Oregon State Rep. Barbara Smith Warner, D-Portland, sits for a portrait in her office on Dec. 18, 2018 in Salem, Oregon. Smith Warner is sponsoring legislation to require all gun owners to lock their guns when not in use.
Jonathan Levinson / OPB
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown sacrificed a package of
and a bill
tightening vaccination requirements
in order to
pass an education funding bill this week
. But lawmakers aren’t giving up and hope to get gun control back on the table soon.
K-12 education funding has been a major legislative priority for Rep. Barbara Smith Warner, D-Portland, who is elated about the multibillion-dollar tax plan that will boost schools in Oregon.
“If I do nothing else in my legislative career,” she said, “having been involved with that is really spectacular.”
But gun control is also one of Smith Warner's priorities. And she didn’t find out the political cost of education funding until she showed up at her office this week.
“I was enraged,” she said. “It's hard to say which is worse, the gun safety or vaccinations.”
Republicans staged a walkout last week which denied the Senate a quorum and prevented the tax bill from coming up for a vote.
Brown helped negotiate an end to the walkout by getting Democrats to ditch the guns and vaccine bills.
Smith Warner said her push for stricter gun laws in the state is far from over. She hopes to revive a bill on gun control this session or in the February short session.