Though Republicans in the Oregon State Senate hold a super-minority status in the deep blue state, they recently managed to strong-arm the Oregon Democrats into giving up on a gun control bill that the majority party appeared to have the votes to pass.
Willamette Week reported Monday that four days after Senate Republicans staged a walkout in response to two bills they vehemently opposed — "Senate Bill 978, which strengthens gun laws and House Bill 3063, which ends non-medical exemptions for families who choose not to vaccinate their children" — Democrats caved to their demands because they were unable to achieve a quorum without GOP legislators and thus couldn't pass a $1 billion tax bill endorsed by the governor and Senate leaders.
Senate Bill 978 would have increased the legal age to purchase a firearm to 21, implemented a strict "safe storage" law, and also banned 3D-printed firearms, Bearing Arms reports. The decision by Senate Democrats to drop the bill comes after Senate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick declared last week that the bill would go down "over my dead body."