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Coos County Voters To Consider Initiative To Block New Gun Laws

A bill in the Oregon legislature would require criminal background checks for most private gun sales.
Michael Saechang
/
Flickr
A bill in the Oregon legislature would require criminal background checks for most private gun sales.

People in Coos County, Oregon, are considering an initiative that would block enforcement of new gun laws. The question goes before voters in a special election next month.

The initiative would require the county sheriff to decide whether new state or federal gun laws would violate the Second Amendment. If the sheriff thinks the law does that, then the county would be banned from using any resources to enforce the law.

Chief petitioner Rob Taylor of Bandon said the point of the initiative is simple: "To hedge against any more erosion of our Second Amendment liberties."

One example Taylor cited is a bill approved by state lawmakers this year that expanded background checks for gun sales to transactions between private parties.

The measure would create a $2,000 fine for any county employee who violates the initiative.

The measure required 1,436 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. Coos County Clerk Terri Turi said petitioners submitted 1,922 valid names.

Copyright 2015 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.