Oregon law on concealed carry reveals ease of getting and using a gun

Guns, non violence sculpture

Carol Forsloff--In Oregon you can now get a concealed carry gun permit online. This means more doors opening to the availability of guns. On the anniversary of the shooting at Sandy Hook, little has changed.

Guns continue to proliferate. As Oregon underlines, the attitude continues to be “I have a right to protect myself and my family.” That Wild West motto continues in spite of the fact that taxes support having police and sheriff offices to protect the public.

These are the qualifications for a concealed carry gun permit in Oregon:

1. A citizen of the United States or a legal resident alien who has lived in the country for at least six months


2. Not a convicted felon


3. No outstanding warrant for an arrest


4. Not found guilty of a misdemeanor


5. 21 or older


6. Demonstrated competence with a handgun 

Mental health issues are not mentioned as part of the criteria. Furthermore one can be an individual from  another country and bent on a terrorist act and be able to obtain a concealed carry permit if the individual has resided legally in the US for at least six months.

And actually you can demonstrate your proficiency with a gun online.  No you don't have to actually shoot a gun, but take a test online that simulates it.

Safeguards for legally carrying a concealed handgun remain as they have been, sufficiently limited that most people would qualify for a gun permit.

There were 163,650 Oregon CHL holders as of January of this year.


And from the Oregon Health Department are these statistics:

• On average, at least one Oregonian dies from firearm
injury every day.

• Firearm fatalities occur due to suicide, homicide legal
intervention, unintentional shootings, and undetermined
intent shootings. The most of them (83%) were due to
suicide (Figure below).

• Males were more likely to die from firearm injury than
females. Older males (ages >= 65) had the highest
firearm injury death rate due to high suicide rates (Table
1-3).

• Young people ages 18 to 24 were at the highest risk being
a victim of homicide by firearm (Table 3).

• Weapons used in firearm fatalities were handguns
(73%), rifles (15%), and shotguns (11%).

• Firearms accounted for 55 percent of suicides, 53
percent of homicides, and 86 percent of deaths in
homicide-suicide events.

• 41% of people who died by firearm suicide had a
depressed mood, 35% had a diagnosed mental illness, and
28% were being treated for a mental illness.

• 90% of homicide suspects killed people that they knew.

1. C1. Citizen of the United States; or

Oregon drug arrests part of increased prison numbers exceeding Stalin'sRussia

[caption id="attachment_11849" align="alignleft" width="120"] Marijuana plant[/caption]

Carol Forsloff - In Oregon, a state that legalizes marijuana for medical purposes, there is a felony arrest for possession or distribution of the drug weekly, often leading to incarceration of those arrested, at a time when the number of inmates in American jails exceeds that of Stalin's during the time of his worst efforts to control Russian citizenry through imprisonment and torture.

We are, as Fareed Zakaria points out, "the incarceration nation."

Even some religious leaders, like Pat Roberts,  according to Zakaria, are taking a second look at their beliefs about marijuana and the  rapidly growing number of people going to jail for drug possession or for crimes involving drugs.  Recent estimates place the number in American jails at 6 million.

This comes also at a time, when the State of Oregon has reaffirmed the right to bear arms in almost every place, including on college campuses. This occurs despite the fact that research has proven over and over again that it is not the violent thinking and behavior of people that drives gun violence, but the availability of guns everywhere. Many of these firearms are obtained from the drug lords and through individuals at gun shows or on roadsides that come from drug-related activities. These guns for drugs trades are happening everywhere, as  recent arrests reveal.

It's guns for drugs, and its guns and increased violence as well. And its drug laws that don't discriminate and often are contradictory that continue to create problems for law enforcement and the American citizenry, experts tell us. It is the evidence about gun availability that Zakaria had examined in an earlier article.

The Rogue Area Drug Enforcement (RADE) team had been investigating the Wolf Creek area which led to the arrest Wednesday of a man who lives in the area and is the owner of the Grants Pass business "Get Your Hemp On/Southern Oregon Cannabis Club". Fifteen pounds of marijuana were taken by law enforcement along with 300 small marijuana plants. Richard Larry Lacey, age 62, has been charged with multiple felonies resulting from his arrest for marijuana with an estimated street value of $37,500.

The State of Oregon legalizes marijuana for medical use. That medical use requires state registration of the users and growers, but still conflicts with the federal mandate that outlaws the sale and possession of the drug.

It also means more and more people are arrested for possessing the drug despite the state mandates allowing its distribution legally within Oregon borders. And it also means the possible incarceration of another individual, adding to the increase in state budgets for jails and to the Stalinized methods of jailing American citizens.