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Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. He said Thursday that a revived bill to expand background checks requirements on gun sales will pass the Oregon Legislature when they convene in February.

(Tyler Tjomsland / The Oregonian )

The debate over universal background checks on gun sales is returning to the Oregon Legislature, and this time the bill’s author says he’ll have the votes to pass it.

Four bills expanding regulations on guns cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee last year but failed to get a vote on the floor.

Now, Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, is focusing on one bill to expand background checks, and he expects to get an up-or-down vote.

“I feel that when that bill goes to the floor we will have the votes that we need,” Prozanski said Thursday.

But the political fate of the measure is anything but clear.

Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Hillsboro, said Prozanski hasn't shared the bill draft with his caucus. Regardless, he said he won't support it and that no other Republican is expected to.

Democrats maintain a narrow 16-14 majority in the Senate, meaning one defection would crater Prozanski’s chances.

Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, a key swing vote in the Senate, said she wouldn't comment on the bill until she's read it.

Kevin Starrett, executive director of the Oregon Firearms Federation, said he doesn’t think anything’s changed since last year when Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, kept the bills from reaching the floor because Democrats couldn’t muster the votes.

“There’s nothing that would lead me to believe that anything’s changed,” Starrett said.

Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, said having a vote on the bill would address the growing frustration among gun-control advocates about a lack of action in the Legislature following mass shootings in Clackamas and Connecticut.

“I think it’s going to the floor to call the question,” Burdick said.

Polling last February showed voters support universal background checks, but that sentiment hasn't carried to the Oregon Senate, Burdick said.

“There’s a real disconnect -- and has been for the whole time that I’ve been in office -- a real disconnect between what the public wants and what the Legislature is willing to do,” Burdick said.

The bill would be essentially identical to Senate Bill 700 from last year. It would require anyone who buys a gun in a private sale to be screened. Prozanski said he plans to expand exemptions in the bill allowing family members to give each other guns without a background check.

Under current law, only purchases from registered dealers and those made at gun shows require background checks.

Prozanski, a gun owner, said 2,378 gun sales were stopped in 2012 after buyers failed a background check.

But felons who are denied a sale at a gun shop can find a private gun sale online or elsewhere to get around the requirements, Prozanski said.

“What we have is a gaping loophole that allows felons to getting easy access,” Prozanski said. “Who wants a rapist, a sex offender, a murderer or another felon to have easy access to guns when the law says they’re not supposed to have access to guns?”

Starrett said expanding the background check requirement would punish only law-abiding gun buyers. Criminals would still seek out guns on the street, while additional innocent buyers would be mistakenly flagged.

“When a bad person goes and tries to buy a gun and they’re denied, you know what happens to them? Nothing,” Starrett said. “When a legitimate person is denied, they’re screwed, they’re totally screwed because now they have to go prove they’re innocent.”

-- Christian Gaston