HB 4145 : Gov. Brown’s 2018 Gun Violence Prevention Bill

Position: Support Status: Senate Committee on Judiciary

HB 4145, Governor Kate Brown's Gun Violence Prevention bill passed the House and Senate and was signed into law on March 5.

HB 4145 will prohibit convicted stalkers (not just suspected, but convicted) from purchasing or possessing firearms. In addition, the bill will expand the definition of "intimate partner" in connection to domestic violence and mandate that law enforcement agencies report conviction to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

Update

March 6, 2018

March 5: Bill signed!! Congratulations! February 22: Passed out of the Senate and headed to the Governor's desk. We expect her to sign the bill. February 21: Passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with a "do pass" recommendation. Feb 14: Scheduled for third reading; possible vote on House floor Feb. 9: Passed out of the House Judiciary Committee on a bipartisan vote (Yes: 5 D, 2 R) Look for a House vote the week of February 12. Feb. 6: -1 amendment proposed calls for concealed carry reciprocity, added by Rep. Bill Post. Not expected to pass or have significance. Feb. 6: -3 amendment proposed calls for penalties for filing false information for a court order, added by Rep. Bill Post. (Penalties already exist.) Not expected to pass or have significance. HB 4145 was introduced on January 22, 2018.

HB 4145 is Governor Kate Brown’s Gun Violence Prevention bill. The bill will prohibit convicted stalkers (not just suspected, but convicted) from purchasing or possessing firearms. In addition, the bill will expand the definition of “intimate partner” in connection to domestic violence and mandate that law enforcement agencies report conviction to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

The bill will:

• prohibit convicted stalkers from purchasing or possessing firearms,
• expand the term “intimate partner” to a “family or household member of the person,”
• require the Department of State Police to immediately enter the record of qualifying misdemeanor(1) into Law Enforcement Data System and NICS,
  • (1) “Qualifying misdemeanor” means a misdemeanor that has, as an element of the offense, the use or attempted use of physical force or the threatened use of a deadly weapon. [2015 c.497 §2]
• broaden the scope of agencies who are required to be notified by the Oregon State Police when a person illegally attempts to purchase a firearm. The State Police will:
  • notify Oregon United States Attorney and
  • all state and local law enforcement agencies and district attorneys with jurisdiction when a prohibited firearm purchases attempts to purchase a firearm,
  • require law enforcement or prosecuting attorney’s office to report the action taken after notification and outcome of action, and
  • requires department to publish written report detailing attempted unlawful purchases, including information on investigations and criminal prosecutions.

Closing the Dating Partner Loophole:

• According to the Oregon Health Authority:
  • From 2003 to 2012,  256 people were killed in the context of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Oregon.
  • Most homicide victims were women and children.
  • More than 80% of female victims of intimate partner homicide were killed by their current spouses or boyfriends.
  • Most male victims are killed by someone other than an intimate partner.
  • Firearms are a common mechanism of death among IPV-related homicides.

Current Oregon law states “‘Domestic violence’ means abuse between family or household members.” The law further states:

“‘Family or household members’ means any of the following:

(a)Spouses.

(b)Former spouses.

(c)Adult persons related by blood or marriage.

(d)Persons cohabiting with each other.

(e)Persons who have cohabited with each other or who have been involved in a sexually intimate relationship.

(f)Unmarried parents of a minor child.”

• Expanding the definition of “family or household member” allows domestic violence penalties to be levied against people who are dating but do not meet the categories above (a-f).
• Expanding this definition will protect dating partners.
  • The majority of mass shooters in the U.S. killed their intimate partners or family members.According to Everytown for Gun Safety, mass shooters killed a partner or family member in 54% of shootings—which are defined as incidents in which four or more people are killed by guns. Between January 2009 and December 2016, 422 people were killed in domestic violence disputes; more than 40% of these people were children.
  • About 4.5 million American women report that they have had an intimate partner threaten them with a gun.The University of Pennsylvania’s Susan Sorenson and Rebecca Schut determined that although the number of women shot dead by their partners is in the hundreds, the number threatened is in the millions.
  • Nearly half of American women who are murdered are killed by their intimate partners.According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, an estimated 45% of female homicide victims were killed by an intimate partner in 2007. On the flip side, partners were responsible for 5% of the homicides of men that year. The risk of death increases five-fold when an abuser has access to a firearm.
  • Homicide is the fifth leading cause of death for women between 18 and 44.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that in 2015, homicide caused the death of 3,519 girls and women in the U.S.
  • American women are 16 times more likely to be killed by a gun than women in other developed nations.In a 2016 white paper, University of San Francisco’s Erin Grinshteyn and Harvard University’s David Hemenway compared gun violence in the U.S. to gun violence in other OECD countries between 2003 and 2010. They found that overall, homicide rates in the U.S. were seven times higher than in other high-income countries—and the gun homicide rate was 25 times higher.

History of HB 4145 in 2018 Legislative Session:

We are very excited to report that HB 4145 passed out of the House Judiciary Committee with a “do pass” recommendation! Not only did the pass but two Republicans, Representative Andy Olson of Albany and Representative Richard Vial of Scholls both voted to pass the bill! That is an amazing shift in the way the Oregon legislature responds to gun violence and protecting domestic abuse victims.