Oregon Activist Drafts Bill to Shield Armed Citizens Who Stop Attacks
Derek LeBlanc, a gun rights activist and Activist of the Year from the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, wrote Oregon legislation the day after a shooting in Bend. The draft targets Oregon law that could expose an armed defender to criminal charges after stopping an attack. LeBlanc posted his pitch on the ORGOAL website. The attack ended when one armed citizen intervened, and that fact alone should drive the policy debate. The bill, as LeBlanc describes it, would repeal ordinances he blames for the violence and add civil protections for people who act. Oregon picks a governor on Nov. 3, and incumbent Tina Kotek is on the ballot.
Key Details
The facts are short, and they matter:
- Location: Bend, Oregon.
- Outcome: An armed citizen ended the attack.
- Author: Derek LeBlanc, named Activist of the Year by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
- Timing: LeBlanc wrote the legislation on Friday, the day after the shooting.
- Publication: He posted a long statement on the ORGOAL website.
- Proposed changes: Repeal of ordinances he says led to the violence; amendment of the Oregon Revised Statutes that create potential criminal penalties for the Bend defender; new civil protections for defenders.
- Election: Voters choose a new governor or re-elect Tina Kotek on Nov. 3.
- Political reaction: Anti-gun groups want new gun control. State Democrats have not jumped on that push. Republicans differ on the response.
- Statistic cited: LeBlanc claims the CDC reported defensive gun use up to 3 million times a year, often without a shot fired. He offers no link in the post, so verify the figure before you repeat it.
Background
Oregon's constitution guarantees the right to bear arms in Article I, Section 27. That language predates the modern Second Amendment fights, and Oregon courts have historically read it with more room than many states give gun owners. The federal baseline changed in 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. Bruen requires the government to show that a firearm regulation fits within the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation. Oregon voters approved Measure 114 in 2022, which created a permit-to-purchase system and limited magazine capacity. Measure 114 has spent years in state court, and its status has been contested through litigation. Oregon's self-defense statutes, found in Chapter 161 of the Oregon Revised Statutes, govern when force is justified. Those rules set the criminal exposure that LeBlanc wants to change for defenders who act during a violent attack.
Why It Matters for Gun Owners
If you carry in Oregon, this affects you directly. Any concealed handgun license holder who uses force to stop an active attack could face a prosecutor's review before a jury hears anything. That review takes time, and it creates hesitation at the worst moment. LeBlanc's core argument is that hesitation costs lives. A defender who wonders whether he will go to prison for stopping a killer will not act as fast as a defender who knows the law protects him. The proposal also matters beyond Bend. Oregon is one of the few states where the question of civil and criminal protection for defenders still depends on local prosecutors and judges. Gun owners in Portland, Eugene, Salem, and rural counties face different enforcement habits, and that inconsistency is the real problem. Watch for the bill to be formally filed in the next session, and watch which legislators sign on. Watch the governor's race too, because the next governor decides whether a bill like this reaches a signature.
DownRange Analysis
Start with the constitutional question. A statute that shields a defender from prosecution for stopping an attack does not restrict the right to bear arms. It removes a penalty that falls on the exercise of self-defense. Under Bruen, the government must justify burdens on armed self-defense with historical analogues. Pinning criminal liability on a man who stopped a shooter is hard to square with the common-law tradition of defense of others. Civil immunity is a harder call. Courts may treat it differently, and a well-drafted bill will address that. The market will respond too. Demand for training, defensive ammunition, and carry insurance rises every time Oregon's legal risk gets a public airing. Here is what you should do now: confirm your CHL is current, review ORS Chapter 161 with an Oregon attorney, and consider a self-defense insurance policy. Do not treat LeBlanc's draft as law. It is a proposal, and it becomes useful only when someone introduces it and legislators fight for it.
