Open Carry in OR with WA permit.

[Firefighterchen]

I was recently on another forum when I was over reading about someone open carrying in Seaside. Another member gave me the ORS that states if you have any permit to conceal, from anywhere, you are exempted from OR open carry restrictions.

166.173 Authority of city or county to regulate possession of loaded firearms in public places. (1) A city or county may adopt ordinances to regulate, restrict or prohibit the possession of loaded firearms in public places as defined in ORS 161.015.
(2) Ordinances adopted under subsection (1) of this section do not apply to or affect:
(a) A law enforcement officer in the performance of official duty.
(b) A member of the military in the performance of official duty.
(c) A person licensed to carry a concealed handgun.
(d) A person authorized to possess a loaded firearm while in or on a public building or court facility under ORS 166.370.
(e) An employee of the United States Department of Agriculture, acting within the scope of employment, who possesses a loaded firearm in the course of the lawful taking of wildlife. [1995 s.s. c.1 §4; 1999 c.782 §8; 2009 c.556 §3]

166.173 (2)(c) is the actual statue that states this. Is there any OR residents or WA residents that can confirm or deny this information with further ORS?

I have my immediate family that lives in OR (Happy Valley) and they are all close to the restricted areas. I do not want to spend money to pay for a privileged carry method, and want to exercise my Right to OC back in my previous home state. Does my WA permit allow me to open carry in those restricted cities?

Also, can someone post up any ORS that states they can detain/arrest/charge you with disorderly conduct or some other bull**** reason? I am going to begin researching into open carrying into my neighboring state, so eventually I will find all the information I need, but until then it would be helpful if someone who has done the research can point in the right direction.

 

[santa]

Oregon does NOT recognize any other State permit other than its own. Oregon does issue non-resident permits (if you find the right Sheriff) on a 'may issue' basis and ONLY to adjacent States, Washington, California, Idaho, Nevada. As far as open carry consult the map on this site or Open Carry.org. Im not sure if thats the correct address, but google Open Carry and you will find it.

 

[Firefighterchen]

Oregon does NOT recognize any other State permit other than its own. Oregon does issue non-resident permits (if you find the right Sheriff) on a 'may issue' basis and ONLY to adjacent States, Washington, California, Idaho, Nevada. As far as open carry consult the map on this site or Open Carry.org. Im not sure if thats the correct address, but google Open Carry and you will find it.

That's the interesting part...When it comes to concealed carry you are most definitely right. But when it comes to open carry according to its 166.173 (2)(c) it just has to be a permit to carry.Not an Oregon permit to carry.

 

[Firefighterchen]

This is what I have pulled together so far.
Red is my way of describing it in layman terms.




166.173 Authority of city or county to regulate possession of loaded firearms in public places. (1) A city or county may adopt ordinances to regulate, restrict or prohibit the possession of loaded firearms in public places as defined in ORS 161.015. Allows cities to make ordinances that restrict loaded possession of firearms within their city limits.
(2) Ordinances adopted under subsection (1) of this section do not apply to or affect:
(c) A person licensed to carry a concealed handgun. Any license to carry a concealed handgun exempts the carrier from the ordinances, not just licenses defined in 166.290 and 166.291? No implied meaning here?


166.250 (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section or ORS 166.260, 166.270, 166.274, 166.291, 166.292 or 166.410 to 166.470, a person commits the crime of unlawful possession of a firearm if the person knowingly:
(a) Carries any firearm concealed upon the person;


166.250 (3) Firearms carried openly in belt holsters are not concealed within the meaning of this section. So openly carried in a belt holster is not considered (166.250 (1)(a)) knowingly concealed.


166.260 Persons not affected by ORS 166.250. (1) ORS 166.250 does not apply to or affect:
(h) A person who is licensed under ORS 166.291 and 166.292 to carry a concealed handgun. Specifically requires an OR concealed handgun license is needed to (166.250) conceal carry.


166.360 Definitions for ORS 166.360 to 166.380. As used in ORS 166.360 to 166.380, unless the context requires otherwise:
(1) “Capitol building” means the Capitol, the State Office Building, the State Library Building, the Labor and Industries Building, the State Transportation Building, the Agriculture Building or the Public Service Building and includes any new buildings which may be constructed on the same grounds as an addition to the group of buildings listed in this subsection.
(2) “Court facility” means a courthouse or that portion of any other building occupied by a circuit court, the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court or the Oregon Tax Court or occupied by personnel related to the operations of those courts, or in which activities related to the operations of those courts take place.
(3) “Loaded firearm” means:
(a) A breech-loading firearm in which there is an unexpended cartridge or shell in or attached to the firearm including but not limited to, in a chamber, magazine or clip which is attached to the firearm.
(b) A muzzle-loading firearm which is capped or primed and has a powder charge and ball, shot or projectile in the barrel or cylinder.
(4) “Public building” means a hospital, a capitol building, a public or private school, as defined in ORS 339.315, a college or university, a city hall or the residence of any state official elected by the state at large, and the grounds adjacent to each such building. The term also includes that portion of any other building occupied by an agency of the state or a municipal corporation, as defined in ORS 297.405, other than a court facility.
(5) “Weapon” means:
(a) A firearm;


