2023 – Page 237 – Texas Weekly Online

Judge blocks America’s ‘most extreme’ gun control law, but blue state plans to appeal

An Oregon judge blocked the state from enforcing a voter-approved law dubbed the nation’s “most extreme” gun control measure by critics, ruling it violates the state constitution. “This Thanksgiving, we can be thankful for Article I, section 27 and its continued protection of our right to bear arms,” Tony Aiello Jr., who represented two Harney County gun owners in the case, told Fox News via email. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum immediately vowed to appeal the ruling, which could eventually end up before the state Supreme Court. “The Harney County judge’s ruling is wrong,” Rosenblum said in a statement provided to Fox News. “Worse, it needlessly puts Oregonians’ lives at risk.” OREGON SHERIFFS WON’T ENFORCE NEW GUN LAW: ‘INFRINGES ON SECOND AMENDMENT’ Oregonians passed Measure 114 one year ago with 50.65% of the vote and just six of the state’s 36 counties supporting it. The law requires a permit to purchase any gun, bans the sale of magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds and has been called “the nation’s most extreme gun control Initiative” by groups like the NRA’s legislative arm. Measure 114 never took effect due to immediate legal challenges at both the federal and state level. On Tuesday, Circuit Judge Robert S. Raschio ruled both the magazine ban and permit-to-purchase requirement violate Article 1, Section 27 of Oregon’s constitution, which reads in part, “the people shall have the right to bear arms for the defence [sic] of themselves, and the State.” PUMPED UP: WHO’S LEADING THE EFFORT TO STOP BLUE STATE DRIVERS FROM PUMPING THEIR OWN GAS Much of the state’s case focused on which firearms were common at the time Oregon ratified its constitution in 1857. History professors testified for the state that firearms capable of holding many rounds were “vanishingly rare,” according to Oregon Public Broadcasting. “Semiautomatic technology and automatic technology are such profound ruptures in the history of firearms technology, that I find it very difficult to believe that anybody — even someone very well informed — in the late 1850s could have predicted the emergence of smokeless powder, detachable cartridges, automatic reloading,” said Bryan DeLay of the University of California, Berkeley. But Ashley Hlebinsky, a former firearm museum curator, testified for the plaintiffs that many early guns could fire multiple rounds and that some models with magazine-style devices existed around the time Oregon became a state. Raschio ruled that large capacity magazines were available in the early 1800s and that gunsmiths were actively trying to improve upon the technology. “The idea that Oregon’s pioneers intended to freeze the firearm technology accessible by Oregonians to antiques is ridiculous on its face,” Aiello told Fox News on Wednesday. “If there is any evidence of such an intention, Defendants certainly did not present any of it at trial.” PORTLAND WOMAN KNOCKED OUT BY ATTACKER BLAMES CITY FOR SLOW POLICE RESPONSE: ‘WE DID THIS TO OURSELVES’ The permit system has been one of the most controversial parts of the measure. Gun buyers would be required to complete an “in-person demonstration of the applicant’s ability to lock, load, unload, fire and store a firearm before an instructor certified by a law enforcement agency” — a much stricter process than what is currently required to obtain even a concealed handgun license in Oregon. Lawyers for the state argued the permit system and magazine capacity limit were necessary to curb homicides, suicides and mass shootings. In 2015, a man armed with five handguns, a rifle and several magazines killed nine people and wounded eight others at Umpqua Community College. Last year, a man wielding a shotgun and what police described as an “AR-style” rifle killed two people and injured two more at a Safeway in Bend. But Raschio wrote in his ruling that state lawyers “failed to provide any convincing evidence of a threat to public safety requiring a permitting process” and that, to the contrary, the potential delays in processing a permit application would flip the protections of the right to bear arms “on its head.” “This legal battle is not over,” Aiello wrote after the ruling. “However, we hope that the strength of the Court’s ruling gives our Attorney General pause on filing that appeal and continuing to spend millions of taxpayer dollars defending this ill-conceived ballot measure.” Federal Judge Karin Immergut previously ruled in July that Oregon’s law is in line with a U.S. tradition of “regulating uniquely dangerous features of weapons and firearms to protect public safety.” Plaintiffs are currently appealing that ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

House Ethics Committee votes against investigating Rep Bowman over pulled fire alarm

