U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut ruled that Oregon’s new, stringent gun safety regulations are, indeed, constitutional. The new law is considered the strictest gun control law in the country.
Passed by voter initiative with Ballot Measure 114, it won with the slimmest of margins — 50.6% of the vote. The law bans large-capacity magazines and requires gun permits for all firearms and a federal background check.
Also, anyone already in possession of a large-capacity firearm is prohibited from taking it outside their home for any reason, unless going to a shooting range for practice, or for shooting competitions or hunting.
In her 122-page written order, Judge Immergut wrote that Oregon’s new law aligns with “the nation’s history and tradition of regulating uniquely dangerous features of weapons and firearms to protect public safety.”
After the law was contested by Second Amendment groups, including the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a state court judge had temporarily blocked it from going into effect. Judge Immergut’s ruling lifts that injunction.
Immergut wrote that large capacity magazines “are not commonly used for self-defense and are, therefore, not protected by the Second Amendment.”
She wrote that the Second Amendment permits the government to ensure that only law-abiding and responsible citizens can possess firearms.
This ruling will likely be appealed to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. If it makes it to the Supreme Court, the more conservative justices have found dozens of gun-control laws unconstitutional with New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, which was decided in 2022.
The Bruen ruling means that lower courts must consider traditions that date back to the nation’s revolutionary founding when judging whether firearms limitations are constitutional.
Also in Oregon last week, Democrat Gov. Tina Kotek signed a law banning homemade guns, which some call “ghost guns.”
The governor signed House Bill 2005, which bans the manufacture, possession, and sale of any firearm without a serial number from a commercial manufacturer, or unfinished frames and receivers, including guns created with 3-D printers that are not made of nonmetal substances.
