An initiative campaign to ban so-called “assault rifles” in Oregon died after the state Supreme Court ruled that the ballot title was misleading and needed to be changed and referred it to the state Attorney General’s office.
That essentially made it impossible for backers of the measure to gather the required petition signatures by the initiative’s qualification deadline.
Known as IP43, the measure was referred to by Beaver State gun rights activists as the “gun confiscation ballot measure.” The Oregon Firearms Federation (OFF) noted on its website that backers of the initiative “had hoped to exploit fear and ignorance to ban virtually all firearms by labeling everything an ‘assault weapon.’”
The measure sought to ban the sale of so-called “assault weapons” and magazines that hold more than ten cartridges. It would also have required current owners of such firearms to register them within 120 days, or face criminal charges. Otherwise, guns could also be surrendered or permanently rendered inoperable.
