Members of several gun rights and hunting groups are asking the Oregon Supreme Court to change the ballot title for an initiative that would require owners to store the weapons with trigger locks or in a locked container.

The proposal would also require owners to directly supervise any child using a gun and report lost or stolen firearms to the police within 24 hours of when they knew, or should have known, it was missing.

Anyone who ignored the storage requirement would be liable for injuries caused using the weapon, unless the injury resulted from self-defense or defense of another person.

Supporters hope to get the initiative on the November ballot.

Relatives of two people killed in the 2012 Clackamas Town Center shooting filed the initiative earlier this year. They have until July 6 to gather more than 88,000 valid signatures to get it on the ballot for the November election. However, they cannot start collecting signatures until the ballot title appeals process has run its course.

On Thursday, members of the NRA, Oregon Firearms Federation, Oregon Hunters Association and Oregon Outdoor Council filed petitions asking the Oregon Supreme Court to make changes to the ballot title.

A lawyer working for state Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum filed the certified ballot title on May 31. The ballot title for Initiative Petition 44 reads: "Requires firearms be locked during storage/transfer, loss reported, minors' use supervised; imposes penalties/liabilities."

More than 400 people submitted comments about the proposed ballot title, according to a letter from senior assistant attorney general Jeff Payne.

"Numerous commenters do not challenge the draft ballot title in any manner," Payne wrote. "Rather, many simply stated support or opposition to the proposed measure, or suggested specific language for use in the ballot title."

Many commenters also appeared confused about Oregon's initiative process, and incorrectly assumed Rosenblum proposed the initiative and the Secretary of State's office could refuse to place the initiative on the ballot.

Some commenters said the ballot title should warn voters the storage requirement is unconstitutional because of a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision that a District of Columbia requirement for guns to be kept unloaded and disassembled or else fitted with a trigger lock violated the Second Amendment.

However, Payne said the Attorney General's office should only describe an initiative as unconstitutional when that is settled law. He pointed out the Supreme Court declined in 2015 to review a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling upholding a similar trigger lock requirement in San Francisco.

Commenters also said the ballot title should place more emphasis on the liability that would result for gun owners who did not correctly store them.

The gun rights and hunting groups also focused on the description of liability in their critiques of the ballot title filed with the Supreme Court. A lawyer for the NRA and Oregon Hunters Association said the caption should also mention "the difficulties of compliance" and "the dubious legality of the strict liability imposed for injuries resulting from any violation."

The court on Friday denied the groups' requests for oral argument, a move that is typical in ballot title appeals. The attorney general now has until June 25 to respond to the petitions.

The ballot title for a second initiative to regulate guns has already been appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court. That proposal, Initiative Petition 43, would ban the sale of many semi-automatic firearms and large ammunition magazines. It would also require current owners to pass a criminal background check and register with the Oregon State Police in order to keep their weapons.



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