Living in New York, we’re no strangers to really restrictive new gun laws, but you sort of expect that out here. We may have some competition in the race to the bottom, though, if some legislators in Oregon have their way. In fact, if HB 3200 gets passed into law, you may as well pack up and leave the state if you have any interest in Second Amendment rights. Here’s the top line summary.

Creates crime of unlawful possession or transfer of assault weapon or large capacity magazine.
Punishes by maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment, $250,000 fine, or both.
Requires current owners to dispose of or register assault weapons and large capacity magazines.

That should be bad enough on its own, but if you really dig into the guts of this bill, it actually gets worse. After spending quite a bit of ink defining “assault weapons” as pretty much anything with cosmetic attachments which look scary to somebody, we get to the meat of the proposal.

Any person who, prior to the effective date of this law, was legally in possession of an assault weapon or large capacity magazine shall, within 120 days after the effective date of this 2013 Act, without being subject to prosecution:
(a) Remove the assault weapon or large capacity magazine from the state;
(b) Sell the assault weapon or large capacity magazine to a firearms dealer licensed under 18 U.S.C. 923 for lawful sale or transfer under subsection (2) of this section;
(c) Surrender the assault weapon or large capacity magazine to a law enforcementagency for destruction;
(d) Render the assault weapon permanently inoperable;

Oh, wait… did I say that was the bad part. I think I actually meant to refer to this truly tasty treat near the very end. After specifying that even under grandfathering you can only have one “assault rifle” and three high capacity magazines, these high level edicts are handed down.

(3) The department shall create and maintain a registry for owners of assault weapons and large capacity magazines who qualify for registration under section 4 of this 2013 Act. The department may adopt rules concerning the administration of the registry, including but not limited to renewal and revocation procedures and storage requirements for assault weapons and large capacity magazines.
(4) The department may conduct inspections of registered owners of assault weapons andlarge capacity magazines to ensure compliance with the storage requirements of section 4of this 2013 Act.
SECTION 6. This 2013 Act being necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is declared to exist, and this 2013 Act takes effect on its passage.

For all the talk I hear from gun control proponents this year about how universal background checks won’t lead to some sort of gun registry, it certainly seems like there are a lot of lawmakers who are interested in doing precisely that wherever they can. (Referring to (3) above that is.) And when it comes to (4) what can we say? We are assured on a daily basis that the authorities aren’t coming to kick down the doors of gun owners, but out in Oregon they are clearly opening the door to unscheduled, uninvited visits to people on the list.

And this is so important… so critical.. so vital… that a state of emergency must be declared to exist so the law will go into effect immediately without any period of review or challenges. Now tell me again why we’re all paranoid crazies making up fantasies about the government?

Update (Ed): Patriot Perspective’s Short Timer adds his own thoughts on this topic, and reminds us what Oregon Democrats think of gun-rights supporters:

But remember, Oregon Democrats like Lee Coleman have assured us that this kind of thing is just paranoid delusion from some people in “Kansas or whatever” so “go screw yourself.”