Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Monday signed a bill requiring background checks on private gun sales, marking the first time in more than 14 years that the state has significantly tightened its firearms laws.

"We have an obligation to protect Oregonians from gun violence," Brown said before signing Senate Bill 941. "If we want to keep our kids, schools and communities safe, we must make it harder for dangerous people to get guns."

The last major tightening of Oregon's gun laws came in 2000 when voters approved an initiative requiring background checks for all firearms sales at gun shows.

Since then, the National Rifle Association and other gun activists had successfully blocked attempts to tighten gun laws, including after the mass shootings in 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut, and Clackamas Town Center in the Portland area.

The tide turned last year when Everytown for Gun Safety, a group financially backed by New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg, helped elect two more Democrats in the state Senate and turned the political tide in the Oregon Legislature.

Everytown and other groups seeking tougher gun laws praised passage of the bill as a landmark both in Oregon and nationally while the National Rifle Association said the bill would fail to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

SB 941 requires background checks for most gun transactions involving private parties to prevent sales to people legally prohibited from owning firearms, including felons and those committed for mental health treatment. The measure includes several exemptions, including for transfers among family members and for people who lend guns for hunting and for use at firing ranges.

Former Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband Kelly, who formed Americans for Responsible Solutions after she was shot and seriously injured in 2011, said they hoped passage of the bill would send a message to Congress.

"Today, Oregon became a safer place to live and joined a growing list of states that have had what Congress has not: the courage to stand up to the gun lobby," they said in a statement.

Oregon supporters of the bill said they would now work on finding other legislation aimed at curbing gun violence. Robert Yuille, who became an activist after his wife Cindy was killed in the Clackamas Town Center shootings, said he would now push for legislation aimed at pushing gun owners to lock up their firearms if there is a minor in their home.

"I think we see this as absolutely a first step in ongoing discussions" about reducing gun violence, said Jake Weigler of the Oregon Alliance for Gun Safety. He said passage of the bill showed that Democratic members of the Legislature -- all Republican lawmakers opposed the measure -- don't need to avoid measures opposed by the NRA and other gun groups.

In Oregon, the NRA phoned, emailed and wrote its members urging them to contact their legislators in opposition to the bill. But the group didn't attempt to match Everytown for Gun Safety, which ran both TV and digital ads in the run-up to the legislative vote.

Still, House passage of the bill wasn't assured until the last day when two wavering Democratic legislators, Rep. Brian Clem of Salem and Paul Evans of Monmouth, agreed to support the measure.

In addition, opponents of the measure have launched recall campaigns against Sen. Chuck Riley, D-Hillsboro, Rep. Susan McCain, D-Forest Grove, and House Majority Leader Val Hoyle, D-Eugene.

It's not clear if backers of the recall can gather the needed signatures -- 15 percent of the votes cast for governor in each district -- by July 13 for Hoyle and by July 14 for the other two. Riley showed up at the bill signing, saying that he wasn't happy to be dragged into an attempted recall but added: "I'm glad I'm supporting the bill. It's going to make Oregon safer."

Catherine Mortensen, an NRA spokeswoman, argued that the bill would only burden law-abiding gun owners when they try to do such things as lend guns to long-time friends while doing nothing to end gun violence.

"The vast majority of criminals get their guns through theft, the black market, straw purchases or from friends and family members," she said in a statement, not from sales subject to a background check.

--Jeff Mapes

503-221-8209

@Jeffmapes