Oregon legislature amends firearm statute News
Oregon legislature amends firearm statute

The Oregon legislature on Thursday approved HB 4145 [text], which amends current statutes relating to firearm ownership.

The bill amends language of the original bill to include “a family or household member” and other language to cover relationships other than marriages. They have defined those relationships as “means, with respect to the victim, the victim’s spouse, the victim’s former spouse, a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, the victim’s parent or guardian, a person cohabiting with or who has cohabited with the victim as a spouse, parent or guardian or a person similarly situated to a spouse, parent or guardian of the victim.” The legislation also outlaws people convicted of stalking from owning firearms under the new language.

A new section is also added to enter convictions of domestic violence into the database of the National Crime Information Center and would also add domestic violence convictions as another offense that would prohibit purchase of a gun in Oregon. The bill also puts in place additional steps to determine whether a purchaser is prohibited from owning a firearm. The Department of State Police will be required to report attempted purchases of guns by people who are prohibited from purchasing them to local law enforcement agencies and local district depending on why the person is prohibited from owning a firearm.

The bill will now go to Governor Kate Brown who has been vocal about her support for the bill since its introduction and is likely to sign it into Oregon law.