BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Portland, Oregon challenging provisions of Ballot Measure 114, the restrictive gun control initiative passed Nov. 8 which bans standard capacity ammunition magazines among its tenets.
Joining SAF in the legal action are G4 Archery, Grayguns, Inc., the Firearms Policy Coalition and a private citizen, Mark Fitz. They are represented by attorney James L. Buchal, Murphy & Buchal LLP in Portland. Named as defendants are Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and State Police Supt. Terri Davie, in their official capacities. A motion for temporary restraining order may be read here.
“As we immediately explain in our lawsuit, the State of Oregon has criminalized one of the most common and important means by which its citizens can exercise their fundamental right of self-defense,” noted SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “By banning the manufacture, importation, possession, use, purchase, sale, or transfer of standard-capacity magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds the State has barred law-abiding, peaceable residents from legally acquiring or possessing common ammunition magazines and deprived them of an effective means of self-defense.”
SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb explained, “Maybe the most frustrating thing about the Oregon measure is that officials there are willing to enforce the law’s provisions despite any real prospect this law is going to reduce violent crime. The only people actually impacted are law-abiding citizens who don’t commit crimes, and who will be left more vulnerable to attack because of this new law.”
As noted in SAF’s complaint, the magazines banned under the language of Measure 114 are commonly-owned across the United States by millions of honest citizens. They are standard capacity magazines in many firearms, including handguns used for personal and home protection, competition, recreational shooting, predator control, and other legitimate activities. According to the 2021 National Firearms Survey, an estimated 48 percent of American gun owners have owned magazines that hold more than 10 cartridges.
“Because the provisions of Measure 114 are scheduled to take effect Dec. 8,” Kraut noted, “we are asking the court for a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief.”