On May 4, the Oregon House approved universal background check bill SB 941, thereby sending the measure to Governor Kate Brown’s (D) desk for a signature.
At the same time, members of a conservative rights group called the Executive Club announced that they are undertaking a recall effort for representatives Susan McClain (D-Dist. 29) and Val Hoyle (D-Dist. 14), as well as state senator Chuck Riley (D-Dist. 15), over their support of the measure.
According to KATU, Oregon Firearms Federation executive director Kevin Starrett said he is completely in support of the recall efforts. He points out that SB 941 passed solely with Democrat support against Republican opposition.
Starrett said, “Only one democrat in the senate opposed it and only three democrats in the house opposed it.” And while he knows the recall effort will not keep SB 941 from reaching the governor’s desk, he says “the intent of this is to send a message to other legislators that there is going to be a response.”
Representative McLain defended her vote by saying, “I believe that this bill will save lives by ensuring that this gaping loophole isn’t used to put guns into the hands of criminals, domestic abusers, and people with severe mental illness.” She did not address the fact that the May 3rd Garland attackers passed background checks for the guns they used, nor did she mention that Jared and Amanda Miller (Las Vegas), Aaron Ybarra (Seattle Pacific University), Elliot Rodger (Santa Barabara), Ivan Lopez (Fort Hood 2014), Darion Marcus Aguilar (Maryland mall), Karl Halverson Pierson (Arapahoe High School), Paul Ciancia (LAX), and Aaron Alexis (DC Navy Yard), James Holmes (Aurora theater), Jared Loughner (Tucson), Nidal Hasan (Fort Hood 2009), Jiverly Wong (Binghamton), Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech), and Naveed Haq (Seattle), all passed background checks for their guns as well.
Senator Riley defended his vote by claiming, “80 percent of the voters in [his] disctrict and across the nation” support background checks. He did not mention the $75,000 donation he received from Everytown from Gun Safety days before the 2014 midterm elections.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.