washingtongunprotest.jpg

Gun-rights protesters carry firearms into the Washington Capitol during a protest against a new voter-approved law expanding background checks on gun purchases. Oregon is considering a similar law.

(AP Photo/seattlepi.com, Jordan Stead)

SALEM -- A key Oregon legislator says he is finishing work on a bill to expand background checks to almost all gun transactions in Oregon.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, said the bill will include provisions affecting people with mental health issues and for those who fail background checks.

The legislation is being closely watched by both advocates and opponents of gun control. It also will provide another test for the strengthened Democratic majority in the Legislature.

Six other states have adopted universal background checks -- the last being a ballot measure passed by Washington voters in November -- though similar bills failed to pass the Oregon Legislature in 2013 and 2014.

But Democrats, who received major campaign contributions from a national gun-control group last year, think they now have a big enough majority to pass the bill.

"I think they're going to get it done this time," said House Judiciary Chairman Jeff Barker, D-Aloha, a retired Portland police officer who is skeptical that expanding background checks would have much impact. But he said strong public polling for the measure and the bigger Democratic majority should help it get through both houses.

Everytown for Gun Safety, a group backed by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, gave $200,000 to efforts by Democrats last year to increase their majority in the Oregon Senate, according to disclosure reports.

Democrats quickly pushed other bills this year that stalled in prior sessions, but Prozanski said he and legislative leaders have taken their time in introducing a gun-control bill.

"This time I decided it was better to be much more specific," said Prozanski, in hopes that it will help blunt criticism from opponents.

Oregon currently requires background checks for purchases from a licensed dealer or at a gun show. The state conducts checks on about 20,000 gun sales a month, according to Oregon State Police reports.

Of those, around 200 sales are denied because prospective buyers fall into a prohibited category, such as having a felony conviction or having been committed because of mental illness.

Prozanski's bills would expand the background check requirement to gun transfers between individuals, whether through an Internet ad or simply personal contact.

Gun-rights supporters have charged that it's ridiculous to require close friends to obtain background checks. After Washington voters approved universal background checks in November, opponents of the new law held a rally at the Capitol in Olympia, where they said they tried to deliberately violate the law by passing firearms among among one another.

Prozanski said he wants to quell such concerns by including provisions dealing with innocuous situations, such as when law enforcement agencies transfer firearms among officers or when one hunter lends a gun to another.

He said he has a provision for when someone takes a firearm to a gunsmith, and has strengthened exemptions for relatives. "We're calling it out and putting it in there," he said.

Kevin Starrett of the Oregon Firearms Federation said he remains critical of expanding background checks.

"The more complex you make it, the more impossible it's going to be to have something you can enforce," he said.

Starrett argued that Oregon's background check system is already riddled with errors that prevent or delay legitimate buyers from getting a gun.

"If government can arbitrarily turn this right off and on, then it isn't a right," he said.

Gun-rights activists have also complained that the state has been slow to investigate people who fail background checks.

Then-Gov. John Kitzhaber last year ordered the state police to begin investigating people who fail background checks. Reports since then still show few prosecutions.

Prozanski said his bill would order that local law enforcement agencies be notified when someone fails a background check. Police have limited resources and may not be able to follow up on all reports, he said, but they should at least have the information.

Prozanski also wants to require judges to decide whether someone ordered to get outpatient mental health treatment should be barred from having a gun while they are in treatment. Judges probably already have this authority, he said, but he wants to require them to decide whether someone's gun rights should be suspended.

Prozanski said it's hard to know how many private transactions would be covered by an expanded background check system. But he argued that it's more important than ever for Oregon given Washington's adoption of universal background checks.

"It's obvious that felons from Washington can come to Oregon and purchase guns" they can't get at home, he said.

-- Jeff Mapes

503-221-8209

@Jeffmapes