166.370 Possession of firearm or dangerous weapon in public building or court facility; exceptions; discharging firearm at school. (1) Any person who intentionally possesses a loaded or unloaded firearm or any other instrument used as a dangerous weapon, while in or on a public building, shall upon conviction be guilty of a Class C felony.
(3) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to:
(d) A person who is licensed under ORS 166.291 and 166.292 to carry a concealed handgun.

According to 166.360 and 166.370 I need a (166.290 and 166.291) OR concealed handgun license to carry in public buildings. Does this mean the firearm must be concealed in a public building? Or it can be open or concealed?

 

[Firefighterchen]

I contacted Oregon Firearms Federation and they contacted a lawyer. This is what they add to say.

First email:

Well wel have lawyers, but I am pretty confident that the cannot answer the question, although I will forward it to them. The reason I don’t think they can answer it is because they would have to be guessing just like you or I would be.

The exact letter of the law says “a person licensed to carry a concealed handgun.” As you pointed out, it does not say licensed in Oregon. So it would be up to the courts. The courts would have to decide what the legislature intended. And you simply never know with the courts.

They might very well say, “Well in other places, the legislature specifically said 'A person who is licensed under ORS 166.291 and 166.292 to carry a concealed handgun’. So when they DON’T say that they mean licensed anywhere” But I would not want to be the one to test that.

Kevin Starrett



Second email:

Follow up. Here is what I got from our lawyers.

> Kevin,
>
> I am just now working with a client with a Washington State CHL who was in Portland with a Concealed/Loaded firearm (2 misdemeanors). He thought about fighting this (on the arguments you presented), but with a mandatory minimum 30 days on the loaded firearms, we were able to work a ‘diversion like’ program for him. In looking into the statute (and the similarly worded Portland code 14A.60.010), I believe the DDA would argue that ‘license’ has to refer to only an Oregon license as Oregon has no reciprocity with any state. Therefore the State in crafting their statute could have only taken into account Oregon licenses as all other licenses are invalid here.
> Now we would argue a more rigid reading of the statute to its text alone, and that it should be interpreted broadly in favor of the defense, but I don’t know if too many in our judiciary branch would buy into our arguments on gun policies. Additionally, the legislatures are aware that there are different kinds of licenses and could have stated Oregon only but they did not do that, and their silence speaks to that argument.
> All that’s to say I think it’s an argument, but maybe not one that would be accepted, unless there is some legislative history to the contrary. Did you have any luck determining jurisdiction for the Coast Guard? I could not find much.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Shawn A. Kollie
> Attorney at Law


So... be careful.

Kevin Starrett

So, I guess who wants to be the guinea pig? My best bet is to open carry as usual and just avoid those cities...shouldn't be too hard except for Portland where my family goes out to eat often.

Special thanks to OFF, they did a great job at contacting me and getting me the information I asked. Great bunch of people there.

 

[unionmillwright]

I open carry in Oregon frequently.

If you read the Oregon gun laws they state that yes Oregon is an open carry state. However, cities can create ordinances that restrict carrying in public places. There are currently 5 cities I believe that they do not want you carrying openly without Oregon's CPL. Having Oregon's CPL allows you to carry almost anywhere that you would have been previously restricted. The car carrying changes as well. Check out opencarry.com

 

[Firefighterchen]

If you read the Oregon gun laws they state that yes Oregon is an open carry state. However, cities can create ordinances that restrict carrying in public places. There are currently 5 cities I believe that they do not want you carrying openly without Oregon's CPL. Having Oregon's CPL allows you to carry almost anywhere that you would have been previously restricted. The car carrying changes as well. Check out opencarry.com

Sorry for the delayed response, must of been a busy time and missed the thread.

Tigard, Beaverton, Salem, Portland, Oregon City, Independence I believe have a loaded open carry ban. BUT, the laws do not state you need an OR CHL (166.290 and 166.291) to be exempt from those laws. There is a distinction in the laws when it comes to concealing, they actually define what license needs to be held to conceal legally (166.290 and 166.291). While open carry has no distinction in which license.

 

[carracer]

I think Newport Oregon is also an unloaded carry city without permit.