SB 941 Requires dealer background check on ALL private firearm sales

05/04/2015
SB 941 VOTE:NO
Signed into Law      SB 941 text overview 

SB 941 will require a background check in person at gun dealer for all private firearm sales and transfers except at gun shows where the seller may still do the background check directly with OSP by phone.  Allows limited exceptions for family members and short term transfers for firearm instruction, hunting, target shooting and to prohibit imminent threat of serious injury or death.

Personal Choice
SB 941 interferes with and makes much more difficult, the sale of goods between private citizens in a way no other legally possessed goods are regulated.  The claimed intent is ‘for the public good’ i.e., safety, but the stats on states which have done this do not show that this increases public safety, as is supported by the experience and statements of most law enforcement officers and organizations including the 36 members of the Oregon State Sheriffs Association who opposed SB 1551 in 2014 and the 4500 members of Washington State’s WaCOPS who opposed Measure I-594 there also in 2014.

Oregon is one of only a few states which requires background checks by private parties at gun shows, as a result of a law passed in 2000.  There has been no evidence put forward that this has decreased crime rates in Oregon.  This evidence should be required before expanding this requirement to all private sales.

Limited Government
SB 941 creates a registry, which is forbidden by Federal law.  When a background check is run via the FBI’s NICS, the records of allowed sales are to be destroyed prior to the next business day.  However, in Oregon, background checks are run by Oregon State Police who are allowed to keep the sales records for ‘up to five years,’ but there has been no confirmation that the records are ever permanently deleted.  Therefore the state government will amass a listing of all firearms held by all citizens in Oregon.  This is forbidden in Federal law because experience has shown that any government that amasses such a list always uses it later to facilitate firearms confiscation.