Daytona Beach, FL, 17 December 2022: It is the position of Operation Blazing Sword – Pink Pistols that the recently-passed Oregon Ballot Measure 114 imposes a burdensome "permit to purchase" scheme upon all citizens, including marginalized and at-risk groups such as queer people. Much like North Carolina's Pistol Purchase Permit, a Jim Crow-era law which uses subjective criteria to deny black people the ability to own a handgun for protection, Measure 114 fails to clearly define what does and does not disqualify applicants. Moreover, Measure 114 applies to all firearms, not just handguns, and so in this manner it drinks deeper from the tainted well of discrimination and gives local police the unprecedented ability to deny the Right to Keep and Bear Arms to anyone they choose for any reason.
For example, a queer person seeking to purchase a firearm for the first time could be denied a permit by citing an "increased risk of suicide" for gender and sexual minorities. Similarly, someone who exercises their First Amendment rights to assemble and protest could be deemed "a threat to the community" and denied their Second Amendment rights. Meanwhile, members of highly polarized groups whose politics are seen as favorable by local governments could receive a pass for their behavior, ultimately creating more unrest rather than the intended assurance.
Operation Blazing Sword – Pink Pistols believes that gun rights are queer rights because lawfully owned and lawfully carried firearms defend queer lives, and that self-defense is a human right. Therefore, any measure which inhibits, delays, or prevents the ability of queer people to defend themselves is inherently homophobic and transphobic, and violates both civil and human rights.
In summation, Measure 114 is a profoundly discriminatory law that ultimately will not pass muster with the courts, especially in light of the recent NYSRPA v. Bruen ruling. To that end, Operation Blazing Sword – Pink Pistols is pleased to announce that it will be filing an Amicus Curiae brief on behalf of the plaintiffs suing to overturn this law in the Eyre v. Rosenblum suit.
Operation Blazing Sword, Inc. is a grass-roots 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to helping queer people become responsible firearm owners through volunteer education by maintaining a database of over 1500 queer-friendly firearm volunteer educators residing in every state of the USA. It also submits legal briefs (Amicus Curiae) to protect the rights of not just queer people, but all peaceable citizens, to have access to the most effective tools for self-defense. www.blazingsword.org
Pink Pistols, a division of Operation Blazing Sword, is dedicated to the legal, safe, and responsible use of firearms for self-defense of the gender and sexual minority community. www.pinkpistols.org
Media Contact: Erin Palette
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