Oregon voters narrowly approved one of the nation’s most restrictive gun control measures in 2022. It’s been a boondoggle process of court challenges and implementation delays since then. But Oregonians have responded to the impending restrictions by racing to exercise their Second Amendment rights before the government could make doing so substantially more difficult.
New research now puts hard numbers behind that response. Researchers studying Oregon’s Ballot Measure 114 found firearm-related background checks surged 157 percent immediately following the election. The rush to lawfully purchase firearms wasn’t a flash in the pan, either. Eighteen months later, researchers still identified roughly 63,000 additional firearm-related background checks beyond what otherwise would have been expected.
The message is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. When government threatens to put a constitutional right behind a permission slip, Americans exercise that right in massive numbers before the restrictions arrive.
Oregonians Saw the Door Closing
Measure 114 passed with just 50.7 percent of the vote in November 2022. It created a permit-to-purchase requirement, mandated firearm safety training, implemented an additional completed background check before a permit could be issued and prohibited the manufacture, sale and transfer of magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds, with limited exceptions. NSSF challenged the ballot measure at the time as unconstitutional.
Oregonians were clear-eyed about what was coming.
Researchers Katie Bollman, Benjamin Hansen, Edward Rubin and Garrett Stanford published a study in the Journal of Public Economics that found firearm-related background checks initially increased 13.9 percent in anticipation of the referendum before exploding to 157 percent immediately after voters approved it. Between the election and the court order stopping the law from taking effect, researchers estimate Measure 114 generated approximately 78,000 additional firearm-related background checks.
That response was rational and predictable. Faced with mandatory government permission, fingerprints, training requirements and restrictions on commonly owned magazines, Oregonians acted before those barriers could be erected.
A Bigger Pattern
Oregon isn’t an outlier. The same pattern is playing out wherever politicians put new restrictions between law-abiding citizens and their Second Amendment rights.
Colorado recorded 82,103 firearm background checks in July as the state approached the Aug. 1 effective date of new restrictions on commonly owned semiautomatic firearms. That was a 264 percent increase over July 2025.
Virginians responded much the same way ahead of Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s July 1 severe gun control restrictions on modern sporting rifle sales, that actually included other commonly owned firearms and standard-capacity magazines. June produced 123,699 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System verifications for firearm sales, a 241 percent increase over June 2025. Statewide enforcement of those prohibitions has since been enjoined while litigation continues. NSSF also challenged the Viriginia laws, too.
New Jersey demonstrated the other side of the equation. After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bruen decision eliminated the state’s unconstitutional “justifiable need” requirement for obtaining a carry permit, residents rushed through the newly opened Second Amendment door. State data showed nearly 100,000 carry permit applications were turned in and processed in the past few years, overwhelmingly driven by the post-Bruen period.
The pattern is remarkably consistent. Threaten the right and Americans exercise it before government closes the door. Remove an unconstitutional barrier and they exercise it once the door opens.
Measure 114 Isn’t Finished
For now, Measure 114 still has not taken effect. A Harney County Circuit Court struck it down under Oregon’s Constitution in 2023. The Oregon Court of Appeals reversed that ruling in March 2025 and held the measure facially constitutional. Then the Oregon Supreme Court heard arguments in November 2025 and has yet to issue its decision.
Oregon lawmakers have meanwhile pushed back the law’s operative date. House Bill 4145, enacted this year as Chapter 120, provides that Measure 114’s firearm transfer and magazine provisions will now kick in on Jan. 1, 2028.
The delay buys Oregonians even more time to choose to exercise their God-given rights. It does not resolve the fundamental problem, though. The right to keep and bear arms should not depend on first securing government permission to exercise it.
Oregonians recognized what was at stake and acted. So did law-abiding citizens in Colorado and Virginia when new restrictions crept near. The numbers tell the story. Americans value their Second Amendment rights. When government threatens to restrict those rights, law-abiding Americans don’t surrender.
They exercise them.
Democrats are some of the best, if not THE BEST salespeople of firearms. Most of the buyers had never thought or had any needs for any firearms, but once they are told that they can’t have it – I imagine grandmas getting themselves few AR15, couple stripped or even completed lowers, couple Glocks each and few thousands rounds of ammunition. You know, just in case.
I think manufactures should start offering Democratic Party a cash back options/bonuses on each idiotic restriction they try to put in place. Go Dems!