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Mark Kelly, husband of former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, joins Gov. John Kitzhaber to testify in favor of expanding background checks for private party gun sales in Oregon.

(Harry Esteve/The Oregonian)

Would you support lowering or eliminating the existing 12-year-old minimum age for hunting big game?

Would you support state legislation requiring all firearm owners to register all their firearms for entry into a centralized state file or database?

Would you support state legislation prohibiting administrators, teachers or other school district employees who are (concealed handgun license) holders from carrying their handguns in their personal vehicles or onto school property?

Those are just three of the 24 questions the

is

.

Such surveys are standard fare in an election cycle. Oregon legislative candidates fill out dozens of similar surveys from advocacy groups probing their positions on abortion, the environment, tax policy, business regulation and a variety of other issues. Candidates can spend hours poring over the surveys, since advocacy groups use their responses to rate candidates, issue endorsements and hand out checks.

The

, dated March 21, asks candidates to sign and return it by April 4.

"If you choose not to return a questionnaire, you may be assigned a '?' rating, which can be interpreted by our membership as indifference, if not outright hostility, toward Second Amendment-related issues," the survey says in bold.

-- Yuxing Zheng

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