SALEM -- A package of four gun bills drafted after the Sandy Hook and Clackamas shootings stayed on track Friday following a marathon hearing that pitted Gov. John Kitzhaber and several victims of gun violence against a National Rifle Association lobbyist and several impassioned gun-rights activists.

After the four-hour hearing, Senate Judiciary Chairman

, D-Eugene, said he intends to proceed with the four bills, which he called "common-sense legislation regarding gun safety."

Prozanski said he would work on amendments to the measures and bring the bills back to the committee for a vote before April 18.

The measures are relatively mild compared to the tight restrictions some states have imposed after 20 children and six adults were killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School last December.

The Oregon measures would expand background checks to cover private gun transfers (

), allow school districts to ban concealed handgun licensees from carrying their firearms on school grounds (

), and prohibit licensees from openly carrying weapons in public buildings (

). The fourth measure, (

) would require applicants for concealed handgun licenses to pass a firing range test.

Those measures were provocative enough to draw an overflow crowd to the Legislature's largest hearing room. Four other rooms were opened for those who came to listen or testify and the state police put on a strong show of security inside the Capitol.

Kitzhaber, who backed a ban on military-style semi-automatic weapons following the December shootings, said expanding the use of background checks is a "reasonable measure to make sure guns do not fall into the hands of people who should not have them."

He also said school districts should have the choice of whether they want to keep concealed handgun licensees from bringing guns onto school grounds.

Daniel Reid, a Sacramento-based lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, countered that the Senate bills won't stop gun crimes.

"These bills will do nothing but target law-abiding citizens," said Reid, arguing that concealed handgun licensees have a strong record of using guns responsibly. He also said that background checks have been a failure because the state and federal governments have not prosecuted the vast majority of people who fail the checks.

"Sometimes it seems like these measures are less the product of an agenda than of a vendetta," added Kevin Starrett, a lobbyist for the Oregon Firearms Federation, another gun-rights group.

Some of the most emotional testimony came from family members of Cindy Yuille and Steve Forsyth, the two people killed in the

.

Happy Valley resident Paul Kemp, Forsyth's brother-in-law, said that his sister and her daughter were in a separate part of the mall that day and frantically tried to reach him on his cell phone after hearing shots.

"My sister and daughter are haunted by the sound of those gunshots," said Kemp, arguing that it is time to tighten regulations on firearms.

Jenna Passalacqua, the daughter of Cindy Yuille, conceded that the restrictions in the bill would not have prevented the Clackamas mall shooter, Jacob Roberts, from obtaining the gun he used to shoot her mother and Forsyth before killing himself.

But she said that these measures would help move the state toward reducing gun violence.

Beaverton resident Rachel Lucas, who formed the pro-gun group Safer Oregon after she was sexually assaulted, countered that guns are the "great equalizer" that help women and disabled people fend off violent attackers. She said she was gratified to read about the woman in Oregon City who scared off an attacker by flashing her gun at him after he had grabbed her by the hair and started to drag her.

Much of the discussion revolved around whether schoolchildren are safer or more endangered if handgun licensees are carrying guns on campus

Portland Police Chief Mike Reese said having someone armed at a school could create more problems if police are called to the scene for some reason.

"It puts us in a precarious incident if we're responding and we don't know who on the campus might be armed," he said.

Retired Florence Police Chief Maurice Sanders said the few minutes it took police to respond to the shootings at Sandy Hook cost the lives of more children. If the principal who was killed trying to stop the attacker had a gun, she might have been able to stop him, Sanders said.

Prozanski said said he wants to make sure school districts can choose whether to allow concealed handguns. At a rural school where the police could be an hour away, that might make a lot of sense, he said.

Reid, the NRA lobbyist, argued that this would create a patchwork of laws around the state that wouldn't provide clear rules for concealed handgun licensees.

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales said city residents often have a different view of guns than those in rural areas. He said the pro-gun activists who openly carried semi-automatic rifles through Sellwood in January "produced dozens of 911 calls and the lockdown of a local school."

He particularly praised the measure that would require that concealed weapon licensees keep their firearms out of view if they are in a public building.

Openly carrying their guns has a "chilling effect on public participation in the democratic process," Hales argued.

While the Senate Judiciary Committee was attracting so much heat, the House Education Committee quietly passed a measure,

, allowing the state treasurer to issue $18.75 million in bonds to help pay for security upgrades at schools. Also drafted in response to the Sandy Hook shootings, the bill now goes to the budget-writing Joint Ways and Means Committee.

-- Jeff Mapes