Oregon passes 1st law since school carnage
SALEM, Ore. — A bill prohibiting domestic abusers and people under restraining orders from owning firearms became America’s first new gun control law this week since the Feb. 14 Florida high school massacre.
“Well done, Oregon,” Democratic Gov. Kate Brown exclaimed after signing the law on the steps of the state Capitol as some 200 people, including victims of domestic abuse and high school students, applauded and cheered.
State Sen. Floyd Prozanski, whose sister was fatally shot by her boyfriend, and Rep. Janeen Sollman, who fled her home as a child when her father was in a violent rage, hugged as they stood behind the governor.
The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 people has created a wave of young antigun activists that has now reached cross-country into Oregon. Students from a high school in the Portland suburb of Lake Oswego traveled 40 miles to stage a gun-control rally in the state capital, Salem, Monday morning.
“We are empowered youth,” they chanted, while holding signs that read “End gun violence, our lives matter,” and “Together we can end gun violence.”
“We want to promote change. We’re tired of the massive number of school shootings and the massive lack of action,” said 15-year-old student Eli Counce.
Brown came down from her office to speak to the more than 100 students from Lakeridge High School in Lake Oswego, who sat on a broad stairway underneath the Capitol rotunda. She urged those who are 18 to register to vote.
“You want what?” she asked them.
“Change,” they shouted in unison.
“How do you make change?” Brown asked.
“Vote!” the students shouted.