Oregon’s Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously upheld an ordinance that prohibits people from carrying loaded guns in public places within the city of Portland, according to The Oregonian.
In the ruling, Justice Richard Baldwin wrote the ordinance regulates “the manner of possession and use of firearms in public places,” but does not ban them outright. According to The Oregonian, the ordinance has existed in Portland for “decades.” The case that reached the Supreme Court resulted from the 2008 arrest of a man police encountered at a convenience store in possession of bags containing, pepper spray, knives, loaded magazines, and “two loaded 9-mm semiautomatic handguns.”
In 2010, the Portland City Council voted to amend the ordinance to include a mandatory jail term for violators. The Chief Deputy City Attorney for Portland told The Oregonian the Supreme Court ruling would protect other similar regulations elsewhere in the state.
Photo by Shutterstock / Micha Klootwijk
