Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan said the Oregon Court of Appeal’s ruling striking down Columbia County’s gun rights ordinance could apply to Umatilla County.

“I haven’t reviewed the ruling in its entirety yet, but I kind of get it,” he said.

“I had a feeling that would be the outcome. I haven’t had the opportunity to speak to our county counsel about it, but (Columbia County’s) ordinance and ours mirrored each other, so ours should be affected.”

The appeals court on Feb. 15 ruled the state law preempts the “Second Amendment Sanctuary Ordinance” and so it cannot be

enforced.

The manner in which

the appeals court received the case might come into play, Rowan

said.

“The board of commissioners over there requested judicial review, so that could have a bearing on it,” he said.

“They had a discussion of possibly contentious components, so sought clarification. Even so, the court would likely find our ordinance also contrary to (Oregon Revised Statutes).”

Umatilla County Attorney Doug Olsen said he hadn’t read the Columbia County ordinance yet.

“It’s my understanding that the Columbia County ordinance was used as a reference in drafting Umatilla County’s sanctuary language,” he said. “So it probably would be affected by the Appeals Court decision.”

Appeals court shoots down ordinance

Columbia County voters in 2018 and 2020 approved measures prohibiting the enforcement of nearly all gun control laws.

The Columbia County Board of Commissioners then adopted a local law combining the two measures. It states that “all local, state and federal acts, laws, rules or regulations, originating from jurisdictions outside of Columbia County, which restrict or affect an individual person’s general right to keep and bear arms, including firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition … shall be treated as if they are null, void and of no effect in Columbia County, Oregon.”

The court determined the county’s ordinance would effectively create “a patchwork quilt” of firearms laws across the state, rendering state laws ineffective. The ordinance was legally void because of a state law that says that the power to regulate firearms “is vested solely in the Legislative Assembly,” aside from a few regulations explicitly permitted by state statute, the appeals court determined.

HollyJo Beers reacts to ruling

Presiding Judge Douglas Tookey, appointed by Gov. John Kitzhaber to the Oregon Court of Appeals in November 2013, wrote the decision. He cited a state law vesting the authority to regulate the sale and use of guns in Oregon solely with the Legislature.

“If allowed to stand, (the ordinance) would, effectively, create a ‘patchwork quilt’ of firearms laws in Oregon,” Tookey said. “It would have the potential to lead to uncertainty for firearms owners concerning the legality of their conduct as they travel from county to county.”

In a concurrent opinion, Court of Appeals Judge James Egan attacked the ordinance as antisemitic and white supremacist. He was elected to the court in 2012.

“Intervenor’s reference at oral argument about UN mandates in support of an absolute right to firearms threatens to give legal foundation to a world view that embraces religious, racial and ethnic hatred,” Egan said.

The third member of the panel was Judge Jacqueline Kamins, who Gov. Kate Brown appointed in January 2020. Thirteen judges serve on the court.

“Judge Egan’s opinion was unfair and uncalled for,” HollyJo Beers of Pendleton, a leader in Umatilla County Three Percenters, said. “Antisemiticism and racism are expressly forbidden by our by-laws. We do screen applicants for radicalism and admit members of all ethnicities and religions. Oregon Three Percenters are independent of the national organization, but it and similar groups are led by people of color.”

Her group supports Second Amendment rights, but is not paramilitary nor white supremacist, Beers said. She ran for Umatilla County commissioner twice and lost both times. Her group’s pro-sanctuary petition passed by more than 18,000 to 11,500 in 2020. She said she opposes Oregon House Bill 2572, which would expand the definition of “civil disorder” to criminalize “paramilitary activity.”

Beers called the appeals court ruling inconsistent. Measure 114, Oregon’s voter-approved restrictions on firearms, is unconstitutional, she said, and the Oregon Firearms Federation is going to appeal the ruling on Columbia County’s local law.

Wider ramifications

Twenty-six of Oregon’s 36 counties have passed Second Amendment sanctuary ordinances or resolutions against enforcing state gun control laws. The only one of eight Eastern Oregon counties without such an ordinance or resolution is Morrow. However, Lexington is a sanctuary city.

In Central Oregon, Deschutes, Wasco, Gilliam and Hood River counties have not passed Second Amendment motions. In Western Oregon, Clatsop, Washington, Multnomah, Lincoln and Benton counties have not.

Umatilla County commissioners did not designate it a Second Amendment sanctuary, but voters passed a referendum to that effect in 2020. Cities in the county were thus spared consideration of sanctuary status.

The three-judge panel’s decision could set a national precedent as the first such ruling handed down at the appellate level. While the verdict applies only within Oregon, it could affect the more than 1,900 counties nationwide which have declared themselves gun sanctuaries. That’s about 59%, down from 61% in 2021.

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said the Court of Appeals’ opinion “makes it clear that common sense requirements like safe storage and background checks apply throughout Oregon. Hopefully, other counties with similar measures on the books will see the writing on the wall.”

Rosenblum’s office joined the case in opposition to Columbia County’s ordinance. She previously sued Harney and Yamhill counties. The national gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety also intervened in the case, supporting overturning the ordinance.

Harney County rescinded its ordinance in 2022. Yamhill County Circuit Judge Ladd Wiles declared the sanctuary ordinance illegal. The county dropped its own appeal of its case in January.