Petitioner says Deschutes sheriff should enforce Second Amendment
Second Amendment Preservation Ordinance failed to get on last March's ballot
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The group Deschutes County Citizens for Second Amendment Rights is circulating a petition in Redmond and La Pine, working to get the Second Amendment Preservation Ordinance on the county ballot next year.
A post on the Deschutes County Citizens for Second Amendment Rights’s Facebook page Monday says about 1,500 more signatures are needed to get the ordinance on the ballot.
On Monday, NewsChannel spoke with the chief petitioner, Jarrad Robison of Redmond. Robison failed to get the ordinance on the ballot earlier this year.
“You know, hopefully, people understand that this is their rights we’re talking about,” Robison said. “With this ordinance, it would make the sheriff decide what’s constitutional and what’s not.”
Robison says he posted the petition for the Second Amendment Preservation Ordinance in Redmond and La Pine.
His efforts come after Lift Every Voice, a group of interfaith leaders in Portland, managed to get several bills about gun control measures drafted and into an omnibus bill in the last legislative session, according to NewsChannel 21’s sister station, KGW.
KGW says Lift Every Voice proposed two petitions Monday morning. The first requires a background check, training, a 5-day waiting period, and no sales to anyone under 21 for assault-style rifles. Someone under 21 could still possess such a weapon, but not purchase one.
The second initiative would limit magazines to 10 rounds or fewer for assault-style rifles.
Also, 2,000 signatures were delivered to the state's elections office to get a gun storage law proposal on the 2020 ballot.
Sarah Douglass, the event coordinator for Central Oregon Moms Demand Action, says the issue is not about taking away people's Second Amendment rights. She says efforts should focus on gun violence preventative measures like stricter background checks, "red flag" laws and public education.
“My understanding is that the law enforcement’s job is to enforce laws that exist, not to interpret the laws themselves,” Douglass says.
Central Oregon Moms Demand Action will host a local candlelight vigil Sunday, Dec. 15 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in commemoration of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012. The vigil will be held at The Environmental Center, 16 NW Kansas Avenue in downtown Bend.
