Oregon lawmakers take aim at loophole in state gun law

Gun rights groups oppose change to close 'Charleston loophole'

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — So many people are buying guns in Oregon these days that the state police are often unable to complete background checks in time, allowing the sales to proceed if the deadline isn’t met.

A handful of Democratic lawmakers have put forward a bill in the Oregon Legislature that would close this loophole.

The bill is opposed by gun rights groups. It’s often called the Charleston loophole because Dylann Roof was able to buy a gun that way, and then murder nine Black people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.

In Oregon, it’s up to the state police to do a background check. But they are overwhelmed.

In 2019, the Oregon State Police completed 276,912 background checks, said Maj. Tom Worthy of the state troopers. In 2020, that total rose by 51% to 418,061.

“We saw exponential growth that we’ve never seen before,” Worthy told a committee of the Oregon Legislature on Thursday. “I can tell you that the unit is not staffed for that volume, and it would be impossible for us to stay current based on our current employees that we have.”

Nationwide, gun sales hit a historic high in January as violent riots hit the U.S. Capitol and a new president took over, continuing a record-setting surge that began as the coronavirus pandemic took hold in early 2020.

Under Oregon law, if state police fail to provide a gun dealer with an approval number or notify that the purchaser is disqualified from obtaining a firearm before the close of the gun dealer’s next business day, the dealer may deliver the firearm to the purchaser.

This bill amends that, saying plainly that the dealer may not transfer a firearm unless the dealer receives a unique approval number from the state police.

Read more at: https://apnews.com/article/legislature-dylann-roof-violence-coronavirus-pandemic-oregon-879b9bfbda18eae5ae7da2a3ae58f4c8