Hansell says walkout wasn’t the right step for gun-control bill
By Terry Murry on Thursday, April 15th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
SALEM – Second Amendment activists called for Oregon’s Republican senators to walk out rather than allow Senate Bill 554 to pass. They did not walk out and the measure that would allow cities to ban concealed carry weapons in some facilities did pass.
“I think it’s blatantly unconstitutional,” State Rep. Bill Hansell (R-Athena) said of the measure that’s now before the House of Representatives.
The decision not to walk out was made for several reasons. Hansell said the main one is that there is no emergency clause attached to the bill, so it would give people time to either challenge it with a ballot measure or a court case.
“Ultimately, I think we successfully poked holes in the whole bill that they’ll use in court cases” he said.
The legislation that inspired two Republican walkouts was the cap and trade bill, which is not being introduced this year. Hansell said it had an emergency clause attached and would therefore go into effect immediately upon being signed into law, not giving people time to mount a defense.
“Denying a quorum is certainly a tool in the tool box, but I think it’s to be used judiciously,” Hansell said. “You can’t walk and be an effective legislator every time there’s a bill that you don’t like.”
