Firearms are on display in a Salem gun shop. Advocates for gun owners and the Oregon State Police are debating the the efficacy of the state’s longstanding system for clearing gun background checks. (Photo by Connor Radnovich/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Advocates for gun owners and the Oregon State Police are at odds over the efficacy of the state’s longstanding system for clearing gun background checks, as the future of the agency’s firearm safety efforts rests with a disputed voter-approved gun control law.
For years, Oregon gun owners and advocates have complained that the state has been too slow to process background checks, even as the state has ranked as a national leader in gun sale rates. Legislation to end the state’s existing background check system’s reliance on state police, however, has historically failed to pass the state’s legislative Democratic majority. The state’s gun death rate ranked 7% higher than the nationwide average in 2023, according to public health researchers, a factor that has spurred support for more gun control in Salem.
Critics of the state’s system, however, secured a brief acknowledgement of their concerns by the Oregon Legislature in the past year. A March Legislative Fiscal Office budget report found that Oregon State Police are “already experiencing backlogs from high volumes the past few years,” reporting that 26 staff are handling around 400,000 background checks annually.
State analysts also noted the uncertainty posed by Measure 114, an initiative voters passed in 2022 that required law enforcement to issue a permit for acquiring a firearm and banned the sale of magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. The Oregon Court of Appeals upheld the law in March, but the Oregon Supreme Court has agreed to take up the case and will hear oral arguments Nov. 6.
If the law were to take effect, Oregon State Police would need an additional $15.7 million for the agency and further staff alongside the state’s existing Firearm Instant Check System to handle the incoming caseload, according to the legislative report. Part of that expansion would be a $3.4 million searchable electronic permit database in compliance with Measure 114.
But state data shows that the number of background checks state police conduct has been decreasing since 2020, when more than 400,000 were recorded. State police logged 261,134 checks in 2024, recording 283,746 in 2023 and 393,862 in 2022. The fiscal analysis’ lead author did not dispute those figures when contacted by the Capital Chronicle.
“At the time our analysis was drafted, we only had complete data through 2023 and (it) was uncertain if the data associated with 2023 represented a new trend or was an outlier,” said Principal Legislative Analyst John Borden in a statement. “In hindsight, the LFO analysis should have referenced the years on which our estimate was based.”
Pending cases rising
Kevin Starrett, executive director of the Canby-based Oregon Firearms Federation, said his organization usually hears daily from people experiencing delays or denials on their background checks for “no apparent reason.”
He questioned why state police are able to find evidence of an arrest promptly but struggle to verify whether an actual conviction took place. That setup puts the burden on the person seeking a gun to provide documentation for cases that may stretch back decades, he said.
“OSP has an institutional policy of ‘we don’t care, we don’t have to.’” Starrett said in an emailed statement. “There are people who have literally been waiting for years for a resolution.”
Last year, 15,838 background checks were recorded as “pended” or requiring further research in 2024, a number that has increased in the past few years from around 11,000 in 2021, according to the firearm unit’s annual 2024 report. The number of cases still open at the beginning of the year has also increased from just two in 2020 to more than 4,800 in 2024.
Oregon State Police Capt. Kyle Kennedy, an agency spokesperson, said that in the past year and a half, same-day approvals have become far more common. Pending cases are also being resolved faster, but there are increasingly complex cases that require finding documentation from an agency regarding a previous criminal history, Kennedy said. Oregon law prohibits the sale of guns to individuals who have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor involving violence within the past four years.
“When they’re in Oregon, it’s usually the easiest, because we can reach out to Multnomah County and go, ‘Hey, do you have this info?’” he said. “They’re usually a lot more responsive in state, but we have a ton that are out of state, and it’s just a lot of work.”
‘When the switch is flipped, we’re ready’
Oregon is among 15 states where state law enforcement act as an intermediary between gun sellers and the FBI for background checks. The process costs gun seekers $10 each background check, but prospective owners have long complained that it’s difficult to get ahold of a real person when calling state police to challenge decisions.
“The days of the state police giving any pretense of customer service in this regard, are gone,” said Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, in a text message.
Gun sales across the state of Oregon ticked upward during the passage of Measure 114 in 2022. Despite the number of fatalities from guns surging nationwide in the year before, the number of Oregon background checks preceding the measure’s passage increased by 14% in the weeks preceding the November 2022 election, research shows. That number ballooned to 157% after the vote, particularly concentrated in Oregon’s rural communities.
Before 2020, most background check applicants would be approved through the firearm unit’s automated process or through a manual check within a few weeks, Kennedy said. But with the passage of Measure 114, the COVID-19 pandemic and enhanced background checks required by federal law, he said, the number of requests rose and posed “just the perfect storm.”
Oregon lawmakers took a wide range of action on gun control and public safety this past legislative session, seeking to address uncertainty created by the ballot measure. Democrats were successful in passing Senate Bill 243, which bans rapid-fire devices like bump stocks and empowers local governments to stop concealed carrying in public buildings.
The legislation modifies Measure 114’s implementation date to March 15, 2026, when lawmakers hope there will be more clarity around the initiative’s legal standing. Kennedy of the state police said funding will be available for the agency to begin issuing permits should the law withstand challenges.
“If and when the switch is flipped, we’re ready to get some infrastructure in there so that we can start processing so that we don’t delay people’s ability to acquire permits,” he said.
Other legislation involving guns faced an uphill battle. Legislators failed to enact House Bill 3076, which would have set up a state gun licensing program for dealers administered by the Oregon Department of Justice, an outcome many Republicans celebrated.
When it comes to background checks, however, Republicans once again failed to gain steam for a more than decade-long effort to end Oregon’s point of contact system. House Bill 3836, whose main author was Rep. Dwayne Yunker, R-Grants Pass, did not receive a committee hearing. Yunker did not respond to requests for comment.
In 2011, Thatcher, then an Oregon state representative, tried her hand at a similar unsuccessful bill. Now, she said she has seen far less complaints to her office about delays in the system.
“Though there are a lot of times my office has helped people get their gun background checks, those were long ago,” she said, “And the memories have faded.”
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