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Oath of Office in the State of Oregon

Compiled by KeepAndBearArms.com with the help of friends.

He who cheats on an oath acknowledges that he is afraid of his enemy, and he thinks little of God. ~~ Plutarch

If you are a public servant in the State of Oregon or any city, town, county or municipality thereof and are not abiding by your oath of office, you are operating outside the law. At least two generations of political and social pressures have urged disregard of certain of your most important legal duties, and the time has come to say enough is enough. Below are Federal and state laws and statutes by which you MUST abide.

The Oregon Constitution's Requirement to take the Oath of Office

 
Article XV, Miscellaneous
Section 3. Oaths of office. 
 
Every person elected or appointed to any office under this Constitution, shall, before entering on the duties thereof, take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States, and of this State, and also an oath of office.—

Source:  http://www.leg.state.or.us/orcons/orconst.html 

Article IV, Legislative
Section 31. Oath of members.

The members of the Legislative Assembly shall before they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation;—I do solemnly swear (or affirm as the case may be) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Oregon, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of Senator (or Representative as the case may be) according to the best of my Ability, And such oath may be administered by the Govenor (sic), Secretary of State, or a judge of the Supreme Court.— 

Source:  http://www.leg.state.or.us/orcons/orconst.html 

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The Actual Oath of Office Public Servants in Oregon are Required to Take

Article IV, Legislative
Section 31. Oath of members.

I do solemnly swear (or affirm as the case may be) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Oregon, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of Senator (or Representative as the case may be) according to the best of my Ability, And such oath may be administered by the Govenor (sic), Secretary of State, or a judge of the Supreme Court.

Source:  http://www.leg.state.or.us/orcons/orconst.html 

Article 7. Judicial Department
Section 7. Oath of office of Judges of Supreme Court. 
 
Every judge of the supreme court, before entering upon the duties of his office, shall take and subscribe, and transmit to the secretary of state, the following oath:
"I, ________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the State of Oregon, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of a judge of the supreme court of this state, according to the best of my ability, and that I will not accept any other office, except judicial offices, during the term for which I have been elected." [Created through initiative petition filed July 7, 1910, and adopted by the people Nov. 8, 1910]

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Oregon Constitution on the right to keep and bear arms

Article I, Bill of Rights

Section 27. Right to bear arms; military subordinate to civil power. 

The people shall have the right to bear arms for the defence (sic) of themselves, and the State, but the Military shall be kept in strict subordination to the civil power[.] 

Source:  http://www.leg.state.or.us/orcons/orconst.html 

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U.S. Constitution on the right to keep and bear arms

"A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Source: Bill of Rights, Second Amendment (ratified 1791, and still the Law of the Land)

Source: Bill of Rights, Second Amendment (ratified 1791, and still the Law of the Land)

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The Constitution Comes Before Statutes, Edicts, Ordinances, Rules or Regulations

Article VI, U.S. Constitution

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

From Law.Cornell.Edu:

"This means that state governments and officials cannot take actions or pass laws that interfere with the Constitution, laws passed by Congress, or treaties. The Constitution was interpreted, in 1819, as giving the Supreme Court the power to invalidate any state actions that interfere with the Constitution and the laws and treaties passed pursuant to it. That power is not itself explicitly set out in the Constitution but was declared to exist by the Supreme Court in the decision of McCulloch v. Maryland."

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CIVIL RIGHTS ACT

42 U.S.C. Chapter 21

SUBCHAPTER I--GENERALLY

Sec. 1983 Civil action for deprivation of rights

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.

(R.S. Sec. 1979; Pub. L. 96-170, Sec. 1, Dec. 29, 1979, 93 Stat. 1284.)

Source: For date law was enacted, history of law, amendments (slight, and very much intact in spirit), go here: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=browse_usc&docid=Cite:+42USC1983

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PUBLIC LAW 96-303

CODE OF ETHICS FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICE (signed into law on July 3, 1980)

ANY PERSON IN GOVERNMENT SERVICE SHOULD:

I. Put loyalty to the highest moral principles and to country above loyalty to persons, party, or Government department.

II. Uphold the Constitution, laws, and regulations of the United States and of all governments therein and never be a party to their evasion.

III. Give a full day's labor for a full day's pay; giving earnest effort and best thought to the performance of duties.

IV. Seek to find and employ more efficient and economical ways of getting tasks accomplished.

V. Never discriminate unfairly by the dispensing of special favors or

VI. Make no private promises of any kind binding upon the duties of office, since a Government employee has no private word which can be binding on public duty.

VII. Engage in no business with the Government, either directly or indirectly, which is inconsistent with the conscientious performance of governmental duties.

VIII. Never use any information gained confidentially in the performance of government duties as a means for making private profit.

IX. Expose corruption wherever discovered.

X. Uphold these principles, ever conscious that public office is a public trust.

DECA Poster 80-3, Feb 94

When this law was passed, it included a requirement for posting the above in government facilities. That requirement was later repealed. (Source 1, Source 2) But the law itself is still very much a LAW.

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U.S. State Constitutions

State Constitutions on the Right to Keep And Bear Arms

Oregon Constitution
http://www.leg.state.or.us/orcons/home.html