Oregon PSR supports Initiative Petition 17, a common-sense gun safety measure drafted by Lift Every Voice Oregon (LEVO). There is a very simple way to sign this petition: go to the website of Lift Every Voice Oregon (LEVO) and sign the petitions from home! All you have to do is print the signature page, sign it twice, print your name and address once, and send it to LEVO. The deadline for petition signatures being delivered to the LEVO office is the evening of next Tuesday, July 5th, so please sign and send today!
Initiative Petition (IP) 17: Safe Owners and Less Lethal Ammunition
- Requires a permit to purchase all firearms
- Requires a purchaser to pass a background check, and no sale of a gun can be completed before the background check is completed
- Requires a purchaser to complete a safety training program, including hands-on training
- Requires improvement in the database to track guns that are lost, stolen, or used to commit crimes
- Prohibits the manufacture, sale, transfer, and possession of magazines over 10 rounds, just like Washington State passed in February, 2022
- Previously owned magazines may be retained with limited use
- Exception for duty-only use by military and law enforcement
As you can see from the above components of IP 17, passing this initiative will increase responsible gun ownership. Requiring permits to purchase firearms reduces homicides, suicides, gun trafficking, and shootings of police. Requiring passing a background check is well-supported by a majority of Oregonians. In mass shooting situations, it is well-known that large-capacity magazines result in higher death tolls. Reducing the number of rounds that a shooter can fire before pausing to reload allows more children and adults to escape and survive an attack. It also allows more opportunity for intervention by law enforcement. IP 17 is worthy of our support!
In order for IP 17 to be on Oregon's November ballot, 140,000 active registered voters need to sign the petition. Please visit the website of Lift Every Voice Oregon today and find the petition to sign from your home!
Lastly, if you support this initiative, please consider sending this email on to at least ten of your Oregon registered voter friends. Let's get this initiative onto the November 2022 ballot and passed into law!
Our children deserve nothing less.
(This article was written by Andy Harris, MD, Oregon PSR Advisory Board Member)