Dec. 5, 2022
Bend Police Department statement on Ballot Measure 114
Since Ballot Measure 114 was approved by Oregon voters on Nov. 8, Bend Police and other law enforcement agencies throughout the state have received numerous questions regarding our implementation of the new law.
The measure is scheduled to take effect on Thursday, Dec. 8, although on Sunday the Oregon Attorney General recommended a delay to the permitting process until February. We do not know whether that delay will be approved.
Bend Police command staff members have been working closely with the Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police and other agencies to understand the repercussions and challenges of implementing the law. Lawsuits have already been – and are likely to continue to be – filed challenging the constitutionality of Measure 114. Unless and until a court issues a stay on the measure or determines parts or all of it are unconstitutional, our Department is required to fully implement its requirements.
Oregon State Police, the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association and the Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police are working to implement a permit system that would meet the measure’s requirements.
Here is some information we know about Measure 114 as it currently stands.
The measure prevents anyone from purchasing a firearm without a permit. To obtain a permit, a person must pay a fee and meet requirements, including completing a firearms training course. After obtaining the permit-to-purchase through a local law enforcement agency, a person will still be required to go through an OSP criminal background check at the time of the purchase. OSP is required to create and maintain a database of all firearms sales.
Every local police department and sheriff’s office must set up a system to issue these permits. The fee allowed for these permits, a maximum of $65, is not expected to create the revenue necessary to fund our agency’s required permitting process, or the personnel required to operate the permitting process.
OACP expects that on the date the measure goes into effect, gun sales by dealers, at gun shows and most private transfers in Oregon will immediately stop. Firearms purchases that are not complete prior to the permitting process going into effect will likely not be completed until the buyer obtains a permit-to-purchase – this is because OSP will stop processing the required background checks if there is no permit.
The measure also makes manufacturing, selling, possessing, transferring or using a large-capacity magazine (which holds more than 10 rounds) a Class A misdemeanor, unless it was possessed prior to Dec. 8.
There are some limited exceptions to this rule, including that those charged with possessing a large-capacity magazine can raise an affirmative defense if they can prove they owned it before the measure took effect and that it was used in certain locations – their own property, a licensed gun dealer’s premises, legally at a shooting range, during a firearms competition or exhibition or recreational activities such as hunting, or in transport to one of these locations while locked separately from the gun.
An Oregon concealed handgun license does not exempt a person from the ban on large-capacity magazines or from the requirement to obtain a permit for firearms purchase.
Bend Police appreciate your patience as we work through these issues to prepare for the implementation of Measure 114. We will not have a permitting process in effect on Dec. 8, but will continue working with agencies around the state to determine the best process for moving forward.