Mayor Hales to push state legislature for gun reforms
PORTLAND, Ore. – Mayor Charlie Hales wants state lawmakers to ban the sale of assault rifles and high-capacity magazines and has called a Monday news conference to talk about gun violence.
Both Hales and his spokesperson are keeping the details of that news conference a mystery, but on page 36 of Hales' proposed 2013 State Legislative Priorities for the city there is a plan to support statewide legislation banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
At his public swearing-in, Hales signaled plans to use the Portland mayor's office to address "the access to high-powered firearms and big magazines, which we've seen tragically go against the better interest of the people in this country."
Then on Thursday, Hales posted on Facebook: "Big announcement coming Monday regarding gun violence throughout the nation. Stay tuned."
Hales has said he wants Americans to stay angry about the shootings in Connecticut and at Clackamas Town Center, but he also recognizes Oregon's gun control debate will be settled in Salem.
"It is a state legislative issue – that's where the power is on that issue," he said on the day he was sworn in. "So I'll be advocating on that as well, and I hope all four of my counsel colleagues feel the same way."
Appearing on this week's "Your Voice, Your Vote," state Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, said he's ready to talk.
"Military assault weapons – if we could limit peoples' access to those, I'd be supportive of that," he said. "The same with those magazines, I don't think there's any place – hunters don't need 60 rounds per second."
But Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Hillsboro, was more cautious.
"Can we come together on a solution that balances the need for public safety and protecting our school kids and our vulnerable populations in a way that also balances Oregonians' constitutional rights? That's the challenge," he said.
The legislative session kicks off Feb. 4, and there is legislation planned that would outlaw assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Many firearms enthusiasts are opposed to such a ban though, questioning its effectiveness.
Hales' proposed state legislative agenda also includes calls for paid sick leave expansion statewide, limits on lottery retailers in concentrated areas, such as Hayden Island, and support for a mileage tax to offset shrinking gas tax revenues.
Recall.............
Hey ChooChoo Charlie...... keep your nose in your own business like adding more trolley cars to PDX and leave the rest of us alone.
Focus on fixing potholes like you said in your lame/weak backyard campaign commercials, Charlie. Â It's people like you that make we want to move to Arizona. Â
You have another problem Mr Hales, and you're aware of it, yet you are doing just exactally as I predicted ,,,,,As Randy Leonard did, as all the rest of you have done....THE REAL DANGER..is the state,PLACING 5 CRIMINALLY INSANE MEN ALL WITH A VIOLENT CRIME HISTORY OF CRIMES SUCH AS MURDER,,,RAPE....ARSON...next to me, neighbors.,...AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST...all the kids, in Marysville school...WHICH THE PATIENTS OF THE STATE MENTAL HOSPITAL...WALK UNSUPERVISED EACH DAY....better come see me, and soon...BEFORE YOU GO TO SALEM....JACK PEEK Sr.
PS; A retired PDX cop, who found out the true nature of these people, ansd was concerned not only for me, but the neighborhood, and more correctly, the school...JUST LIKE THE ONE BACK EAST....
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 He asked if I had a gun, I said NO,he said ,GET ONE!
Another liberal Mayor sticking his nose in areas where he has no authority or ability to make a change. Â Pure Portland liberal politics, as I see it. Â We have a 2nd amendment for a reason, to protect us against atyranical government, and no city Mayor can or should make an attempt to limit or change that fact. Â Do your job, Hale, and fix the mess left by your predecessor. Â How about fixing the streets, cleaning up the parks, and making the streets in downtown safer than they are now? Â Focus on your job and stop trying to grind down the 2nd Amendment, Hale.
Hales, how about concentrating on the potholes on the streets first. They should be called Portland-holes.
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Hales, cannot control the PPB Union or its Chief.
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Instead of firing a rogue COP, "The City That's Warped" demoted a COP who is accused of in-appropriate touching
of women. None-the-Less, this same peace office allegedly brandished badge and gun, at a citizen.
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Now, what would happen to an ordinary citizen who committed such acts? Jail, Job Loss, Civil suites. The Link here about the LEO is here... http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/portland-police-captain-demoted-but-keeps-job/87b897d9d6254b8cb6008b8a03189fc0 all though diminutive from the original article.
