A 2022 Oregon ballot measure established a permit to purchase process for people who wish to be qualified to purchase or acquire firearms. This law requires local law enforcement agencies to provide to the State Police a copy of any permit to purchase firearms they issue, and any information necessary for the State Police to maintain an electronic searchable database of such permits.¹ The Department of State Police is required to maintain this electronic database by ensuring that new permits are added to the database, renewed permits are assigned a new expiration date, and expired or revoked permits are marked expired or revoked but retained in the database.²

Previously, Oregon law prohibited the State Police from retaining information obtained during a firearm background check request for more than five years. However, Oregon’s 2022 ballot measure now authorizes the State Police to retain information provided to a licensed dealer in a firearms transaction sufficient to identify each firearm purchased by a permit holder for inclusion in an electronic law enforcement database.³ The law requires that this information be attached to the electronic record of the permit maintained by the Department of State Police.⁴

Records of information obtained during a firearm background check are exempt from disclosure under Oregon public records law.⁵

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1. 2022 Oregon Ballot Measure 114, Section 4(5).[↩]
2. Id.[↩]
3. Or. Rev. Stat. § 166.412(7)(a).[↩]
4. Id.[↩]
5. Or. Rev. Stat. § 166.412(7)(b); Or. Admin. R. 257-010-0010(4), Or. Admin. R. 257-010-0055(3).[↩]