FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 1, 2021

CONTACT: info@responsibleownership.org

Gun Owners for Responsible Ownership (GOFRO) hailed Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s signing of legislation today to require secure firearm storage.

Governor Brown hosted a virtual signing ceremony along with key legislative sponsors and advocates supporting the bill: “Today, I am signing SB 554 with the hope that we can take another step forward to help spare more Oregon families from the grief of losing a loved one to gun violence.”

SB 554 establishes the responsibility of gun owners to safely store a gun when it is not under their control and report when a firearm is stolen or lost. It establishes civil fines and liability caused by failure to observe the law.

GOFRO founding members Paul Kemp, Jenna Yuille Longenecker and Tom O’Connor joined the signing ceremony along with Carla Forsyth. SB 554 is named in honor of Cindy Yuille, Jenna’s mother, and Steve Forsyth, Carla’s husband and Paul’s brother-in-law who were murdered with an unsecured firearm at the Clackamas Town Center eight years ago.

With the signing of SB 554 into law, Oregon joins eleven other states and the District of Columbia with a safe firearm storage law. SB 554 requirements will help keep children from accessing a loaded, unlocked firearm. Studies have shown that states with safe storage firearm laws have seen reductions in in youth suicides and youth firearm injuries.

SB 554 also prohibits firearms in the Oregon Capitol and the Portland International Airport and authorizes local elected school boards and public universities and community colleges to decide whether to prohibit firearms in their public buildings.