Federal judge rules Oregon gun control can move ahead, state judge differs

On a day when U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut ruled some strict new gun controls can take effect as scheduled on Thursday, Dec. 8, Oregon's gun shops were so busy they weren't answering their phones.

No one picked up calls to Keith's Sporting Goods in Gresham, GunRunner Arms in Junction City and Good Guys Guns in Medford during business hours. In Tigard, a clerk answering the phone at Oregon Rifleworks said, "Obviously we're very busy," before saying the manager was too tied up with customers to comment on how busy they were.

But then Harney County circuit court judge Robert Raschio ruled that the new rules violated the state constitution and blocked them.

The regulations passed with 50.7% of the vote in November and ban the sale of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, require a permit before the purchase of a gun and a background check before the sale or transfer of a gun.

On Sunday, the Oregon Department of Justice asked the judge to postpone the permitting requirements because local officials were unprepared to carry them out, according to KGW 8.

The federal judge's ruling allows the ban on high-capacity magazines to go forward on Thursday but delays the permitting requirement for 30 days. The judge also ruled that 2nd Amendment concerns raised by 3 sheriffs, two gun store owners and the Oregon Firearms Federation were "minimal."

That's not how the state judge saw it.

"Deprivation of fundamental constitutional rights for any period constitutes irreparable harm," Raschio wrote.

Article 1, section 27, of the Oregon Constitution states: "The people shall have the right to bear arms for the defence [sic] of themselves, and the State, but the Military shall be kept in strict subordination to the civil power," a clause similar to the federal 2nd Amendment.

According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, a spokesman for the Justice Department says it will file an immediate appeal with the Oregon Supreme Court.