Oregon Lawmakers Compromise on Gun Control

Two key Oregon state senators have come to a compromise on new gun control measures that will focus on expanded background checks, mandate “live-fire” training to receive a concealed handgun license, and prohibit firearms from public K-12 schools and the state Capitol building.

State Sens. Ginny Burdick and Floyd Prozanski, both Democrats, agreed to narrow their agenda after protests earlier this month demonstrated a substantial backlash against a proposed ban on the sale of high-capacity gun magazines and semiautomatic rifles, according to the Eugene Register-Guard.

Burdick, the legislature's biggest gun control advocate, said the move was “a matter of prioritization,” adding the ban on firearms on school grounds “can only be done at the state level [and so] by necessity should be our top priority.”

Prozanski, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, agreed, suggesting a wider reaching state gun ban “wouldn’t be effective because people could legally go to other states to make their purchases.”

For her part, expressed confidence that compromise legislation would be approved this year because of increased public support for additional gun laws.

"Up until [the] Sandy Hook and Clackamas [shootings], people on my side of the issue were quiet,” she said, referring to recent mass shootings in Connecticut and Oregon. "[Now] they’re active and involved in a way I have not seen before. If they keep it up, they will force the legislature to do the right thing.”