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Hales, is now worried about Citizens having guns.... What about COPS and Guns dear Mayor?
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I watched a movie last night where only the cops and military had guns.
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It was called Schinder's List.
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@Mipsfer;
No, Sammie was vera 2.0. Chuck is Vera 3.0, I've never voted for any of them.
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(Sammie was vera's chief of staff.)
 @WebFootSTi Thanks. I stand corrected.
Charlie Hales is SamAdams version 2.0
The only good thing about all this talk is that you democrats are absolutely going to hang yourself for the next election. Many of us like myself have never claimed to be democrat or republican, but I do claim to be an American and my rights and my protection are my number one priority. In the last month, I have come to believe that you don't think the same way. I hate to say it, but at this point not one democrat will get my vote in the future. I also have to say, that KATU was my favorite local news station, but not any more because it is obvious that KATU would like to take are rights away as well.Â
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 @Tyster The local news drones definitely have an agenda.
Ramping up the anti-gun stories = easy profits.
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Dump your TeeVee and find your news and entertainment elsewhere.
I did and I never looked back.
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I drop in here once in a while to see what agenda the propagandists
at our local so called 'news' stations are promoting this week.
Wonder how many Americans per you are actually killed be assault rifles every year. Because I imagine it has to be under 100. Of all the things to be scared of this one is probably in the bottom thousand.......
 @Jeepers According to FBI stats, 320 people were killed with semiautomatic weapons in 2011, while 496 people were killed with a hammer that same year.
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I think it's time we had a "national conversation" about hammer control.
if you want to fix something fix something that is broken.. guns and such are not the issue.. sheeple and mental cases are the issue.Â
@LordBear.....RIP Ralph Painter...what a shame that we couldn't pre-emptively arrested Daniel Butts for being a mental case.
 @Solipsist01 Yeah, but, you liberals spend all your time howling about gun control instead of mental care.
Mayor fix the pot holes-fix  the high water bills- fix the garbage problems- fix the police department. You are a mayor not a lobbyist for Salem.........DO YOUR JOB...Glad I never voted for this id***.
I thought the job of Mayor of Portland was to put you nose to Portlands grindstone. Maybe the STATE ought to pay ole Charlie???
Any bets that on Feb 4th bills get introduced and they start the process of ramming them through with minimal chance for comment or discussion, just like Democrats across the rest of the country are already trying to do? Just look at what they tried to do with the lame duck session a couple weeks back in Illinois.
@ChrisJ82 We've had YEARS of discussion, except that it has been the gun lobby that always got its way--ramming all this "guns to anyone anytime" BS and stifling even reasonable debate much less any reasonable control. You, sonny, are in the minority and have been for a while. Now it is our turn.
@Mechanic come and take them. Until then, stop writing checks that pacifists can't cash.
 @ChrisJ82  @Mechanic Fair enough, sir. I appreciate your point.
 @ChrisJ82  @Playanekes  @Mechanic Well there you are in the there edifying your position, paranoid, so filled with fear and paid by NRA; strength does not come from the gun, all major revolutions have been won by an idea, which is what your afraid of, what a sad life, we don't pity you, you just really believe your schtick, it is sad because it is from the lowest of human emotions, your vitriol just confirms your own wheel of shame, leaving you bitter. You sure fit the profile. Our supreme court has already ruled the 2ond amendment can change, and it was our gun loving justice that wrote it. Fear will not decide this, there is no rush, your side is rushing, 20 million dollars and counting, so spam away, reasonable people will win the day.
 @Playanekes  @Mechanic No need to be offensive to pacifists. They have much more in common with gun owners than anti-gunners. Gun owners seek to go through each day peacefully and are merely prepared to stop violence when it occurs.Â
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On the other hand the anti-gunners, might be cowards and have others do violence for them, but are most certainly about violence. From the very start their soapboxes are made from the coffins they helped create.
