By Mia Maldonado, Oregon Capital Chronicle

SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon ranks as 12th in the nation for its gun safety laws, according to gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety. 

Those laws include banning guns at the state Capitol and giving universities the authority to ban guns on campus. Oregon also bars domestic abusers from having guns while subject to restraining orders, and it prevents people who have committed certain violent misdemeanors from buying a firearm for up to four years. In 2023, the state also banned homemade firearms known as “ghost guns” and 3D-printed guns.

And yet, Oregon has experienced four mass shootings this year, with the latest taking place on Oct. 15 when a 16-year-old gunman climbed over a school fence, fired a shotgun through the glass panels of locked doors at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend and killed three children and a teacher before being tackled by another teacher and fatally shot by a local parent who followed him into the school.

His mother legally purchased him the shotgun for his birthday, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

Despite having some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, some groups say Oregon needs to do more to protect Oregonians from gun violence.

Measure held up in courts would prevent more gun violence, advocates say

Oregon’s ranking takes into account Measure 114, which voters narrowly approved in 2022 to ban high-capacity magazines, requiring stricter background checks, permits and firearm safety training to purchase a gun.

That measure hasn’t yet taken effect because it’s been tied up with court challenges. The measure is awaiting a final ruling from the Oregon Supreme Court. It would take effect in January 2028, Oregon lawmakers decided this year, if it is upheld.

Gun control advocates say the measure is a key way to reduce gun violence.

Oregon doesn’t require people to have a permit to purchase a gun, only a background check. Licenses, however, are required for people wanting to conceal carry. Measure 114 would require that anyone purchasing a gun undergo a safety course before purchasing a firearm.

“Had the mom in this case known she had to undergo a safety course to get her weapon, maybe she would have known to secure her weapon,” Amie Wexler, executive director of the Portland-based Alliance for a Safe Oregon, told the Capital Chronicle. “She would have understood Oregon law better and not allowed unfettered access to a 16-year-old who had these nihilistic online tendencies.”

Measure 114 would also close a loophole that allows people to buy a gun even if their background check isn’t completed within three days. If the measure is upheld, it would require a completed background check before a firearms dealer can sell a gun.

“This is something that Oregon voters told the legislature you need to do this,” said Penny Okamoto, director of gun control advocacy group Ceasefire Oregon Action Fund.

Firearm industry should pay for prevention programs, advocate says

Investments into school security aren’t sufficient, Okamoto said, saying shooters can shoot their way past glass doors and metal detectors.

Governments should create agencies that investigate and come out with recommendations to prevent shootings the same way they explore recommendations for people to respond to earthquakes, fires and tsunamis, she said, and the firearm industry should pay for these prevention programs the same way chemical companies pay for cleanup at Superfund sites.

Oregon is one of 22 states with red flag laws, meaning a person may petition to a judge to temporarily remove firearms from someone who poses a danger to themselves or others. Oregon, where 80% of all firearm deaths are suicides, should take a step further and allow people to report themselves to a judge should they have suicidal tendencies, Okamoto said.

Okamoto is also pushing for harsher penalties, a misdemeanor or felony, for people who violate the state’s safe storage law.

Children in Oregon cannot purchase a firearm. However, state law allows family members to transfer firearms, excluding handguns, to their minor children.

“A parent can buy long guns, shotguns and rifles, and transfer them to their minor children under Oregon law,” said Shawn Kollie, a Medford-based attorney who specializes in gun law. “There’s no registration. There’s no paperwork. There’s nothing like that. Those things are not required to do an immediate family transfer.”

Oregon’s safe storage law requires that the adult that transfers the weapon to a minor must supervise their use of the firearm. Failure to do so could result in a civil penalty of up to $2,000, a penalty Okamoto described as a “slap on the wrist” and an insult to gun violence survivors.

“I am against the firearm industry allowing gunfire to be the leading cause of death for kids and teens in the United States and not lifting a finger to change that,” she said.

Gun law expert says criminal charges against mother of shooter unlikely

In the case of Shauntai Nickerson, the 16-year-old Bend shooter’s mother who investigators described as cooperative, that penalty would be akin to a ticket, Kollie said.

For her to be criminally charged, law enforcement would have to prove she was warned by school officials or mental health providers about her son’s mental state. If she received warnings and did nothing, then she could face criminal ramifications.

Proving that would require subpoenaing counselors and therapists who can’t freely disclose medical information, Kollie said.

“I find it really difficult to imagine there’s going to be a base of knowledge to charge his mother criminally,” he said. “Maybe for the crime of reckless endangerment, which is a misdemeanor that again requires her to be aware of a risk and disregard it.”

The penalty for reckless endangering is a misdemeanor that comes with a maximum penalty of 364 days in jail and a $6,250 fine, Kollie said.

Oregon Capital Chronicle reporter Shaanth Nanguneri contributed to this story.