Armed but peaceful, activists pledge to fight new gun laws
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SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Hundreds of demonstrators, many armed with high-powered rifles, descended on the Oregon Capitol on Friday in response to calls for stiffer gun restrictions in the wake of recent mass shootings.
Protesters said they wanted to show state lawmakers that they're peaceful, law-abiding gun owners and will fight new gun-control laws.
"We're out there, we're going to fight, and we're not going to lay down and take it," said Arin Forrest, a 33-year-old Portland man who clutched an American flag, an AR-15 rifle slung over his shoulder. "If they're going to take our rights, they need to look us in the eye and tell us why."
Under Oregon law, it's legal to openly carry a weapon in public, and people with concealed handgun licenses can carry their weapons in the Capitol. Most of the demonstrators kept their protest across the street from the statehouse, but a handful brought their weapons indoors.
Craig Jones, 28, of Bend, explored the Capitol with two friends, all three carrying high-powered rifles.
"I felt it's important for us to voice our concerns as taxpayers and registered voters," Jones said, standing in a corridor between offices for senators. "If we want our representatives to represent us, we have to tell them what we want."
The state police had extra troopers on hand, and signs on the Capitol's revolving doors warned visitors that firearms are prohibited without a concealed-carry permit.
Protecting gun-ownership rights is critical to ensuring the government doesn't become tyrannical, said Andy Harris, 45, of Beaverton.
"Thankfully we haven't had to worry about that, but we don't know what the future will hold," said Harris, who carried a home-built AR-15 rifle over his shoulder and a Glock 19 pistol on his hip.
Some Democratic legislators have introduced various bills requiring background checks for private gun sales, banning certain rifles and high-capacity magazines or prohibiting firearms in schools. Democrats control the House and Senate, but legislative leaders have said gun-control measures would be a tough sell with Republicans and centrist Democrats whose support would be needed.
"It's ludicrous that it's being shoved down our throats that we don't have the right to protect ourselves," said Richard Hannan, of Gresham. "The government is out of control."
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
Wow, imagine that, no violence. If you listen to the anti's there should be blood running in the streets from all the guns.
First, I own a number of firearms and have CHL (or equivalent) from five states. I have no fear that the government is going to "take our guns". (Let's have a singing of "How Are Things in Paranoia?" sung to the tune from Finnian's Rainbow.)
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I favor universal background checks, and a limit on high capacity magazines. I have yet to hear anyone explain coherently why these are a problem.
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Personally, I feel these clowns are just compensating for a lack (you can fill in the blanks . . .).
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If you think the second amendment is absolute, then you oppose all background checks, restrictions on felons owning and carrying firearms, restrictions on mentally ill persons owning and obtaining firearms, and on down to restrictions on the number of shells you can have in a shotgun while hunting. But consistency doesn't seem to be part of the agenda by the gun lobby.
@ShallowEnderI'm all for background checks...here in NY they are quite common, and are basically an insignificant obstacle in the purchase of firearms. Â Banning high capacity magazine on the other hand, I do not support. Â What exactly does this accomplish? Â Maybe making someone carry a few extra 10 round magazines as opposed to one 30 rounder. Â Why do we need em...why exactly should the citizens of this country be outgunned by the corporate thugs on the streets? Â Why is it okay for a thug to have a banana clip, but I cant have 30 rounds? Â What exactly are you afraid of with 30 round magazines? Â I should be allowed to have as many rounds as I need to protect my family, especially since I have no intentions of slaying innocent people with any weapons I possess. Â The only reason you hate high cap magazines is because the news told you to.
Lets enact sensible gun legislation...background checks, mental health regulations, Â limits on straw man purchases...leave the most popular firing platform alone and go find something else to demonize!!
I think every one of the liberal, anti-gunners should have to put their name and address in a database also saying they own no firearms, nor do they have any in their houses.
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What, you don't want YOUR privacy invaded? Â You don't want YOUR name in a public database saying that you own no firearms? Â WHY NOT?................
I am not against some one owning a gun but I see no reason why any one would need to own an  an AR 15 or and AK......but I also agree any one that buys a gun should have a background check done and be fingerprinted. One has to have a background check to rent an apartment, get a job and so on. If there is a gun posted for sale on craigslist, any one can buy it, some one that just got of jail, some one that has a history of drug abuse or mental health issues, ANY ONE, and that needs to change. Yes I do agree with all the people posting  that guns don't kill people, guns kill people, but i do think we need to make it harder for "those people" to get those guns.
 @Tyler Van Pelt And I see no reason why any one would need to smoke pot, have gay sex, own a skateboard, drink alcohol, go to a Billy Joel concert, or ask you for either of our opinion. It's not our business. Do you know how much deforestation and human exploitation is involved with the coffee industry? Don't care at all, I bet.