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 @Mechanic  @ChrisJ82 http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2013/01/10/tsr-bts-nra-keene-gun-control.cnnThis kinda blows out your "guns to anyone anytime" BS. The focus should never be on the tool, but on the people using the tools. If we spent half as much time focusing on treating the mentally ill and preventing the violent ones from getting guns, would solve most of our problems. Instead the only focus is banning guns and magazines that "seem evil". Then trying to shove the bs of saying reasonable hunters dont need assault weapons or high capacity magazines. Not all gun owners are hunters, some are hobbyists. The first assault weapons ban didnt prevent columbine and it didnt prevent the north hollywood shooting and it will never prevent another crime. Its all about control, the liberals simply want control over guns because they hate them so much. Oh and btw before you say anything, I am not some bible sporting, god fearing, gay hating republican. I am an openly gay man who sees through the liberal BS of making feel good gun laws that dont prevent anything.
@Mechanic the pro-gun lobby doesn't compromise because if they give you s--ts an inch, you'll take a mile. And when that doesn't accomplish anything, you'll try to take more. Universal background checks don't bother but anybody who thinks somebody who wants to commit mass murder will be thwarted by that is a stark raving fool. How's that ban on rape and murder working out?
 @Mechanic From the article, Hales efforts are focused against so-called assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.  I think that gun control advocates would have much more success dropping the "assault weapons" part of their platform (which has been demonstrated to be nothing more than a political scapegoat) and focus exclusively on universal background checks.
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You have to realize that violent crimes are the lowest that they've been in 30 years, so this comes across to people like me as just politicians pandering to their far left base.
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It would also be helpful if the actual root causes behind the mass shootings were also explored rather than just  trying to (fruitlessly) quell the symptoms.
 @Mechanic Correction, the gun lobbies dont want restrictions put on law abiding citizens. After the assault weapons ban, normal law abiding citizens are not able to buy certain guns and buy certain magazines. So restrictions would be put on law abiding folks.Â
"preventing the violent ones from getting guns" I don't understand why you have your shorts in a knot over this. That is exactly the focus of the efforts right now. Always have been. But the gun lobby won't entertain any restriction whatever. You are advocating universal background checks, and I agree.
 @Mechanic  @ChrisJ82 P.S. What pro-gun laws were "rammed" through like what has been stated to be the plan and nearly happened in Illinois? If anything the pro-gun crowd has kept the conversation alive which has merely held the victim disarmament crowd at bay.
 @Mechanic  @ChrisJ82 The nearly 2.8M background checks in December alone, empty shelves, and sheriff's being overwhelmed with CHL applications says you're wrong about who's in the minority.
@ChrisJ82 @Mechanic....ironically, the NRA and gun manufacturers LOVE it when these massacres happen....the more horrific the better....because like clockwork, the gun control debate ignites and like clock work gun sales spike. It's a wonder stock holders don't stage their own massacres just to give their investments a boost.
If Mr. Hales wants to have a gun control debate, that's fine - but let's at least do it honestly. The AR-15 (a rifle at issue in both the Clackamas and Newtown shootings) is NOT an assault weapon. An assault weapon is a firearm that a modern military ground unit might use to attack a defended position - in other words, a firearm capable of automatic fire. While the AR-15 superficially resembles the M-4 and M-15 (actual assault weapons), its internal mechanism is incapable of automatic fire. When one falsely labels the AR-15 and similar semi-automatic firearms as "assault weapons", that person is either severely ignorant or has chosen to be deliberately dishonest.
@mikew Seems pretty clear to everyone else that Lanza did, in fact, assault 20 little kids and 6 adults. He shot all of them more than once and at least one kid got it eleven times. E-effing-nuff!!
 @Mechanic  @mikew Had armed security or police been onsite at every school in the nation, this could have been prevented. But instead feeling that a sign that says weapons free zone will prevent things like this, well sure we can see that works. We need to focus on the mentally ill, not guns.
I don't care how much you suck up to liberal believers' money, you don't have a chance to be the next Democratic presidential candidate!
