By Jack Burns
![](https://thefreethoughtproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/ordinance-696x366.jpg)


<p>&nbsp;A <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Oregon_Ban_on_Certain_Firearms_and_Magazines_with_More_than_a_10-Round_Capacity_Initiative_(2018)">showdown</a> &nbsp;is brewing in the State of Oregon following gun control advocates’ &nbsp;proposed assault weapons ban called Initiative Proposition 43 (IP43). &nbsp;Under the guise of “gun control” and “safety of our children,” <strong>proponents of the measure aim to effectively ban all weapons produced since the Civil War.</strong> But several counties are pushing back with their own Second Amendment Preservation Ordinances.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Klamath and Deschutes Counties are attempting to push back against &nbsp;the ordinance by passing their own county-wide ordinances to disallow &nbsp;the county sheriff from enforcing any state or federal law which would &nbsp;infringe on county residents’ rights to keep and bear arms. It’s &nbsp;effectively a ban on gun bans. Klamath County resident Timothy Harris filed a petition titled K-18-1 to:&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>Preserve the right of the People of, on and in Klamath County to:<br>
 Keep and bear arms as originally understood; in self-defense and preservation, and in defense of one’s community and country.<br>
 Freely manufacture, transfer, sell and buy firearms, firearm accessories &nbsp;and ammunition, which are designed primarily for the same purposes.</blockquote>
<p>Deschutes County resident Jerrad Robinson filed a similar Second &nbsp;Amendment Protection ordinance. Another ordinance was filed in Columbia &nbsp;County.&nbsp;</p>
<p>All three ordinances would ban local law enforcement from &nbsp;enforcing State or Federal laws which would essentially ban all &nbsp;semi-automatic firearms under the proposed state ban, IP43. Oregon’s IP43 is being billed as an “asssault weapons” ban, something &nbsp;even gun owners might support. But in essence, the proposed ban would &nbsp;make illegal nearly all semi-automatic weapons, make criminals out of &nbsp;Oregon residents who prefer to hold on to their guns, and put fear in &nbsp;others who refuse to register their firearms with local law enforcement.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Representative Bill Post, a Republican, is apparently attempting to &nbsp;sound the warning alarm for residents about the severity of the law and &nbsp;the gun confiscation implications which will result from the passage of &nbsp;IP43 currently being planned for the November ballot. He said:&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>This is completely out of hand — I couldn’t believe it. <strong>I’ve &nbsp;been told so many times by people in favor of gun control: ‘no one is &nbsp;coming to take your guns.’ This (IP43) explicitly comes for your guns…</strong>This &nbsp;got zero comment or help from anybody in Oregon’s Democratic &nbsp;leadership. The reason they’re not supporting this is that they’re not &nbsp;stupid. They know this would bring out the greatest red (Republican) &nbsp;wave of votes in Oregon history…We must do something. But this is crazy.</blockquote>
<p>The National Rifle Association’s spokesperson Lars Dalseide said:&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>This ballot initiative classifies practically every &nbsp;semi-automatic firearm as an assault weapon – rifles, shotguns, and even &nbsp;handguns. These are firearms you’ll find in every gun store in America. &nbsp;<strong>Should this pass then you’ll have to choose between &nbsp;surrendering your only means of self-protection or registering them with &nbsp;the authorities.</strong> <strong>Then, when the next ballot initiative &nbsp;passes, they’ll know exactly what you have, where it is, and come to &nbsp;take it. Maybe now when we say they’re coming for you’re [sic] guns &nbsp;you’ll believe us.</strong></blockquote>
<p>The county measures intended to preserve county residents’ rights to &nbsp;keep the firearms they own are not likely to be able to stand up in &nbsp;court if IP43 is passed in November.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Just as IP43 would make criminals &nbsp;out of law abiding citizens across the State of Oregon, so, too, would &nbsp;the counties’ Second Amendment Preservation ordinances make criminals &nbsp;out of duly elected law enforcement officials such as sheriffs. Few sheriffs, even if the county ordinances pass in response to IP43, &nbsp;would dare to place their liberty and career on the line to comply with &nbsp;a local ordinance.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Rather, they would likely cow tow to state and &nbsp;federal laws and begin enforcing the new law. America seems to be prisoners of their own devices. Just as the &nbsp;so-called War on Drugs has made criminals out of citizens who chose to &nbsp;use a plant to heal themselves, the War on Guns make criminals out of &nbsp;citizens who choose to flex their rights and hold onto their guns.</p>
<p>&nbsp;As <a href="https://thefreethoughtproject.com/illinois-town-residents-turn-guns/">TFTP reported in April</a>, &nbsp;one Illinois town, Deerfield, already passed a gun grabbing local &nbsp;ordinance which gave its citizens 60 days to turn in their guns or face &nbsp;$1000 fines per gun per day. Now, it seems, an entire state, the State &nbsp;of Oregon, is attempting to pass its own gun grabbing scheme (IP43), and &nbsp;is using fake promises to do so, saying it will keep kids safe by &nbsp;banning guns. Banning guns does not keep citizens safe. <a href="https://thefreethoughtproject.com/the-uk-disarmed-its-citizens-and-now-they-jail-thousands-of-people-for-facebook-posts/">London has a near total gun ban yet murders, have since surpassed New York City’s crime rates</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Banning guns does not keep citizens safe. Banning government from &nbsp;making criminals out of law-abiding citizens, however, does keep &nbsp;citizens safe. When law enforcement sets its sights on drug users and &nbsp;those who are impoverished, citizens not only lose their freedom, they &nbsp;lose their wealth as well. Civil asset forfeiture is often used to take &nbsp;wealth from those convicted under the War on Drugs, and those who are &nbsp;impoverished.&nbsp;</p>
<p>If a War on Guns is launched in the U.S., citizens will &nbsp;lose much more than their semi-automatic weapons. They will lose safety, &nbsp;freedom, and assets to a government all too eager to take it from them.&nbsp;</p>
<p>TFTP recently spoke with a Tennessee man who was convicted of dealing &nbsp;marijuana. He said the FBI, the DEA, and local law enforcement kicked &nbsp;in his door, pocketed over 40,000 dollars in cash, and, as part of his &nbsp;plea deal, forced him to pay the government over $200,000 in a &nbsp;promissory note, all because he was attempting to help people treat &nbsp;their illnesses with a plant.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Not only did they take nearly all of his possessions, label him a &nbsp;felon for life, but they have placed him into a state-sponsored form of &nbsp;indentured servitude for life. He fears revealing his identity for &nbsp;worries he will again be targeted. State officials will likely do the same to individuals who attempt to &nbsp;keep their weapons—their only form of self-protection under the Second &nbsp;Amendment to the US Constitution. If they get away with it in Oregon, &nbsp;they will likely get away with it all across the so-called Land of the &nbsp;Free.&nbsp;</p>
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