Take a look at all those cops looking for ONE GUY in California, and ask them why they're all carrying AR-15s and spare magazines.Â
 @Tyler Van Pelt So you cannot conceive any of the arguments of the pro-gun people? For example, guns are inanimate objects incapable of killing people without a PERSON holding the gun and pulling the trigger. Thus guns cannot kill people. People with guns kill people. The people side of the equation needs to be worked on - i.e. better updates for the background checks for metaly ill people. You personally may not understand why anyone might need an AR or Ak rifle. That is ok. But your lack of understanding is not justification to ban the weapons. I concede there is no NEED to own a Corvette or a Hummer. But you can buy high performance vehicles for the sport and fun of it. AR and AK variants are perfected weapon systems made for protection and defence. Maybe the universal background check thing makes sense, but with poor government enforcement of federal gun laws that already exist, what is the point of sealing up one end of the network if you are just going to let people go? Registering weapons ALWAYS leads to confiscation eventually in every government around the globe that has ever tried it. MY POINT IS that these arguements and many others are sound and logical. Just because you cannot SEE a reason why someone should own an AR or AK is not enough of a justification to back a gun ban. AR and AK's can be used for hunting (they are quite effective). AR's are the most popular sport target shooting rifle of all time. And semi-automatic technology is not some scarry super science - it has been the basis of almost all guns in the last 200 years. I agree that buying a gun off of craigslist seems like a huge problem - and it is. But criminals aren't going to agree to go and pay a gun shop $30 to run a background check on their buyer even if it is the law. They are criminals. And criminals can ALWAYS buy guns in any society - even in the UK. The fact that the cities with the harshest gun regulations have the highest gun death rates and the cities with relaxed open carry laws have the LOWEST gun death rates is proof that gun laws ONLY restrict the law abiding people (who pay attention to laws) from defending themselves and others.
Most gun owners are peaceful.Did you want a gun battle to happen KATU so you could push even more of your anti gun BS?
And once again, we see that argument of "We have a right to protect ourselves." Â NO ONE IS ARGUING that you don't!!! Â The new laws are looking at background checks and limiting what guns are on the market. Â Why can't you protect yourselves with some of the other thousands of types of guns? Â Why, seriously, does it have to be an AR 15 or and AK something...are you expecting the Huns to barrel through your door anytime soon? Â A rabid grizzly maybe? Â Or maybe you all believe in the Zombie Apocalypse...
 @BCH mom Aside from what you do or don't believe, I DO believe in EVERYONE's right to the rights that they are granted by the US Constitution.  With that said, those rights are NOT negotiable, by ANY means, for ANY reason.  Neither you, nor ANYONE else has the right to change or alter any content of the US constitution so that you can, "Feel" more secure.  To do so is TREASONOUS.  Don't even TRY to argue with me that times have changed and so should the constitution.  That is absurd.  "Certain inalienable rights."  I think you don't understand the meaning of that.  IF you want to give up your rights, then do so, but please leave me out of it.  If you start giving up rights, then which ones mean anything?  Do you think YOU get to pick and choose?  the answer is NO, the government will be the ones doing the picking and choosing once you let them know that they can.  The REASON for this bill of rights is:  To keep the government in check.  If we give up these rights, then in reality, we will end up having none.  You will be able to be incarcerated for even voicing your opinion on issues, such as we are doing here.  Would you give that up?.....  Would you give up your RIGHT to due process and right to a trial by jury?  That's the way this country is going..... Â
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Stop giving in to the whim of a few applying false logic to situations where there really is no logic. Â THINK! Â What does this REALLY do to SOLVE anything? Â IS this going to SOLVE the PROBLEM?
If the answer is yes, then tell me HOW? Â If the answer is NO, then WHY are we doing it, or even discussing it?
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I think the answer is NO. Â It will do nothing to keep guns out of the hands of people that do not mind laws anyways. Â It will do nothing to reduce crimes by individuals that care nothing for human life. Â
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Please tell me HOW you think this will help, and please apply reason and logic to your answer.
 @BCH mom WHY AREN'T THE LAPD PROTECTING THEMSELVES WITH SOMETHING OTHER THAN AN AR-15 OR AN AK TO GET ONE GUY?!!
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Why don't you go on down there and lecture them, know-it-all?WE KEEP ANSWERING THIS SAME STUPID LIBERAL URBAN SOCCER MOM QUESTION OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER.   GO ASK A SWAT COP WHY THEY CARRY THEM INSTEAD OF REPEATING YOUR F-----G IGNORANCE LIKE YOU'RE GOING TO GET A DIFFERENT ANSWER NEXT TIME. Â
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Christ, why can't these idiots ask experts why they carry them instead of farting out your half-witted ideas on a forum like you're some sort of wise-woman on the subject. Read a magazine, go to a gunshow, go to a gun store, ask a cop, Wiki it, ask a veteran, mother of freaking GOD how hard is this for you?!
