‘Blatantly Unconstitutional’: Another Lawsuit Filed Against Oregon Officials For Restrictive Gun Measure

 The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), Oregon State Shooting Association (OSSA) and Mazama Sporting Goods filed a lawsuit in the Oregon District Court Thursday contesting the recently passed Ballot Measure 114, considered one of the most restrictive gun control laws in the country, according to a copy of the lawsuit reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The lawsuit, filed against Democratic Oregon Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum and Oregon State Police Superintendent Terri Davie, claims the measure is unconstitutional and infringes on Second Amendment rights, referencing magazine capacity limits, new permits and a gun owner database. The lawsuit, the third filed since Nov. 8, follows two initial lawsuits filed by the Oregon Firearms Federation (OFF), Sherman County Sheriff’s Department, Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC).

“The deficiencies in this ballot measure cannot go unaddressed. Forget that it is scheduled to go into effect before Oregon even certifies the election, but it requires potential gun owners to take a class that has yet to be created, at a cost yet to be determined, so that they can obtain a permit that doesn’t actually give them permission to purchase a firearm,” NRA Oregon state director Aoibheann Cline told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“In reality, it’s nothing more that an attempt to stifle — if not outright prevent —  the purchase of firearms throughout Oregon,” Cline continued.

The measure requires background checks, firearm training, fingerprint collection and a permit to purchase any firearm. Alongside the new restrictions, the NRA voiced its concern with the measures language, saying that it fails to safeguard gun owner information by creating a searchable gun owner database.

The lawsuit alleges that the measure infringes on the right of Oregon residents to own and buy firearms by imposing “severe and unprecedented burdens on individuals seeking to exercise perhaps the most basic right guaranteed by the Second Amendment.” Though the measure does create a pathway for residents to purchase firearms, the lawsuit alleges that the measure creates a “Kafkaesque regime” that is not supported by history, tradition or modern regulation.

“Oregon’s Measure 114 is blatantly unconstitutional,” NSSF’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lawrence G. Keane said in a press release. “The right to keep and bear arms begins with the ability of law-abiding citizens to be able to obtain a firearm through a lawful purchase at a firearm retailer.”

To purchase a firearm, residents must receive a permit after passing a firearms training course that does not exist currently, according to the lawsuit. If residents are able to take the course, they would also be required to submit fingerprints and photographs to the sheriff or police chief.

The lawsuit claims the state has rushed the implementation of the measure resulting in no one being able to purchase a firearm in the state on Dec. 8, when the measure will take effect. The NSSF, OSSA and Mazama Sporting Goods “seek, among other things, declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent Oregon, including Defendants Rosenbaum and Davie, and all of their respective agents and assigns, from enforcing Measure 114 against Plaintiffs or any of their members.”

Rosenblum, who is named in all three lawsuits, has argued that pausing the measure will lead to unnecessary deaths, according to ABC affiliate KATU2.