SALEM — In a rare development even for Democrat-dominated Oregon, lawmakers in both the state House and Senate have agreed to new a policy limiting gun use. The measure, passed Thursday, allows family members and police officers to petition for guns to be taken away from a people who show risk of harming themselves or others.
Senate Bill 719 narrowly passed the House 31-28, with no support from Republicans and “no” votes by three Democrats. It now heads to Gov. Kate Brown, whose largest 2016 individual campaign donor supports gun safety measures, for her signature.
Under the bill, a judge could issue an “extreme risk protection order” against a person deemed at risk of committing suicide or shooting others. The person would have 24 hours to hand over their guns to law enforcement before having officers take them away.
The policy is similar to one approved overwhelmingly by Washington voters in 2016 and modeled on court orders protecting victims of domestic violence.
But the bill pitted Oregon lawmakers against each other, with some firmly for or against the proposal, citing a need to prevent suicides and shootings or to uphold Second Amendment gun rights.
Making matters more complicated is that the bill’s author, Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas, drafted the measure after his own stepson, U.S. Navy veteran Sethan Sprague, committed suicide in 2016. The bill passed the Senate in May only after an emotional debate during which Boquist made an impassioned plea that senators pass the measure in an attempt to help veterans struggling with suicidal thoughts.
The bill had appeared stalled in the House, but reached the floor for a vote in the last hours of the annual session.
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