So what did the first AWB bring us? Columbine and the North Hollywood shootout. 2 of the most notorious shootings in US history. What did the AWB prevent? Nothing. Criminals still got their guns of choice and committed crime with them. Also am I the only one who finds it amazing that the point about weapons free zones such as schools didnt come around until 1995 and after that we have had the most school shootings in the compressed time period since then? Yet when you ask for armed security or police in schools because of the fact its signage for a hunting ground for mass murderers, they look at you like your crazy.
@commonsense33 Don't forget 19 children and 158 adults died in 1995 without a trigger being pulled in Oaklahoma City. KILLERS WILL KILL ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.
As far as I can tell, Charlie, you and I are only one. Push all you want to, there are more of us than there are of you!Â
The majority of Oregonian's and American's enjoy their freedoms and won't vote for strict gun control.
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"60 rounds per second"? Really? I'd be lucky if I got my AR to fire 1 round per second! At that rate, I couldn't afford a 10 second range day and I'd have to change the magazine at 0.5 seconds! If this is the language they're working with then we have nothing to worry about.
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I love it when people have strong/loud opinions on subject matter they don't understand. Knowledge is power, so is training. Go get some.
Pop quiz, mayor. You and your family are at home, snug as a bug in a rug. At around 2am or so, you hear glass breaking and then noises downstairs. It's them bad guys! You reach for the phone, but the power and phone lines have been taken out so you can't call 911. Silly you, you also forgot to charge your cell phone, or phones, and the batteries are dead. And you can't find your 'help I've fallen and can't get up' button. No help there. So you reach for the gun you have in the nightstand beside your bed. You suddenly remember that you banned guns in Portland, so now you don't have one. Because if you had one, then you would be a criminal.  Then you reach for one of your 32 or 64 ounce super big gulps. Oh, wait. You banned them as well.  As a matter of fact, you banned anything and everything that could be possibly used as a weapon to protect yourself and family.  So now you find yourself between a rock and a hard place. What will you do? How will you protect your family? Did I mention that by now, your wife has gone completely hysterical?  Did I also mention that those bad guys are escaped convicts who have nothing to lose? And you can't use a bodyguard either, because that would be cheating. So what would you do? Hmm.... Times up.
@theobserver.....if I had a nickel for every time that scenario has played out, with or without a gun, in this country last year, I'd probably have a $1.50 to my name...you really think fear is the end-all argument for guns? Really?...is that the world you live in?
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very sad.
....maybe $3.15 to be fair
The Portland politician, get out there have a news conference and show you not only know nothing about semi or full auto weapons, but have no clear idea of solutions to the problem. Not much hope for a guy that can't do a little research to give a credible public discourse.Â
We as a nation of individuals are soon going to be dinosaurs! Liberals know best what is good for us! Just let them go on and on and on and on! Soon we will all know what is best for us! They obviously know best what is good for us. God help us all! Â
School Shootings Linked to
Psychotropic Drugs Such as Prozac, Ritalin, Luvox, and Paxil
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TAKE AWAY THOSE DRUGS FROM KIDS AND LOCK UP THE DRUG COMPANY EXECUTIVES FOR MURDER!
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@32jim2....I wonder how many kids would've committed suicide or homocide had they NOT been prescribed any of those drugs.
Not even a month as mayor, and Charlie Hales has become a delusional megalomaniac. Maybe we should call Charlie Hales mayor Charlie Bloomberg instead. Bloomberg wants to control every aspect of a New York City resident's life. Hales wants to control every aspect of a Portland residents life. Bloomberg - anti gun. Hales, anti gun. Maybe these 2 guys are twins who were separated at birth.  Next thing you know, he will be going after those evil, high-capacity 32 & 64oz. Super Big Gulps. Watch out.
Yup! You just concentrate on the guns, and not the fingers pulling the trigger! My guns in the closet don't do a darn thing unless I want them to. Those mean pieces of metal just want to go out and get involved in violence all by themselves. Idiots! But then, that is the liberal progressive way of life! Subdue the tools, not the fools!
 @jpk I've had several really bad moments when walking past gun shops. I'm always so afraid that one of the guns will grab me and make me go commit a crime. Do not discount how evil those nasty firearms are! They are VERY SCARY and don't you forget it!