As the lying anti gun hysterical types try to tell us “Nobody is coming to take your guns away,” they file a ballot measure petition in Oregon that would do just that. The “Promote Public Safety for All Through the Reduction of Assault Weapons and Large Capacity Magazines” initiative has been filed with the Oregon Secretary of State’s office, and will require over 88,000 signatures in order to make it to the 2018 general election ballot. The chief petitioners are Walter John Knutson (aka WJ Mark Knutson), Michael Z. Cahana, and Alcena E. Boozer.
Some key parts of the text include defining what an “assault weapon” is:
(1 )(a) “Assault weapon” means any:(A) Semiautomatic rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and has at least one of the following:
(i) Any grip of the weapon, including a pistol grip, a thumbhole stock or any other stock, the use of which would allow an individual to grip the weapon, resulting in any finger on the trigger hand in addition to the trigger finger being directly below any portion of the action of the weapon when firing;
(B) Semiautomatic pistol, or any semiautomatic, centerfire or rimfire rifle with a fixed magazine, that has the capacity to acceptmore than 10 rounds of ammunition;”
They continue to define an “assault weapon” as also including a pistol that has “a folding, telescoping or thumbhole stock”. If Knutson, Cahana, and Boozer had any idea what they were talking about, they’d know that there is no such thing as a pistol with a stock. If you add a stock to a pistol, it becomes a short barreled rifle.
So, the actual “crime” would be “A person commits the crime of unlawful possession or transfer of an assault weapon or large capacity magazine if the person manufactures, imports, possesses, purchases, sells or transfers any assault weapon or large capacity magazine”
That’s right. Even if you’ve owned a Ruger .22 or a WW1 era 1911 since the 1970’s, you would be a felon overnight. That is, unless, of course, you want to “register” your .22. The petition adds “Any person who, prior to the effective date of this law, was legally in possession of an assault weapon or large capacity magazine shall, withing 120 days after the effective date of this 2018 Act, without being subject to prosecution:
(a) Remove the assault weapon or large capacity magazine from the state;
(b) Sell the assault or large capacity magazine to a firearms dealer licensed under 18 U.S.C. 923 for lawful sale or transfer under subsection (2) of this section;
(c) Surrender the assault weapon or large capacity magazine to a law enforcement agency for destruction;
(d) Render the assault weapon permanently inoperable; or
(e) If eligible, register the assault weapon or large capacity magaine with the Department as provided in Section 5 of this 2018 Act.”
There’s also a 120 day rule for anyone who moves into the state with a previously lawfully owned “assault weapon”, of which keeping the firearm is not an option, as there is no registration option. Your only options are to sell them or turn them in.
If you opt to “register” your “assault weapon”, you “must submit evidence satisfactory to the Department to establish that: (a) The owner has securely stored the assault weapon or large capacity magazine pursuant to existing law and, in addtion, as provided in any rules and regulations adopted by the Department specifically relating to assault weapons and large capacity magazines;”
Violation of any of these things is a Class B Felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. For owning something as minuscule as a piece of plastic.
The measure goes on to say “The Department shall maintain a registry of the information obtained by it pursuant to Sections 5 and 6(3) of this 2018 Act, and shall adopt rules concerned the administration of the registry, including but not limited to renewal and revocation procedures and storage requirements for assault weapons and large capacity magazines.”
Yes, that’s right, this “department” that is often mentioned will adopt rules regarding “revocation procedures” and arbitrary “storage requirements”.
There’s only way to ensure compliance with all of this, and that would be home by home, room by room inspections done by police to every house in the state.
So when an anti gun lunatic tries to tell you “Nobody wants to take your guns away. Nobody is talking about confiscating anything. Nobody is talking about any kind of gun registry”, you can kindly show them this initiative petition and let them know that they are lying.
For all of Knutson, Cahana, and Boozer’s efforts in this, they have not filed any ballot initiative to deal with the rising drug overdose deaths in Oregon, which are quickly rising to be one of the biggest killers in the state.