It might seem that what we are doingâtrying to buy a gun from a complete stranger with no IDâis breaking the law. Itâs not.

Not here, and not in most other states. In fact, gun sales in Oregon are about as casual as shopping at a farmers market.

Gun shops are required to check ID and perform a background check on buyers to look for felony convictions, domestic-violence prevention orders and mental-health records.

And Oregon is one of a handful of states that have closed the âgun-show loophole,â so all sales at gun shows also require a background check.

But for âperson to personâ gun sales, thereâs no background check or ID required. You can sell a gun out of your garage or on the streetâno questions asked. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, about 40 percent of American firearms sales happen that way.

Only California, Rhode Island, Chicago and Washington, D.C., require background checks for every firearm purchase. Maryland, Connecticut and Pennsylvania require background checks for all handgun sales. In Oregon, and elsewhere, person-to-person sales are wide open.

âThatâs one of the reasons I give Oregon a B [for its gun laws],â says Kevin Starrett, head of the Oregon Firearms Federation.

Law enforcement and gun-control advocates say it also enables weapons to flow into the wrong hands. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms tracks only the first time a gun is sold by an authorized dealer.

After that?

âIt can be sold every day of the week for the next 10 years with no paperwork,â says Fred Weinhouse, who prosecutes federal gun crimes at the U.S. Attorneyâs Office in Portland.

Weinhouse outlines several ways firearms end up in the hands of minors and criminals. They can arrange a straw buyer at a gun shop. They can provide fake ID. But itâs much easier just to buy it on the street, like Iâm trying to do.

Mayor Adams talks a lot about âillegal guns.â How many are out there? Itâs a tricky question, because in the strictest sense, thereâs no such thing as an illegal gun.

A gun might be stolenâthat would make it illegal to possess, if the buyer knew that it was stolen. But thatâs a hard case to make.

âHow do you prove that someone knew an item was stolen?â asks Pat Callahan, a chief deputy district attorney for Multnomah County. âHe pretty much has to admit it.â

Or a person can be ineligible to bear armsâlike a felon, a minor or a dangerously insane person. But that makes the owner illegal, not the gun.

How many firearms in Portland are in the wrong hands? Remember, most guns fall off the grid after their first sale. The question brings belly laughs from law enforcement.

âI could not even guess,â says Sgt. Jami Resch, head of the Portland copsâ gun task force. âThere are millions of guns in the country. You have to assume a fair share are in the hands of people who arenât supposed to have them.â

A Duke University study in 2001 found that more than half a million guns are stolen each year in America. And a Justice Department survey found that 8.4 percent of prison inmates who wielded a gun during their crime obtained it illegally.

Basically, the only way Iâd be breaking the law would be if the seller actually told me the gun was stolen. And that wasnât going to happen.





Our next stop is Magooâs, a bar on Northeast 42nd Avenue where Johnson tells me we might find what Iâm looking for. We walk in shortly before 8 pm and drop 50 cents into the only pool table in the place.

Iâd normally be drinking a beer. Tonight I opt for a turkey sandwich and water. While Johnson chats with the handful of patrons in the bar, I try to pick my pool shots. Iâm a passable player, but distraction is my enemy. Tonight I scratch twice and leave three balls on the table.

A tall guy in a black ball cap and his girlfriend sit down in one corner. The man orders a beer, but the womanâs having nothing. Johnson knows the guyâa Blood who might be able to help us. The man is heavily tattooed, including a teardrop under his left eye.

Johnson motions for me to stay behind at the pool table while he walks over to the man. They hold a hushed conversation while I pretend to focus on my pool game.

Johnson returns about five minutes later. The man refused to help.

âHeâs into something totally different now, getting himself together,â Johnson says. âHeâs trying to make his way in life without being criminally active.â

Good for him, but it doesnât help my searchâwhich Iâm worried will be as frustrating as Adamsâ mission of taking guns off the street.





As police commissioner, Adams assigned a sergeant and four officers last October to work full time ridding the city of illegal firearms. Adams emphasized that meant stolen guns, and guns in the hands of children and felons.

Resch, the North Precinct sergeant and a 12-year veteran, was tapped to head the gun task force. A street sergeant from East Precinct, she has steel-blue eyes and a clipped voice.

Credits: James Pitkin

Resch says her team tracks cases that might otherwise be forgotten. Say thereâs a report of an armed man threatening people in a bar, or a man waving a gun at his wife. If the suspect disappears by the time regular cops arrive, those cases may go uninvestigated.

No longer.

