Local "Rally for Our Lives" Protesters Call For An End To Gun Violence
Protestors gathered in Hood River. Photo Credit: Robin Allen
By Bonnie Walker and Cole Goodwin
On Saturday, June 11th gun safety supporters gathered for a “Rally For Our Lives” in Hood River, in concert with the March For Our Lives in Washington, DC and marches and rallies across the country.
The event, organized by local volunteers from Indivisible Columbia Gorge, Protect Oregon's Progress and Columbia Gorge Women's Action Network, was part of a nationwide response in the wake of recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, Buffalo, New York, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
About 45 protesters gathered at the "Salmon Fountain" at Overlook Park in downtown Hood River from 11 a.m. to noon to mourn lives lost to gun violence and to demand gun safety legislation from state and federal leaders.
Protesters carried signs that called for an end to gun violence and chanted "No More Silence - End Gun Violence" and "Protect Kids, Not Guns!"
One participant, Suzy Sinclair, from White Salmon, WA, said that she was rallying because she's had enough. "Ever since Columbine, I keep wondering 'Why is this still happening?'. Something has to change."
Two children hold up signs at a Rally For Our Lives protest. According to Sandy Hook Promise, twelve children are killed by gun violence every day in America and another thirty-two are shot and injured. Perhaps that is part of why youth involvement in gun reform is on the rise. Photo Credit: Robin Allen
Two participants collected signatures for the Statewide Initiative Petition 17, a gun safety initiative that needs 140,000 signatures to be placed on the statewide November ballot.
Connie Krummrich, a retired Elementary school counselor from The Dalles, will continue to collect signatures for Petition 17, also known as the “Reduction of Gun Violence Act” at The Dalles Farmers Market and other various pop up events leading up to the November ballot.
Gretchen Kimsey holds a clipboard while Connie Krummrich holds a sign that reads ‘Sign gun safety petition here.” Photo Credit: Tom Peterson
“Current Oregon law allows 3-day release of a firearm without a permit or a completed background check,” said Krummrich, “We want to change that.”
According to Lift Every Voice Oregon, in 2018, almost 4,000 guns were sold to prohibited buyers because the background check took longer than 3 days.
“This is known as “The Charleston Loophole” because it is how alleged shooter Dylann Roof obtained the gun used in the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina,” said Ceasefire Oregon. In 2015 Roof, killed nine black churchgoers. In 2021 he was charged with having committed a hate crime and was sentenced to death.
The Reduction of Gun Violence Act would patch the loophole by requiring that all firearm purchasers present a permit to purchase a firearm. Permits would be issued following a background check, firearm safety training class, and live-fire training session. A permit would not be required for temporary transfers, such as the loan of a gun at shooting ranges or during hunting trips.
Permits would be valid for five years.
The Act would also put restrictions upon large-capacity magazines. Banning the sale and purchase of magazines over 10 rounds.
Magazines exceeding 10 rounds which are already owned would become restricted to the owner’s sole use on personal property, at shooting ranges, competition and lawful recreational activities such as hunting, provided they are transported to such locations in a locked container separate from any firearm.
Sale or transfer of large-capacity magazines to others would be prohibited, except, within 180 days of the effective date of the Act be passed. These magazines may be sold or transferred to a licensed dealer or permanently altered to only hold 10 rounds or, at any time, turned into law enforcement for destruction.
Manufacturing of large-capacity magazines by a dealer would also be prohibited, except for military and law enforcement purposes.
The penalty for violation of the law would be a Class A misdemeanor or, in some instances, if the violator had one or more prior convictions at the time of the charge, the penalty could become a Class C felony.
Nine other states have already passed similar laws.
In the months following the Sandy Hook school shooting in December of 2012, Connecticut passed similar gun reform laws. Following the passage of the licensing law they saw a twenty-eight percent decrease in gun homicide and thirty-three percent decrease in gun-related suicides.
Meanwhile, last year Missouri repealed their gun licensing laws, and their gun homicide rose by forty-seven percent and suicide by gun rose by twenty-four percent.
A graph from Giffords Law Center.
“The correlation is undeniable: states with stronger gun laws have lower gun death rates. Simply put, gun laws save lives,” said Giffords Law Center.
“But strong laws can’t fully protect a state if its neighbors haven’t done their part,” warned Gifford’s Law Center, “Gun trafficking from states with weak gun laws undermines protections that work to prevent shootings and plays a major role in fueling violence in states with strong laws. Until every state in the union steps up to support gun safety laws, America will continue to have one of the highest gun death rates in the world.”
For more information about Petition 17, volunteering, donating, and endorsing the petition visit LiftEveryVoiceOregon.com.
To sign Petition 17 at home click here.
