SALEM, Ore. — On Tuesday, a new gun control bill moved forward in the Oregon Legislature after lawmakers passed Senate Bill 348 out of committee with amendments. Now included in the measure, which has been likened to Measure 114, a venue provision that would restrict legal challenges in the state to Marion County Circuit Court.
Senate Bill 348 would raise the minimum age to purchase a gun from 18 to 21, with some exceptions for hunting rifles and shotguns. It reflects parts of Measure 114, including banning high-capacity magazines and establishing a permit-to-purchase system for guns, but it would also postpone this permitting process until July 2024.
"The new senate bill is basically Measure 114, with a few changes to make Measure 114 work more efficiently by delaying the effective date for the bill, until such time that the state police can stand up the permitting requirement, and the training programs that gun purchasers will require," said Norman Williams, a professor of Constitutional Law at Willamette University's College of Law.
"It also has a provision to centralize any challenges to the constitutionality of the measure in Marion County so as to stop judges in other counties ... from hearing a challenge to the law."
Williams explained this venue provision is not unusual.
"Marion County judges have a great deal of experience with hearing lawsuits that challenge state action," he said. "The bill sponsors obviously believe that the gun rights supporters who brought the Harney County litigation had engaged in "forum shopping," that they found a judge in a particular county that was going to be sympathetic to their lawsuit. I do think though, that the selection of Marion County makes perfect sense precisely because it is the state capital."
While it would not affect the ongoing Second Amendment challenge in federal court, Williams said the bill's passage would impact what's happening in Eastern Oregon.
"It technically repeals Measure 114, thereby mooting the Harney County case, and therefore a renewed challenge to this measure under the Oregon Constitution's right to bear arms provision would have to be brought in Marion County. So the Harney County litigation — if this bill passes — is basically at an end," Williams said.
Regardless, Williams said the highest court in the state will have the final word.
"At the end of the day, it's going to be the Oregon Supreme Court that decides this, whether the appeal comes from Harney County court or from a Marion County court."