Researchers say Oregon’s gun control law brought more homes with guns than ever before

CORVALLIS – Oregon voters only narrowly passed Ballot Measure 114 to ban guns holding more than 10 rounds and to require permits for the purchase of firearms. Researchers find that instead of limiting gun purchases, the measure has resulted in thousands more firearms in the state than there would have been otherwise.

Researchers at Oregon State University, the University of Oregon, and the National Bureau of Economic Research estimate that by 18 months after the election, an additional 63,000 background checks to buy firearms occurred. In the time leading up to the election, background check requests went up by 14 percent. After the election, they shot up to 157 percent. The measure only passed by 1.3 percent of the vote.

The study was published in the Journal of Public Economics. Researchers point out that there is no way to track the exact number of guns purchased, since people applying for background checks could be purchasing more than one weapon or could decide not to purchase any.

“It’s not particularly surprising that people go out and buy more guns when they have compelling reason to believe it’s going to become harder in the future,” OSU researcher Katie Bollman said. “But the magnitude of the increase is pretty remarkable, as is the underlying dynamic driving it.”

Meanwhile, the constitutionality of Measure 114 continues to be challenged in both state and federal courts. Bollman and her collaborators estimate that if the measure eventually becomes law, it will take more than a year just to get the number of guns in Oregon back to what it would have been had the referendum never been on the ballot.

Photo provided by Oregon State University of the FBI Laboratory of Firearms Toolmarks

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Elkhorn Media Group