 @BCH mom If law abiding people are not bothering you then why don't you leave them alone? Being a control freak-nanny doesn't stop the bad people from doing bad things. Please tell us how all of these new laws will accomplish that? Seems to me that the only thing new laws will do is make certain people feel warm and fuzzy and criminals feel more brazen. But since nobody from your crowd can tell us how they will get the criminals to follow these new laws I find your arguments empty and ineffectual.
We all know that you would rather "reason" with the criminals rather than do anything about them.
Afterall, they are just misunderstood, right?  Well there you white guilt liberal go again gosh darn it!
 @BCH mom ~  Well, if I can offer my own take on this... I'm a gun-owner and a CHL-holder; I have guns for protection and also because I enjoy target-shooting.  At the moment, I don't have any rifles, although I have owned them in past years.
I agree with background checks - and I think they need to strengthen these so that there is better information available about people who are or might be mentally unstable... but that will probably require making some medical records, currently restricted, available for this specific purpose. Â
In re the AR / AK issue. Â I've never owned one of those (did shoot one once, years ago)... but what I see here is that, even if they banned these, I am afraid that they would find, in time, that the ban did not do what they thought it would do... because a killer bent on shooting people will find something to do it with, legal or not. Â This, in turn, would probably lead to another discussion - "well, now they're using, say, handguns - .38 caliber and up - so now let's ban those."... and so on.
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We don't have a "gun" problem. Â We have a "PEOPLE" problem..but until we fully recognize this and deal with THAT part of it, we will continue to have events like the school and mall shootings.
We already have many laws on the books about sentencing for people who commit crimes using guns... but we often fail to ENFORCE them...and this is something we need to fix. Â Â
Another area we need to address is the gang problem, which is epidemic in almost all large cities, and which is responsible for a large % of handgun deaths, due to gang members fighting over turf, drug activities, and so on. Â
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But these are all "PEOPLE" issues... and THIS is where we need to focus our corrective measures. Â The problem is NOT the gun; it is the hand that HOLDS and FIRES the gun.
OMG did you see all of the trash that was left behind?! Oh wait, never mind.
To all those hypocritical politicians who want to take away our guns I say, "Ok, you first."Â Almost all of them have armed security and many of them have CHLs themselves. The Government is NOT a protected class, no matter how much they try to make themselves appear so.
I'm so tired of the buzzwording. "high powered rifles." The AR15 except for boutique cartriges shoos a 223, commonly called a "varmint cartridge." Varmint, like coyotes and critters like that. You tell any person who knows a damned thing that there was a "high powered rifle" they are going to think 30-06, 308, 7mm etc. The media is complicit in this BS.
 @Themad Scientist You're right.  A .223 should be referred to as a "scary looking but ineffective low powered rifle wannabee"
What you're telling me is that even with all of those 'assault weapons' and high capacity magazines there, nobody was killed? There were no massacres of children? There was no danger to the public in general presented by the mere presence of the weapons?????
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Hmmm.... Perhaps, just perhaps, that might be evidence that it's the people who misuse the weapons that should concern us, and be the focus of our efforts?
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Naaaaaaaa.... it's the guns.
'fer the childruuuuuun', of course.Â
Where can I find out when events like this are happening? We need to get better organizes.
 @The Resistance  Oregon Firearms Federation
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www.oregonfirearms.org/
 @HenryBowman  @The Resistance ~  Thanks, Henry..!  :-)
Darn, I missed another rally. Seems like this always happens when I'm working. Come on guys, schedule these types of things on my days off. My AR's and Glocks need to get socialized. It's good that the powers that be are being put on notice, we will not stand by and do nothing. Don't Tread On Me.
I like how the Octatards are nowhere to be seen.
 @dkgiovenco wrong they are in a office at 24th and sandy blvd trying to get fluoride in the drinking water. They also have a face book page called fluoride and stuff the person running the office and the face book page is this person Shawn Fleek..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb9u1cq5kuk
That is right, lets all take off work, don't file to support these BUMS that make laws.  Get out there just like the maggot rat hippie slobs and get in their FACES as they did to us for 40 freaking years..   'all we are saying is  give our RIGHTS a chance....  Protest these progressive mad dog scumbags who think they can dictate to WE THE PEOPLE who pay for their jobs.... FIRE THEIR WORTHLESS ASSESÂ
 @Jack Marino I think he meant "" Ready Aim Fire""
@Jack Marino ---- Don't hold back, tell us how you really feel.
A protest on a friday afternoon? Lazy bums. go get jobs.
