Rep. Linda Flores: Supreme Court Gun Case Could Impact Oregon

Press release from State Representative Linda Flores 3-18-08:

US Supreme Court Gun Case Could Impact Oregon

(Salem) The U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments today on the strictest gun ban in the country, and the outcome could have implications here in Oregon. “Whatever the decision by the high court, it could be the most significant Second Amendment case in our nation’s history,” said State Representative Linda Flores (R-Clackamas). She and State Representative Kim Thatcher (R-Keizer, Newberg, St. Paul) put their names on a brief supporting a challenge to Washington, D.C.’s 32-year old ban on handguns.

The pair joined 120 other women legislators from across the country on a special amicus brief filed by the National Rifle Association. The brief reads in part, “the District’s current prohibition against handguns and immediately serviceable firearms in the home effectively eliminates a woman’s ability to defend her very life and those of her children against violent attack.”

“Oregonians have always been very protective of their second amendments rights,” noted Thatcher. “However, I fear if the high court doesn’t rule in our favor, opponents of gun owner rights will be out in full force trying to change Oregon law.”

This is only the second time in the past 70 years that a firearms case has reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1976 the District of Columbia outlawed handguns, carrying firearms within the home and possession of a loaded or operable firearm. A security guard named Dick Heller challenged the law, claiming it violated his constitutional right to keep and bear arms. He won at the lower court level but the city appealed. A decision by the Supreme Court could come as early as this summer.

Representatives Flores and Thatcher have both served on the House Judiciary Committee and have both sponsored legislation in recent years to preserve gun owner rights in Oregon.
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