The House Ethics Committee voted against opening an investigation into Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., for pulling a fire alarm in a House of Representatives building ahead of a critical vote in September to avert a government shutdown. The committee’s decision comes just a few weeks after Bowman pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in Washington, D.C. Since a majority of the House did not vote to launch an ethics investigation, lawmakers “did not agree to establish an ISC or report to the House regarding Representative Bowman’s conduct,” according to a statement from the Ethics Committee. House ethics rules require that when a member is indicted or formally charged with a criminal offense to either launch an investigative subcommittee (ISC) or report its reasons for not launching one within 30 days. ‘SQUAD’ DEMOCRAT JAMAAL BOWMAN ARGUES BIDEN INACTION ON REPARATIONS IS HOLDING HIM BACK Bowman was charged with one misdemeanor on Oct. 26. An arrest warrant filed by U.S. Capitol Police Supervisory Special Agent Joseph McAtee stated that police were notified on Sept. 30 at 12:05 p.m. that a fire alarm had been pulled on the second floor of the Cannon House Office Building. When Bowman was interviewed by Capitol Police agents, he told them he responded “yes” when asked if he knew anything about the fire alarm. The Democrat representative said he was in a rush because votes were being called, adding that the door is usually open. Bowman, according to the arrest warrant, told the agents he saw the nearby doors with a sign that said, “Emergency exit only push to open,” so “he pushed on the door and pulled the lever next to it, which must have been the alarm.” BOWMAN SNAPS AT REPORTER FOR CALLING OUT INCONSISTENT FIRE ALARM STORY: ‘I WAS STRAIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING’ “[Bowman] advised that usually when votes are called, all doors are open, and that door is usually open (the second-floor door leading to Independence Ave),” the warrant states. “The defendant further stated that this door was a usual door he uses. The defendant advised that he then went to a Dem (Democratic) meeting and a vote at the Capitol, then the House Sergeant at Arms contacted him.” Bowman told Fox News after being charged that he was “happy for the quick resolution,” adding that he has a plea agreement with prosecutors. According to Bowman, the plea agreement requires him to pay a $1,000 fine and “stay out of trouble for three months.” “It was a lapse of judgment, if you will. … Wasn’t a conscious decision to do something wrong,” he said. Fox News’ Adam Sabes and Kelly Phares contributed to this report.

Charleston, South Carolina elects first GOP mayor since 1870s

The historic South Carolina city of Charleston has elected its first Republican mayor since the Reconstruction Era. William Cogswell, formerly a Republican state lawmaker, defeated incumbent Democratic Mayor John Tecklenburg by about 2 percentage points in Tuesday’s runoff, according to the South Carolina Election Commission. Results posted online by the commission showed a 569-vote margin separating the two candidates. Cogswell, 48, had secured the most votes in the Nov. 7 general election but not a majority, meaning that he and Tecklenburg headed to Tuesday’s runoff. PRO-TRUMP CANDIDATE BEATS MODERATE DEM IN UTAH SPECIAL ELECTION TO FILL LAST SEAT IN US HOUSE Charleston’s municipal elections are technically nonpartisan. But Tecklenburg is a well-known figure in the state’s Democratic politics, endorsing Joe Biden in South Carolina’s pivotal 2020 presidential primary. Cogswell, who served three terms as a Republican in the state House and describes himself as a moderate, earned endorsements from others within South Carolina’s GOP political circles, including Sen. Tim Scott. Charleston last elected a Republican mayor in the 1870s, according to historical records from the city and other municipal areas. Republicans including state GOP Chairman Drew McKissick and U.S. Rep. Russell Fry, who served in the state House with Cogswell, celebrated the GOP win in social media posts and statements. NORTH CAROLINA MAYORAL RACE DECIDED BY COIN TOSS “We can confidently say that I’m going to be the next mayor,” Cogswell said Tuesday night, as final results came in. “The people have spoken, and we’re ready for a new direction … a new direction that puts labels aside, so that we can find pragmatic solutions to our problems.” In a concession speech Tuesday night, Teckleburg called his eight years as mayor “the honor of my life” and asked his supporters to rally around the new mayor. “I’d like to congratulate our new Mayor-Elect William Cogswell … and I’d like to ask each and every Charlestonian, everybody out there, to give him your support,” Tecklenburg said. “When Mayor Cogswell succeeds, Charleston succeeds, and that’s something we’re all in favor of.” The City of Charleston has become the second reliably blue area in South Carolina — where Republicans dominate congressional and statewide politics — to choose a Republican mayor in recent years. In 2021, Daniel Rickenmann, a longtime city council member backed by Republicans, was chosen as the mayor of South Carolina’s capital city of Columbia.