Salem, Oregon –-(Ammoland.com)- In a surprising turn of events, Ceasefire Oregon and other supporters of the anti-gun Initiative Petition 43 has called it quits.
Initiative Petition 43 would put a so-called “assault weapons” ban on the Oregon ballot in November 2018. The ban would outlaw the sale or transfer of any semi-automatic rifle or pistol that has a detachable magazine that can hold more than ten rounds. The supporters of the initiative would have needed to collect 88,164 verified signatures by July 6th, 2018.
Gun rights advocate Roger Beyer raised a legal challenge against Initiative Petition 43. In the suit, he claimed it, “uses the politically charged and emotionally laden words, ‘assault weapons,’ and ‘large capacity magazines.’ The description is also misleading, argumentative, and deceptive because it implies the measure applies only to a limited and belligerent group of ‘assault weapons’ gun owners.”
There is a law in Oregon that a ballot title cannot be misleading, argumentative, or deceptive. The courts were initially due to decide the case by June 30th. While the case was going on Ceasefire Oregon and other anti-gun front groups were busy training people to persuade other citizens to sign their names on the petitions.
The anti-gun groups were not allowed to start collecting the signatures until the courts decided the case, and they were preparing to do just that. These groups believed that they would be able to get the required number of signatures by getting church congregations to sign their names.
Pro-gun groups such as the Oregon Outdoor Council, Oregon Firearms Federation (OFF), the NRA spent countless dollars fighting the initiative in court. Their efforts paid off when the Oregon Supreme Court temporarily blocked IP 43. This temporary injunction would mean the earliest Ceasefire Oregon would be able to collect signatures would be July 6th, 2018 which is the day of the deadline.
Ceasefire Oregon, realizing that they would not be able to collect the number of signatures needed to make the ballot quietly pulled their petition rather than failing in gathering the signatures.
Ceasefire Oregon is refusing to admit the apparent court defeat.
“We are planning to move forward,” Penny Okamoto, director of Ceasefire Oregon told the Mail Tribune. “If not through IP43 then through another way.”
Okamoto pointed to the possibility of getting a measure on the ballot in 2019 or 2020. She also looked to the chance of getting some action passed through the Oregon Legislature. She also blamed the defeat on court delays hinting that pro-gun groups used these delays as a weapon to push back against their anti-gun initiatives.
With the failure of Initiative Petition 43, Anti-gun groups also pulled IP 44 citing the amount of time it would take to rewrite the initiative to comply with the Oregon law and avoid a court challenge. These anti-gun groups said that the time spent fixing the effort wouldn’t allow them enough time to collect the required amount of signatures.
Initiative Petition 44 would have regulated how gun owners stored their firearms. Firearms owners would be liable for any misuse of their guns even in cases where criminals stole their guns.
Even though pro-gun groups defeated these two initiatives, Ceasefire Oregon has vowed to keep fighting to push their anti-gun agenda ahead.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on the history of the patriot movement and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss or at www.crumpy.com.