During the Trump administration, many states decided to bar ICE officials from doing their jobs and enforcing immigration laws, when it came to combating these local governments the Trump administration did not do much. Now that the Democrats are back in power and gun control is being pushed at the federal level, as well as the local level, some areas of the country are opting to declare sanctuary status with respect to guns, we knew this wouldn’t last long and it appears Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum is going to be the first try and put a stop to this.
The state of Oregon is not known for being a gun-friendly place, nor is it known for having safe cities. In fact, the state is known for being the complete opposite, and anti-gun state with dangerous cities. There are literal wars being waged on the streets of Portland on a weekly basis.
It was no surprise when rural Oregon counties declared sanctuary status and revoked 2A laws from the federal and state government. Yamhill and Harney county put forward resolutions to stop all new gun laws from being enforced by local law enforcement. Oregon’s Attorney General, Elen Rosenblum, has sued the county commissioners for both these counties in an effort to nullify these sanctuary resolutions.
AG Elen Rosenblum is using the state’s preemption laws in an effort to undo these local ordinances. The state’s preemption laws stop localities from regulating firearms, although this has not stopped other areas of the state from pushing more gun control.
These two counties have a very solid case and the structure of the preemption law does permit these ordinances. The restrictions stemming from the law seem to only apply to laws that are more restrictive than what is currently on the books, not less restrictive. Another major issue for the state is that some localities have already stopped enforcing laws related to drug crime, no lawsuit was filed in those instances.
