, executive director of the Oregon Firearms Federation, one of the plaintiffs in the case, called the decision “disappointing” in an email to supporters circulated online.
“Unless something really unexpected happens, understand that your rights will be, once again, seriously eroded starting Thursday,” he said.
Gun control advocates, however, were ecstatic. “I’m thrilled. I’m relieved. I’m thinking about the lives that will be saved,” said Penny Okamoto, executive director of Ceasefire Oregon. “Sheriffs are going to have to accept the reality—this is the law of the land.”
