Prevent Firearm Suicides In Oregon
We need your help to pass HB 3513.
Read The Bill (pdf)
Read the Rural Engagement Project's One Page Summary
Write testimony in favor - even if it's just three sentences to say why you support the bill, it's important! Testimony is due Thursday March 30 at 8AM
If you can testify in person, sign up here - scroll down to "Measure History" and click it open to register to testify at the 3/28 8:00 AM hearing. You may testify in person or via telepresence.
Oregon House Bill 3513 is a firearms-related suicide prevention measure.
Oregon has a suicide crisis: four out of every five gun deaths in Oregon are suicides, and any person can find themselves in a state of mind where suicide seems like a good idea. This state of mind is temporary, and we can help break people out of it. The medical community tells us that the most crucial factor in preventing a gun owner in a suicidal state of mind from dying is time and distance between the person and their firearms.
Oregon has safe storage laws to encourage gun owners to keep firearms locked away when not in use, and red flag laws for involuntary separation of persons from firearms. What Oregon lacks is an easy means for voluntary separation of persons from firearms.
House Bill 3513 will facilitate voluntary separation in three ways.
It will allow an FFL or other person allowed to own firearms to enter into a firearm hold agreement. This agreement says that the owner of the firearm will hand it over for safe keeping purposes only. No background check is required.
It will fund offsite storage lockers at gun stores, ranges, and so on.
It will include suicide prevention training as part of the concealed handgun license curriculum.