Oregon's LGBTQ community worries that a new law will keep them from obtaining guns

December 15, 2022 5:00 AM ET
DEVIN SPEAK

Mia Rose, a trans person of color and former licensed firearms dealer, holds her custom-built AR-15 rifle in her home in Eugene, Ore., on Dec. 12, 2022.
Celeste Noche for NPR

Some of Oregon's trans and queer gun supporters are worried that a new state law will prevent them from buying firearms.

The law, Measure 114, grants county sheriffs and police chiefs discretion to determine who qualifies to purchase a firearm under a new permit-to-purchase program.

But Measure 114 lacks criteria clearly defining what disqualifies applicants, details on what makes someone a threat and what data can be used by law enforcement in making that decision. That's a problem for activists who have critiqued law enforcement, particularly in the racial justice protests that took place over the past two years.

"I just feel like if I was to go online and say like the police are terrorists or something ... [the police] would be like, 'Well, you seem like you might not be fit for this community to be armed,' " says Mia Rose, a trans person of color and former licensed firearms dealer. "If they were to get that information that you got snatched up off the street [arrested during the Portland protests prompted by the killing of George Floyd in 2020], I would assume that the law would say they could deny your purchase, or deny your right to have a permit."

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