Anguish can galvanize voters to reject gun violence as the new normal. Oregon can show the rest of us how it’s done. Messaging matters. Money matters. What matters most is grass roots activism to get the ball rolling.
In Oregon Democrats made their 2014 midterm election a referendum on gun reform. They elected two new Democrats to the state Senate, tipping the balance of power and allowing the state to pass a universal background check law supported by a majority of their voters. In May of this year Oregon became the 8th state to close the gun show loophole (AKA private party sales). The law includes reasonable exceptions, such as for transferring a gun between immediate family members.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Guardian, 5 December 2015, by Matthew Teague, @MatthewTeague
“People think it’s impossible. It’s not,” said Penny Okamoto, executive director of a group called Ceasefire Oregon. “There is a path.”
[…]
The first of three steps toward that change, Okamoto said, was a grassroots effort. Just as mass shootings are symbols used to terrorize populations, they can also be used to galvanize. “Sandy Hook was the turning point for us,” she said. “People got really angry.”
During the grassroots phase, she said, her group and others “gained a lot of legislative experience”, which looked a lot like failure. During the two years in which Oregon’s state government seemed stalled, gun control advocates were learning what doesn’t work. Their failures were repeated and public, she said, but: “We got a lot of branding.”
[…]
By focusing on gun control, activists had essentially turned the election into a referendum on guns. When the dust – and the dollars – settled, two new Democratic candidates won seats in the state senate, and tipped the balance in favor of gun control. By May of this year Governor Kate Brown signed Senate bill 941, requiring background checks for all sales. It was the first major gun control law passed in Oregon in almost a decade and a half.
A background on the bill (pun intended).
The Guardian, AP in Salem, Oregon, 5 May 2015
The bill that passed the state house on a 32-28 vote on Monday requires background checks on most private sales and transfers, except those between close family members such as spouses or siblings. There are some exceptions, such as sharing a gun while hunting or handing over a firearm for use at a shooting range. Three Democrats joined all 25 Republicans in opposition.
Once the measure takes effect, private sales would need to happen in front of a licensed gun dealer who would run the check through Oregon state police.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Daily Kos Firearms Law and Policy group studies actions for reducing firearm deaths and injuries in a manner that is consistent with the current Supreme Court interpretation of the Second Amendment. If you would like to join and/or write about firearms law please send us a Kosmail. To see our list of original and republished diaries, go to the Firearms Law and Policy diary list.