Fight over Measure 114 continues on two levels

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said the Oregon Justice Department will appeal the ruling in Harney County last week that struck down Oregon’s gun control measure. That ruling was issued by Judge Robert S. Raschio in a challenge brought by two gun owners living in the county.

Rosenblum’s fight to keep Ballot Measure 114 alive will depend on favorable rulings from the Oregon Court of Appeals and the Oregon Supreme Court. The Harney County suit challenges the measure as being in violation of the state constitution. That, however, is not the only challenge to the measure which would ban larger capacity magazines and require background checks in a more complex gun registration system.

The other challenge is being mounted in federal court, contending the measure violates the U.S. Constitution. Judge Karin Immergut has ruled it is not in violation in the case filed in the U.S. District Court in Portland. While Raschio’s ruling has, in effect, stopped the measure from going into effect, the plaintiffs in the federal suit are planning to continue their fight.

Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan is a named plaintiff in that challenge and he said that they have already filed to appeal the Portland ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Sometimes that takes several months, if not even over a year, for the case to go in front of them,” Rowan said.

That court, headquartered in San Francisco is known for its liberal rulings. Rowan acknowledges that, but said the fight won’t end in the city by the bay.

“From there, the idea is if we don’t prevail, then we’re going to go on to the U.S. Supreme Court,” he said.

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Elkhorn Media Group

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