Senate Bill 941 Update — Bad News

All good things must come to an end, apparently.

I reported this weekend that Oregon Senate Bill 941 was facing opposition in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and we were looking at possible amendments that would remove any "teeth" from the bill, and potentially kill it.

Via another update from the Oregon Firearms Federation, I have some bad news: S.B. 941 was passed out of Judiciary on a party-line vote, and Judiciary Chairman Sen. Floyd Prozanski (who is also the author and primary sponsor of the bill) would not even consider any of Sen. Kim Thatcher's proposed amendments.

It's no surprise; S.B. 941 is Sen. Prozanski's baby. Why let little things like rational opposition, Constitutional rights, or moral decency get in the way of a perfectly good agenda?

So now it goes to the full Senate (there's little chance that Senate President Peter Courtney — also a committed anti-gunner — is going to assign it to another committee), where it's likely to pass. After the 2014 elections, the GOP lost two Senate seats: Democrats have a 18-12 majority, and there's only one reliably pro-gun Democrat in the mix.

Then it goes to the House, where we still have a chance to end it; the Dems have a majority in the House, too, but it's not quite as overwhelming. We'll still need to find out which committee(s) the bill gets assigned to, and light up the phones and e-mail servers. I'll post the committee assignment(s) and contact information for the committee members when I learn more.

Until then, stay tuned, and stay safe.