Nearly 40% of guns used in Oregon homicides are illegally trafficked through legal gun dealers and another 30% are stolen from them, according to new research.
The report by the Alliance for a Safe Oregon highlights gaps in security, training and inspections among the state's 2,100 gun dealers. The report showed employees often lack training to detect "straw purchases," when someone buys a gun for another person who cannot legally own one.
Jess Marks, executive director of the alliance, said increasing state inspections, which now happen only every 10 years, could help reduce illegal gun trafficking.
"When we compare that to every other industry -- hair salons, nails, taco trucks, the cannabis industry -- that are inspected every six months, every two years," Marks pointed out. "We have got to be doing better."
The report said training employees to recognize straw gun sales, as well as upgrading gun dealers' storage and security measures, go a long way. Marks argued states with such policies in place, like New Jersey, have a 35% lower homicide rate.
The report found straw purchases and stolen firearms have fueled a significant rise in Oregon homicides, which have surged by 172% in the past decade. Marks emphasized most gun dealers are unaware when fraudulent purchases occur and stressed more regulations would protect ethical dealers.
"The vast majority, who are good dealers, they don't want other dealers allowing firearms going into, and showing up in, crimes," Marks pointed out.
The report blamed lax oversight, which allows Oregon gun dealers with repeated safety and security violations to operate without repercussions. Marks contended the solutions are common sense policies most people support.
"If we want to bring down our homicide rate, lower shootings, we've got to deal with the problem of illegal guns in our communities," Marks concluded.
get more stories like this via email
Florida State University students joined survivors of past mass shootings at the state Capitol this week, demanding that Gov. Ron DeSantis veto a bill that would lower the gun purchasing age to 18.
The protest follows last week's shooting at FSU's Student Union, the state's sixth mass shooting this year according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Caim Strickland was working on an engineering lab project when the alerts flashed across his phone. He spoke moments after the campuswide lockdown was lifted.
"Campus has always been a safe place, so to see this happen is crazy," he said. "You always hear about it happening somewhere else, other schools, but you never really think it's going to happen here."
The shooting, which killed two and injured six, marked F-S-U's first on-campus gun violence incident since 2014. It occurred weeks after the Florida House passed a bill to lower the gun purchase age from 21 to 18. However, Senate leaders confirmed they had already decided before the shooting not to take up the bill this session, effectively stalling it.
Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, D-Parkland, helped craft mental-health reforms after the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and said her focus now is on trauma response.
"I think what's important right now is that everybody gets the help and support they need. I have seen what happens in the aftermath of these traumatic situations, and unaddressed trauma is very detrimental to people," she explained.
The 2018 Parkland massacre left 17 dead and 17 wounded on Valentine's Day. It ranks among America's deadliest school shootings.
The tragedy prompted then-Gov. Rick Scott to sign a package of reforms, including raising Florida's minimum age for rifle purchases to 21, matching the federal standard already in place for handguns. The National Rifle Association quickly launched a constitutional challenge after the changes.
get more stories like this via email
Several pieces of Democrat-backed gun legislation have been heard by Nevada's Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committees but not without opposition from firearms proponents.
Assembly Bill 105 would ban firearms within 100 feet of election sites. Assembly Bill 245 would prohibit anyone younger than 21 from purchasing or possessing a semiautomatic shotgun or assault rifle. And Senate Bill 89 would tighten firearm restrictions for those convicted of hate crimes.
Sen. Julie Pazina, D-Las Vegas, said as the temperature of national discourse increases, it is imperative the measures be passed.
"The consequences of this divisiveness are real and they can't be ignored any longer," Pazina emphasized. "As a Jewish Nevadan, I have witnessed my communities and others like it come under attack simply because of the way we worship."
Pazina noted members of Nevada's LGBTQ+ community as well as ethnic and racial groups have also been targets of attacks. Each year more than 10,000 violent hate crime attacks involve either the use or threatened use of guns in the U.S., according to Giffords, the gun violence prevention organization.
Backers of Assembly Bill 245 said by restricting anyone younger than 21 from being able to purchase or possess a semiautomatic shotgun or assault rifle, suicide rates would decrease. Advocates said it strikes the right balance between the Second Amendment and preventing access to the most dangerous firearms.
Sen. Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, said otherwise.
"You take away this particular category and the people that want to kill themselves will no longer do so?" Hansen asked. "Crazy. Just crazy."
Data shows most of the deadliest mass shootings in the country since 2018 were committed by people younger than 21.
Tanya Schardt, senior counsel and director of state and federal policy for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said most mass shooters younger than 21 bought their firearms legally. She argued there have to be more barriers to prevent tragedies from happening.
"By not doing that, we are creating an environment where all of our children are having to have shooter drills," Schardt stressed. "We're creating an environment where children are scared to go to school, where teachers are scared to be there."
get more stories like this via email
Nevada's Democratic lawmakers are trying again to advance gun-control legislation, including measures to ban firearms from election sites and prohibit anyone younger than 21 from purchasing or possessing a semiautomatic shotgun or assault rifle.
Asm. Sandra Jauregui, D-Las Vegas, said despite similar efforts falling to vetoes in 2023, it is an issue she will not stop fighting for. For Jauregui it is personal. She is a survivor of the 2017 shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival, which claimed the lives of 60 people.
Gov. Joe Lombardo defended his veto of the polling place gun ban in 2023 because of a ghost gun provision he felt was unconstitutional. Jauregui pointed out this time around, that component isn't there.
"I am hoping that the governor will sign my bill because he has even said in interviews that he agrees election sites are sensitive locations," Jauregui pointed out. "This is a stand-alone, clean bill now that only impacts election sites. And I don't know anyone who doesn't believe that everyone should exercise their most fundamental right to vote without fear of intimidation."
Jauregui added she hopes her Republican colleagues can get on board. In 2023, both of her bills passed on party lines. She called the pieces of legislation common sense and believes the issue should be nonpartisan.
Jauregui noted in Nevada, one has to be 21 years old to purchase a handgun, therefore it therefore makes no sense when someone turns 18 they can buy a semiautomatic firearm. Assembly Bill 245 would seek to change it.
"We know that the day the Uvalde shooter turned 18, the day he turned 18, he walked into a firearms dealer and he bought two semiautomatic firearms that he then used to go into Robb Elementary School and create that horrible incident that so many families are struggling to get through now," Jauregui recounted.
Jauregui emphasized while Lombardo was not present the night of the shooting on October 1, 2017, she said she knows he was witness to the carnage that happened afterward as sheriff.
"I hope that when these bills make it to his desk, he remembers the devastation that guns cause to our community and that he finds it in himself to stand up to the gun lobby and to protect Nevadans," Jauregui concluded.
get more stories like this via email
Contact
