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State
Reps. Randy Leonard and Ron Sunseri and broadcaster Lars
Larson (above) are among the 30,000
tri-county residents licensed to carry loaded guns.In the
state of Oregon there are 89,391 concealed-handgun licenses.
Men hold 69,054; women, 20,330.
A concealed-handgun
license costs $65 the first year, then $50 to renew every
four years. An application will be denied to anyone who
has on his or her record a felony, a misdemeanor within
the past five years, an open restraining order or a pattern
of misbehavior.
Since
1990, there have been 3,335 concealed-handgun licenses revoked
in the state, including 422 for licensees who endangered
themselves or others and 26 revocations because of mental
health problems.
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In the past 10 years, the chances that you know someone who
is legally packing heat have increased exponentially.
In 1989, then-Speaker of the House Vera Katz led excruciating
negotiations over an omnibus gun bill that resulted in a
15-day waiting period for all handguns purchased. There
was a trade-off, however: The bill also made it much easier
to legally carry a loaded gun in Oregon by loosening the
requirements for a concealed-handgun license.
Since then, there has been an explosion in the number of
license holders. In 1988, only 11 people in Multnomah County
had concealed-handgun licenses. Today, there are 11,907
license holders. In Washington County, there are 8,400;
in Clackamas, it's around 9,600.
A concealed-handgun license does exactly what it says:
It gives the holder the legal right to carry a handgun hidden
on his or her person or out of sight in a vehicle. Without
this permit, handguns must be visible at all times, whether
carried on the hip or in the car. The city of Portland has
an additional ordinance that says unconcealed weapons must
not be loaded.
A concealed-handgun license gives the holder carte blanche
to take a loaded gun anywhere. With so many licensees in
the metro area--in grocery stores, movie theaters, parks
and bars--more than two in every 100 people could be armed.
But are they dangerous?
Probably not. In spite of the dire warnings of opponents,
blood has not been running through the streets.
John Nichols of Oregon Gun Owners worked on the 1989 gun
bill with Katz. He recalls that very few people were pleased
with the concealed-handgun license provision.
"They thought there was going to be a shootout at every
fender bender," he says. No one keeps statistics on how
many crimes or shootings--whether in self-defense or otherwise--have
been committed by concealed-handgun license holders. Nichols
says he knows of only three incidents in the state where
concealed-handgun licensees have been questioned about shootings,
and all three were dismissed by a grand jury.
"John's right," says Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Noelle.
"That's what we thought, and it just didn't turn out that
way."
Noelle remembers well how he felt with the passage of the
1989 law: "I was pissed." He and other law-enforcement staff
believed the screening process for issuing the licenses
would be inadequate and that routine traffic stops would
become showdowns with an armed citizenry.
Now he says his fears were unfounded. Still, he wonders
what the point of the law is. "Where is the value?" he asks.
"I don't know where a whole lot of people with concealed-handgun
licenses have defended themselves."
License holders come from all walks of life and live anywhere,
from the politically correct funkiness of Southeast Portland
to the West Hills and Beaverton. On the list are married
couples, families, single women. And a few people you might
recognize, including state Rep. Randy Leonard of North Portland,
state Rep. Ron Sunseri of Gresham, broadcast journalist
Lars Larson, Republican strategist John DiLorenzo and Multnomah
County judges Stephen L. Gallagher and Charles Guinasso.
Leonard says he applied for a concealed-handgun license
as soon as the new law passed, because he likes to have
his SIG Sauer .239 handy when he goes camping and fishing.
It's always tucked away in his briefcase--even when he goes
to work in Salem. Concealed-handgun license holders can
pretty much take their guns into any Oregon public building,
including the Capitol.
Leonard supports gun control and made several impassioned
speeches urging passage of a bill that would require background
checks on gun-show sales. Afterwards, he says, he got several
threatening e-mails from gun advocates.
"During that time, I made sure to have my briefcase with
me all the time," he says.
For the most part, however, he carries it to protect himself
and his family against crime.
"I just would hate to be in a position where bad people
came upon us and there was nothing I could do to protect
my family," he says. "Or be in a position in the last few
moments of my life where I think, 'Damn, I wish I would
have brought my gun.'"
Susan Reese is a lawyer who has been practicing criminal
and family law in Portland for more than 20 years. She was
in the Multnomah County Courthouse on Valentines' Day 1979,
the day family-law lawyer Candy Jones was gunned down in
a courtroom by the angry husband of one of her clients.
Reese has had a concealed-handgun license for nearly 10
years. She says she has taken it to her office only once,
when she felt threatened by a hostile client. She doesn't
carry it in her briefcase or purse, but she does take it
on working trips around the state. When she's driving the
lonely roads of Oregon late at night, she says, her .38
sits on the console of her car.
"I think cell phones are a lot more helpful than guns...a
stronger assailant could always grab the gun and use it
against you," she says. "But when I'm out of town or out
of cell-phone range, it's good to have."
Her pistol is a "basic cowboy type," she says. "I don't
like semi-automatics. I don't like Glocks."
Reese considers herself a Portland liberal and is unabashed
about going against the stereotype, although she admits
that it's not something she talks about much. Still, several
of her women friends are licensed to carry. "I like the
option--if the situation arises where it feels it might
be necessary," she says. "It's a piece of protection I can
have and use if I need to."
Kevin and Sandy Pendell own a copy-machine repair business
in Southeast Portland. They are both licensed to carry.
Sandy keeps her handgun on her person at all times, in a
$7.50 fanny pack she bought at Wal-Mart.
"I carry because of protection," she says. "The way the
world is now, you can't walk down the street and be safe.
It's something that makes me and Kevin feel safer. He doesn't
like me going anywhere without it."
Neither of the Pendells has used a gun for self-protection,
but both say they are ready to if necessary. "You don't
buy a gun because you want to, you buy a gun because you
have to," Kevin says. "But I hope I never have to use it."
He says people who think they're safe without a gun are
just plain naive.
"There is a great deal of ignorance in this country," Kevin
says. "There are people who don't believe that evil happens.
They can't conceive of someone breaking into their house.
They just can't conceive of it."
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Willamette Week | originally
published October 20,
1999
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