 @GNTLwarrior So, let me get this straight,  Your "Rights", Under The Second Amendment of the US Constitution. "Your Right to Bear Arms"  Is "NOT worth taking one day off of your Precious, Miserable, Phuckin' life?"  THOMAS JEFFERSON, GEORGE WASHINGTON and BENJAMIN Phuckin'  FRANKLIN WERE STUPID TO TAKE A DAY OFF AGAINST THE Phuckin' BRITISH?  Excuuuuse ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  You can FuCkin' Exit to Cuba, Russia or Syria NOW!  Need a ticket?  If Obama won't pay for you to leave.  I WILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Please, Let me know if you need a TICKET to LEAVE the UNITED STATES of AMERICA!  I Am Sure, I Will not have ANY Problem raising money to EXPORT You!!!!  Oh yeah, By the way. I Am Employed AND in a Union, So I probably make Twice  what you do!  Please, WAKE the hell Up!  Check out INFOWARS.COM and get some Idea what you think  "your" Friday afternoon is worth !! Just Sayin'!!!!
 @T.Busch can't afford to live in OR. Anymore. Moved Infowars? That's the y2k guy right? Plus, Thomas Jefferson supported a centralized government and owned slaves.
". I Am Employed AND in a Union,"
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yeah but do you work?
 @GNTLwarrior It's better than pulling kids out of the classroom to attend a rally during the week that supports their cause.  It's better than state union workers walking out of their jobs to rally at the capital while the citizens of the state are stuck trying to do their jobs and can't get anyone on the state on the phone.
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I'd rather take the time off work, my own time off of work, to fight for my constitutional rights instead of an entitlement.
 @GNTLwarrior Right, because someone who doesn't work 8am-5pm Monday through Friday doesn't have a real job. Liberal logic in action.
 @HuskyKMA you just don't get it. I'm sure many of them have jobs. I'm sure some don't too. Not everyone is employed at the moment. Same with the people who were participating in the Occupy movement. The media likes to play politics and are very good at it. As a result, they get people to say unintelligent, divisive things on chat boards to get people mad about nothing. It's case in point here.Â
 @HuskyKMA I'm thinking a lot of those liberals have jobs where they sit at a desk 8-5 M-F and do absolutely nothing, for the better part of their shift....Just saying....
 @GNTLwarrior What is it that makes you think they don't have jobs?
 @HenryBowman I don't think that. I was just pointing out the pointlessness of making that assumption. See what happens when you flip the script?
 @GNTLwarrior Shouldn't you have been telling that to all the Occupidiots and those on welfare that are too damned lazy to get one?
 @scoreboard  @GNTLwarrior I'm pretty sure most of the gun loving folks at this rally would have been saying that about Occupy - "go get jobs, how can they protest during work hours" etc...
 @scoreboard The Occupy movement has their own problems they need to sort out. I think a lot of people need to go get jobs. Or at least make a conscious effort at it.
 @tom  @scoreboard Stop blaming the government for everything. A lot of hardship resides in the attitude towards certain things. Adopting a political mindset to work will make a job search very hard.
 @GNTLwarrior  @scoreboard When your State Governement is more concerned with changing the looks of your flag than opening up our forests and natural resources to managed logging, you wind up with people out of work. When your State Government is more concerned with tearing out your dams, tearing out your roads in your forests, and more regulations on existing companies, you wind up with people out of work. The list goes on and on when you have a liberal control of your government.
@GNTLwarrior THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ATTENDED, AND CONGRATULATIONS FOR PROVING TO LIBERALS THAT THE ARMED SOCIETY IS THE POLITE SOCIETY.
And, unlike Occupy, no public urination, defecation, trashing of the nearby parks, spitting on police officers, or other similar activities.  Maybe if you can afford to pay $900-$1,000 for an AR-15 or a Glock-19 or two you have a different world-view than someone who wants 'the gov'mint' to take care of you. The phrase 'personal responsibility' keeps floating through my mind.
 @hewhoo  The phrase 'personal responsibility' keeps floating through my mind.
So the sugar plums and fat lady's have stopped floating by??
 @hewhoo Good point. People with money never commit crimes...
@Oregon7812 @hewhoo most don't.
 @Playanekes  @Oregon7812  @hewhoo They don't often commit crimes, but when they do, they prefer billion dollar fraud.
Pretty much a non event. No mass murders like the antigunners were predicting.
 @RalphCramden you're smarter than this. Don't base stuff off online forums. Not much is going on in places like this that contributes to society positively.Â
 @GNTLwarrior I'm unclear.... Are you saying that the state capitol contributes to society in a POSITIVE way?
 @Reeldeal101 No I'm talking about online forums  because it's all talk and no action. People complain about protesters one day then praise them the next because it fits their political agenda. Politics at its worst.