Gov. Kate Brown quickly signaled that she will sign legislation passed by the House on Monday expanding the state’s background check law to include private gun sales. Kristen Grainger, the governor’s communications director, said in a brief text that the governor will sign the bill passed by the House on a 32-28 vote…. Senate Bill 941 expands the state’s background check law to include sales and transfers among private buyers. Currently, background checks are required only for people buying a firearm from a licensed dealer or at a gun show.
No reasonable person can claim that SB 941 is going to magically solve the problem of gun violence in Oregon. It won’t, and it can’t without additional legislation, but it represents a step towards a more common sense approach to reducing the odds that guns wind up in the wrong hands. Requiring private buyers to undergo a background check will not solve every problem created by gun violence…but the other option is to do nothing and stand idly by while innocent men, women, and children are executed. The gun lobby and their gun nut acolytes will complain that SB 941 isn’t a perfect solution, and therefore shouldn’t be implemented, but this is a case of not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. SB 941 will do far more good than harm, and whatever “harm” it may cause, it won’t result in more senseless deaths. Those who pass a background check will still be able to get a gun, but if SB 941 can keep even one gun out of the hands of someone who shouldn’t own or carry a weapon, it will be a success. A minor inconvenience in service of the Greater Good seems a small price to pay. If you can’t handle having to wait for a background check to be completed, you probably shouldn’t be allowed to have a gun in the first place.
No matter what argument is made by gun nuts, no matter how much angry recrimination they may generate, the 2nd Amendment is not a license to carry whatever firepower one wants wherever and whenever one chooses. “Gun rights” do not trump any and all other rights, including the right to be safe from “responsible gun owners” whose irresponsibility threatens the safety of everyone around them. Despite what Joe the Plumber might think, the safety and well-being of our children DO trump his gun rights. Guns are not the last line of defense against criminals, and more guns don’t make everyone safer. Far from it. There’s absolutely no reason why someone needs to walk into a Walmart with an AK-47 slung over their shoulder. That doesn’t make you a patriotic, freedom-loving American; it makes you an asshole with no concern or consideration for the rights and safety of others.
Unless the silent majority stands up to the bullies, common sense gun control will remain a pipe dream in most states. Gun nuts win because they scream the loudest and they bully and threaten those with the temerity to stand up for doing the right thing. As with any bully, though, they can’t win if you don’t play their game. Ignore the screaming, the insults, and the threats, and do the right thing…and the majority in favor of a common sense approach to the gun epidemic will win.
Oregonians shouldn’t- and won’t- be declaring victory when Governor Kate Brown signs SB 941 into law, but we can take solace in the knowledge that it’s a small step in the right direction. Is it a perfect solution? Of course not; but it’s certainly better than letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. If it saves the life of one innocent Oregonian, SB 941 should be considered a success, because that means one less family burying an innocent victim of gun violence.