âWe try to follow every lead as far as we can,â Resch says. âIf we find out someone bought the gun from somebody else, we will try to find that person. We will trace a gun back as far as we can.â

In one recent case, Resch says, someone picked up by East Precinct officers said they had information about a burglary in Vancouver where firearms were stolen. The gun team followed up, found the victim, and eventually arrested four suspects. They recovered seven of the nine guns stolen from the house. Theyâd been sold all over the metro area, in Clackamas, Washington, Multnomah and Clark counties.

Itâs clear Reschâs team has a difficult task in a city Adams says is âawashâ in illegal guns. And the team is watched closely by City Hall and the chiefâs office, says Lt. Tom McGranahan, head of police tactical operations. He insists theyâve performed well in a tough environment.

The results?

Nine-plus months after Adams started the team, the Police Bureau says itâs confiscated a total of 132 illegal guns.

Thatâs approximately one gun every other day for the five-member team, or one gun every 12 days for each member of the team.

Credits: James Pitkin

Meanwhile, the city has spent at least $192,000 on those copsâ collective salaries. Thatâs at least $1,450 for each gun taken from the wrong hands.

The gun task force made its biggest score July 9 when, acting on a tip, they busted into convicted felon Dohnald Hartmanâs home in Clackamas County and seized 17 handguns, rifles and shotguns.

Locking up a truck driver from Milwaukie is pretty far from the kind of gang-busting work Adams talked about when he launched the gun team. But his cops didnât miss the opportunity to call a press conference and tout the case.

âThis gentleman is the poster child for the purpose of the gun task force,â Assistant Chief Eric Hendricks told TV cameras. âThe public is safer as a result.â

And what about Adamsâ five new gun laws?

They punish adults who let their guns get into a childâs hands, penalize owners who donât report firearm thefts, exclude gun offenders from shooting hot spots, establish curfews for child gun offenders and set a minimum 30 days in jail for convicted gun offenders caught with a loaded firearm.

The outcome eight months later? Fred Lenszer, a Multnomah County deputy district attorney, says no oneâs been prosecuted under the new misdemeanor crime Adams created. And only 13 people have been excluded from the hot spots.

Adams insists the police task force and new laws are paying off. And he says his focus on guns hasnât detracted from his anti-gang work in other areas, like jobs and education.

âThe amount of lives saved by getting those guns off the street, to me, and to most Portlanders, I think, is worth it,â Adams says. âWhen you can go to the Quickie Mart and buy an illegal gun on just a random night, it shows how bad the problem is.â

And thatâs exactly what I was trying to do.





Itâs 9:10 pm. Johnson and I drive to the Safeway parking lot on the corner of Ainsworth and Martin Luther King Boulevard.

The southwest corner of the lot faces Quick Trip, a convenience store where Johnson says many gangbangers and wannabes buy their blunts.

Men in baggy shorts and ball caps shuttle in and out of the shop. Johnson steps out of my car and walks past a smoke-gray Chevy Tahoe parked directly in front of me.

A young black man with a âfro-hawk hairdo and a long-sleeved white T-shirt behind the wheel of the Tahoe catches Johnsonâs eye as Johnson steps past the door of the SUV.

âYou looking?â the man asks. Johnson nods.

âFor what?â

âA whammy,â Johnson replies.

The man glances at me warily. His friend arrives back at the Tahoe carrying a bag of blunts from the Quick Trip. Johnson assures them both that they donât need to worry about me. We work out a deal. The driver will sell me what I want for $150. Theyâll run home and come back with it. We agree to wait, and the Tahoe heads north on MLK.

Two minutes after pulling into the Safeway parking lot, weâve arranged to buy a 9 mm handgun.

The seller told us heâd be back in 20 minutes. It takes twice that long. We pass the time munching Doritos and gulping iced tea in my car. Both of us have shaky hands.

At 9:50, the Tahoe returns. It reeks of marijuana smoke.

The driver reaches into the back seat, where empty Vitaminwater bottles lay discarded next to a vacant child safety seat. Among the bottles is a dirty pillowcase. The driver lifts it into the front seat, unfolds it, and pulls out a black handgun and a clip with seven bullets inside.

I lift the gun. Itâs heavier than I expected. The driver folds it back inside the pillowcase, along with the loaded clip, and hands me the bundle. I hand over $160 (he doesnât have change for my $20 bills), and I ask the driver how many guns he has sold. âToo many.â Where did he get this one? âOn Killingsworth.â Does he ever ask the buyers why they want a gun?

âThat ainât my business,â he says. âI grab it, and if somebody else needs it, I give it to them.â

The Tahoe pulls away at 10 pm. My heart is still pounding, my legs numbed by adrenaline. It just took me less than three hours to buy a gun in Portland. I could have been anyoneâa felon, a kid or a gang member.

âOn the street,â Johnson says, âif you know what you want and you are determined, you will find it.â



In the Safeway parking lot, after making the buy.

