A ballot initiative that would ban private transfers of firearms at gun shows and create vast new databases of gun owners has made it to the ballot in Oregon.

The measure, sponsored by state Senator Ginny Burdick, Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Noelle, and Jackson County Sheriff Robert O. Kennedy would require police permission any time a firearm changed hands at a gun show. This would include trades between two collectors who had known each other for years. The background checks would be conducted using the often off-line "NICS" system. If the measure passes, firearms transfers could be virtually eliminated any time the feds chose to turn off "NICS."

Senator Burdick once commented while trying to get a similar bill through the legislature that if she was successful she'd be back for more and in fact this measure is a clear step towards the banning of all private transfers.

A similar bill was killed in the 1999 legislative session by one vote. Amazingly, that legislation was SUPPORTED by an organization calling itself "Oregon Gun Owners" and was neither acknowledged nor opposed by the NRA. Only Gun Owners of America and the Oregon Firearms Federation fought it to the most narrow of defeats.

Senator Burdick, with huge contributions from national anti-gun organizations, has now placed it on the ballot for November.

Gun owners in Oregon are facing a grave threat to their privacy and freedom. If this measure passes, the big-brother databases the government is so fond of will swell. No doubt, the next step will be to declare that any transfer must be prohibited unless the police (who regularly lobby against gun rights) chose to give their permission.

The way this measure is written, your home could be classified as a "gun show" if you owned more then 25 guns.