On Nov. 8, Oregon voters submitted their ballots in the 2022 midterm election. One of the measures on the ballot was Measure 114, which proposed stricter gun regulations.
It was passing with 50.92% of the votes, according to unofficial results posted by the Secretary of State’s Office.
Measure 114 would require a permit from law enforcement for people to purchase firearms and would require law enforcement to maintain a permit/firearm database. It also would prohibit magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition, which is often fewer rounds than what the manufacturer includes with the firearm.
There are 12 states that have existing laws limiting magazine capacity equivalent to Oregon’s proposed ballot measure.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Delaware had an average gun homicide rate from 2015-19 of 5.1 deaths per 100,000 people. Without the 10-round limit in effect from the same years, Oregon had comparatively lower deaths, with 1.9 per 100,000 people.
Compare Oregon’s 1.9 per 100,000 to California at 3.5, Colorado at 2.9 and Washington at 2.2, all of which have a similar ban on high-capacity magazines.
Measure 114 would introduce a permitting process in addition to requiring firearm training for individuals seeking to purchase a firearm. The training would be provided by an approved agency.
According to the draft estimate, enacting permitting and training would cost local police up to $51.2 million. At this time, funding is a concern for Oregon sheriff agencies.
“It is going to be nearly impossible to provide adequate training facilities and staffing without significant state funding assistance,” Jason Myers of the Oregon State Sheriffs Association said on the organization’s website.
A KVAL-TV news article from 2018 claimed that the police response time in Eugene had nearly doubled since 2014, from 22 minutes to 41 minutes on average.
Advocates for Measure 114 contend that the provisions would save lives. Opponents to the measure argue that if it passes, it would be harder to obtain a firearm for the purpose of self-defense.
The CDC states that almost all national surveys indicate that defensive gun uses by victims are at least as common as offensive uses by criminals, with estimates of annual uses ranging from about 500,000 to more than 3 million.
