Measure 114: Liberals Trust Police?

Sign reading Vote No Measure 114
Credit: stop114.com
The left in Oregon supporting Ballot Measure 114 has apparently had a crisis of identity. After years of announcing that police across the country are institutionally racist, classist, and generally mean, bad guys, and specifically calling out Portland Police for using right-wing memes and calling attention to OathKeepers within PPB ranks, we’re at a crossroads. Apparently the right-wing racist/fascist/authoritarians we were told to protest to protect black lives for the last two years are magically not racist or authoritarian at all… so long as we’re talking about gun control.

Yes, the ACAB crowd is suddenly on board with cops, and all it took was Ballot Measure 114: a mishmash of prior failed gun control efforts including a permit-to-purchase system, a pre-requisite training class, a public list of Oregonians who attempt to purchase a firearm, and a 10rd cap on magazine capacity, among other things. This necessarily means that Law Enforcement (the bad guys, remember?) will be the arbiters of every Oregonian’s enumerated right to own a firearm. To clarify once more, for those in the cheap seats, the same people we were told were racist nazi thugs can decide who can be armed, and that’s not just okay, but a good and necessary thing.

Crazier yet, Oregon Law Enforcement seems as apprehensive about measure 114 as you might, and for good reason: The permitting program they’re meant to enact and maintain has no funding, despite the Oregon State Sheriff’s Assn estimating a $40,000,000 annual pricetag. The live-fire gun safety class you will have to take before applying for the permit is not enumerated, nor does anyone seem to know who will be offering it, or where. Gun ranges in Portland are few and far between, and unless you’re a member of a club, most people shoot on BLM land.

Additionally, when we asked Ceasefire Oregon how Law Enforcement was meant to determine which of a pile of 30rd magazines was made before or after measure 114 took effect, we were told that magazine manufacturers inside the state would be required to stamp every magazine they produce to indicate their production date. Do you know any magazine manufacturers inside of Oregon? Neither do we, and judging by the lack of a response to that question, neither do they.

All of this is not new to measure 114, or gun control movements in general. They will court whoever it takes to enact their misguided legislation, and fortunately many of their own are quick to call this out. Along with the usual pro-gun groups, a twitter search of “#NoOnMeasure114” calls up a who’s-who of Socialist, Trans, and general leftist orgs and individuals in the Pacific Northwest calling out Brady, Ceasefire, and everyone else who seems to have forgotten everything they said about police in the 2020’s up to this point. If it feels weird to be on the same side as Socialists, consider that it’s nice to see a coherent message, and a vocal pro-rights stance from any direction these days.

Lars Smith
Lars is one of Gat's Wordmancers, having come to the company after years of experience in biology, agriculture, management, marketing, and writing. He found the gun community through prepping, and after realizing where he was on the Dunning-Kruger scale, jumped into the self-defense community with both feet. Since then, the 80 hours of professional firearms instruction he's taken has only made him hungry for more.