Dec. 8 (UPI) — The Oregon Supreme Court rejected a request to lift an order against preventing a law restricting the sale of firearms and ammunition in the state from taking effect Thursday.
The state high court’s ruling places Measure 114, which would limit the sale of magazines with more than 10 rounds and requires background checks prior to firearms purchases, on hold for now.
Oregon voters approved Measure 114 by a thin margin in November, prompting guns rights groups to file requests in federal and state courts for a temporary restraining order against it.
On Tuesday, federal Judge Karen Immergut rejected the request to block the measure, saying plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate that high-capacity magazines are in common use for “lawful purposes like self-defense” but allowed an additional 30 days to refine the permitting process.
However, Harney County Judge Robert Raschio sided with plaintiffs in the Harney County case who claimed that Measure 114 violates the Oregon constitution, which states “people shall have the right to bear arms for the (defense) of themselves” and granted the request to issue an injunction in a separate ruling, also on Tuesday.
A hearing on Judge Raschio’s ruling is scheduled for Dec. 13.
In the appeal to the state Supreme Court, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said the state “strongly” disagreed” with the county judge’s ruling.
“The people of Oregon enacted Measure 114 to prevent ‘horrific deaths and devastating injuries due to mass shootings, homicides and suicides,'” the state wrote in the filing. “Doing so fell well within the wide latitude provided by Article I, section 27, which, as this court has repeatedly indicated, allows the people to take such reasonable measures to protect and promote public safety.”
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