Oregon considers bill limiting contact between kids, parents who use gun in DV abuse

OREGON CITY Ore. (KPTV) - An Oregon legislator is proposing a bill that aims to strengthen the protections for children in domestic abuse situations involving a gun.

House Bill 2774 is sponsored by Representative Paul Evans of (D - District 20, Monmouth).

Under the bill, courts are directed to prohibit unsupervised alone time with a child for a parent who has committed abuse involving the unlawful use or brandishing of a firearm.

A judge would have to first determine the validity of the domestic violence claim.

Additional safety measures under the bill would prohibit overnight visits, require that an abusive parent refrain from using drugs or alcohol for 24 hours before visits and complete a court-ordered intervention or counseling program.

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“Firearms when they’re used responsibly are fine. When they’re used to create fear to threaten a survivor and to make them afraid to leave, of course, that’s gonna create extra trauma and extra safety risk,” said Melissa Erlbalm, Executive Director of Clackamas Women’s Services.

Clackamas Women’s Services’ mission is to break the isolation of domestic and sexual violence.

Erlbalm said she hears frequent cases from domestic violence survivors about partners using a gun as a form of abuse. She said firearms can be particularly dangerous and lethal when a victim is trying to flee.

“Survivors when they’re fleeing a violent situation often with their children, they are at increased risk for homicide. Of the women who are murdered, 44% of them are murdered at the time they are leaving and then half of them occur with a firearm,” she said.

According to the bill sponsor, as Oregon law is now, it is up to a judge to decide whether or not an abusive parent is permitted unsupervised time with their child. HB 2774 would give domestic violence survivors more of a say.

“I take very seriously this world that we’re finding ourselves in which somebody can use a firearm in such a way and have it not in the factoring for whether or not the children are safe,” Evans said in a House Committee hearing on Monday.

The proposed bill has not come without resistance. More than 20 letters were submitted in opposition to the legislation. Some critics felt the terminology in the bill summary of “Certain acts with a firearm” is too vague. A considerably large number of those against the bill felt it was a violation of their Second Amendment rights.

Representative Evans, a gun owner himself, disagrees.

“It is a bill about child safety. It is not a bill about the Second Amendment or Article 1 Section 27 of the Oregon constitution,” he said.