Oregonians are voting on whether to significantly increase gun restrictions. If passed, the measure would require people who want to buy a gun to pay a fee, take a safety course, submit fingerprints, and pass a background check to obtain a permit.
Volunteers working to pass an Oregon ballot measure that would require gun permits estimate they sent 10,000 handwritten postcards to voters in a period of a few days.Volunteers working to pass an Oregon ballot measure that would require gun permits estimate they sent 10,000 handwritten postcards to voters in a period of a few days.Oregon will ask voters in the coming days whether to significantly increase restrictions on guns.
The initiative is opposed by the Oregon State Sheriffs' Association as well as numerous gun-owner groups, which argue that it would create more administrative work for those who seek to legally own guns — without curtailing their illegal use.
Charlene McGee recently spent a morning canvassing a neighborhood in northeast Portland. She and her parents emigrated from Liberia. She says that as a child experiencing war, she grasped the danger of guns at a young age."I remember growing up, my ears just knowing the sounds of different kinds of guns," she says."Like AK-47 was the most prevalent."