When Portland Mayor Sam Adams recently proposed three new city gun laws and two changes to existing city code, he joined several mayors across the country who are trying to pass gun-control laws that state lawmakers would not -- or could not.

"It's amazing to me the denial around the connection between inadequacy in our gun laws and gun crimes on the street. The Legislature hasn't connected those dots," Adams said. "The absence of meaningful gun law changes must end. I'm intent on changing that."

Establishing such gun laws is probably a tall order. Firearms advocates are quick to challenge proposals that limit guns, and some already are calling Adams' effort "laughable" and a publicity stunt.

People who favor such laws, however, said taking action on the city level can be the first step to change.

Adams, who contends that Portland is awash in illegal firearms, released

hours after he came under fire for not attending a Gang Violence Task Force meeting Aug. 20. The task force gathers every other week, but that meeting came after at least nine gang-related shootings within 36 hours.

The mayor, saying he was on top of the problem, distributed a draft of the ordinance and said it had been in the works since he took over as police commissioner in late May.

Mayors in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle, among others, have adopted some of the proposals Adams offers.

Mayor Sam Adams' proposed gun-control laws

1.

Would amend city's curfew law,

adding a 9:15 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for minors who have been found by a court to have possessed, bought, used, transferred or transported a firearm unlawfully. (Current code sets a 9:15 p.m. curfew on weeknights for minors under age 14 who have not started high school, increasing it to 10:15 p.m. when there's no school the next day; and a 10:15 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for children 14 and older, extended to midnight if there's no school the next day.)

2. Creates new city crime, endangering a child by allowing access to a firearm,

and sets a sliding scale of penalties involving jail time and a fine, dependent upon danger to community. An adult would be guilty of the crime if he or she failed to prevent access to a firearm, whether loaded or unloaded, to a child without permission, or the permission of a parent or guardian. The penalty increases if the child carries the firearm off the gun owner's premises. And it reaches the most severe penalty if the child carries the firearm to any school, school-sponsored or school-related event. The penalty levels haven't been decided. It would not apply if a child obtained a gun through illegal entry to a home, or if the gun was locked away, secured or inoperable, or the child discharged it in self-defense.

3. Creates new city crime: failure to report theft or loss of a firearm.

A gun owner would have to report a theft or loss of a firearm within 48 hours of learning of a theft, or misplacement of a gun, and provide its description and serial number to law enforcement. If not, the owner would be subject to a $500 fine. If an owner reported a gun stolen but didn't provide the serial number, he or she would face a $200 administrative fee.

4. Increases penalty for existing city crime: possession of a loaded firearm in a public place.

The courts would impose a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 days for someone convicted of carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle, including a transit vehicle. Right now, the court has discretion to sentence a violator for up to six months in prison and face a fine up to $500, but it's rarely done. This would not affect those with concealed-handgun licenses.

5. Designates illegal firearms use hot spots,

valid for a three-year period, and gives the city the authority to exclude gun offenders who are on probation or under juvenile authority from entering a public area or park within the designated hot-spot locations, unless they live in the area, go to school, obtain social services there or travel through it. The hot spots would be areas where gun crimes or illegal discharges are significantly higher than that for other similar-size geographic locations.

-- Maxine Bernstein

The most common: Hold adults responsible if their gun gets into a child's hands, and penalize gun owners who don't report the theft or loss of a firearm. The theft reporting law could make it harder for gun owners to claim their gun was stolen if it surfaced in a crime, when they may have sold it illegally.

But one of his proposals -- an exclusion zone that would apply special rules in areas high in gun violence, to bar convicted gun offenders as a condition of probation -- appears unique, gun-control experts say.

"I think the cities are saying we're not getting help from the state, or Washington, but the problem is here, and we have a responsibility to our citizens to do what we can do," said Garen Wintemute, an emergency physician and director of the

.

Jon Vernick, co-director of

, said the municipal steps could spur state legislative action. "The hope is that as cities enact these laws ... states and federal lawmakers will become a little more willing to do the same."

Portland's deputy city attorney, Dave Woboril, said he reviewed other cities' laws, legal challenges and court rulings.

Five proposals emerged. Three would be new laws: the child safety, theft reporting and exclusion zone measures. The two others would amend existing laws: a special curfew for juveniles who have been convicted of a gun offense, and an increase to a maximum 30-day jail sentence for previous offenders carrying a gun in a public place, including in a vehicle or on transit. This does not affect concealed-handgun license holders.

Gun-rights activists denounced Adams' plan, calling it a "PR stunt" that will backfire.

They cited an Oregon law adopted in 1995 that says no city or other municipal district can enact civil or criminal ordinances to regulate, restrict or prohibit the sale, acquisition, transfer, ownership, possession, storage, transportation or use of firearms, or any component of firearms, such as ammunition.

"Several of the things he's proposed are clearly not lawful," said Kevin Starrett, executive director of

. "All of these regulations are like putting signs outside a bank that says 'No parking for bank robbers.'

"The fact is these issues are not going to be addressed by anything having to do with guns. These people who are violent can be creative. We've got laws against cocaine, but there ain't no shortage of it."

Starrett said the child-access proposal would regulate how guns are stored, in violation of the law, and that the city also can't penalize a gun owner for not reporting the loss of a firearm. The proposed curfew and exclusionary zones, Starrett said, may be lawful, but he called them "laughable."

"Adams' response to this outbreak of violence is to tell the gang bangers they ought to be in bed early, or that they can't cross the street," Starrett said. "I just don't think there's any legal or constitutional basis to tell a person who is not incarcerated when or where he can't go."

Woboril expects the code changes, if approved by the council, will hold up in court. He points out that the special curfew, increased penalty for previous offenders and the exclusions would affect only people already convicted of a gun offense.

"They have nothing to do with the use or handling of guns," Woboril said.

lobbied for a statewide child-access prevention law three years ago. "In '07, it absolutely did not go anywhere," said Penny Okamato, Ceasefire Oregon's executive director. "We're hoping we have more traction on it this year."

The nonprofit also had supported a lost-and-stolen reporting state bill but said it fell to the gun-rights lobby's influence.

Okamato applauded Adams' proposal, saying it would give police extra tools to try to prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands. And police say the special curfew and zone exclusions would give officers a way to take volatile youths or criminals out of a heated environment.

Critics say the proposed exclusionary zones would just move the violence from one neighborhood to another. Adams says it's a fair concern.

"The goal is to not move them, but dissipate and reduce the number of gun crimes," he said. He also wants to make sure the law is narrowly drawn so exclusions affect only gun offenders as a condition of probation.

Tonya Dickens, a veteran gang outreach worker who has been called to many of the recent gang shootings to ease tensions on the street, says everyone seems to come up with his own answers.

Mapping violence in Portland

"I just wish I could see something that's more tangible to our young people, like resources for jobs, job training and education," she said.

Law enforcement, meanwhile, will watch the process to make sure police can enforce any new laws and the district attorney's office can prosecute them.

"It's good the mayor's weighing in and using his bully pulpit,"

said. "We've tried to take a very active role against people possessing, carrying or misusing firearms."

who has introduced gun-control bills in Salem, called it "questionable" whether Adams' plans can go through, considering the state's pre-emption law.

"But I think he ought to forge ahead anyway," she said. "The fundamental problem we have in Salem is the extremist end of the spectrum in the gun-owning community dominates the debate. They look bigger than they are because they're so loud."

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