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Safe Schools Central Oregon

Potential strategies Advocate

Publish the whole year-one agenda before the first lock table

Proposed, for board reviewAgenda and neutrality statement published by December 19, 2026 (day 60); 2027 session; reviewed each October

Publish the whole year-one agenda before the first lock table

Before anyone testifies, put in writing a short, outcome-focused state agenda a hunter can sign (restore funding for the state school safety and prevention system, a liability shield so sheriffs, ranges, dealers and relatives can hold firearms during a crisis, and support for the tip line and youth care access), written neutrality on Measure 114, bans, acquisition, carry and hardware, no candidate work, lobbying within the federal limits for charities (501(c)(3)), and advocacy paid only from named unrestricted gifts.

Hunters will judge the group by the first bill it supports, not by the lockboxes it hands out, and one bill that gun owners read as aimed at them empties the Oregon Hunters Association chapters, the ranges and the gun shops the Lock It Up pillar depends on. Oregon gun owners split about evenly on stricter laws, so half the room is primed to leave. The gun owners we listened to expect the pattern they have seen elsewhere: school safety funding paired with new firearm restrictions after one tragedy. A new nonprofit formed after a shooting is assumed to be on that path until it proves otherwise, in writing, signed by people with something to lose.

So the agenda would be published whole, before the first lock table, and it would be short. Funding for the state’s school safety and prevention system and the regional specialists is a budget line the state’s association of education service districts already testifies on, and it has been reported as at risk in the state’s budget reduction options. A civil liability shield for sheriffs, ranges, dealers and private holders who store firearms during a crisis is a bill dealers have reason to want: Oregon dealers have been reported to offer storage quietly but decline to be listed publicly over liability and cost concerns. Support for the tip line and youth care access rounds it out.

The statement would also say what the group would not do: no position on Measure 114, whose status is unresolved, or on bans, magazine limits, waiting periods, acquisition, carry, hardware, dealer rules or district campus firearm policies; no candidate work of any kind; protective order work limited to explaining the existing law from both sides. Three compliance pieces would keep the promise enforceable: the lobbying ceiling, state lobbyist registration and a separate named advocacy fund.

Why we think it works

What we would do

  1. Publish by December 19 (day 60), together with the identity statement, a one-page agenda with three asks and nothing else: restore and sustain funding for the Statewide School Safety and Prevention System and the regional specialists, coordinated with the Oregon Association of Education Service Districts and the Safe Schools Alliance and never speaking for a district; a Washington-style civil liability shield with a defined hold period and return procedure for sheriffs, ranges, dealers and private holders who store firearms during a crisis, with a legal memo on the state private transfer law (ORS 166.435) and the federal return rules first and a 2028 short-session fallback; and support for SafeOregon, the state's school safety tip line, and youth care access.
  2. Invite dealers, the three sheriffs and gun-owner organizations to be the face of the hold agreement bill: ask the Oregon Firearm Safety Coalition, Gun Owners for Responsible Ownership and the state shooting association to sign first, with the group as a supporter.
  3. Publish in the same statement what the group would not do in year one: no positions on Measure 114, bans, magazine limits, waiting periods, acquisition, carry, hardware, dealer rules or district campus firearm policies; no candidate endorsements, ratings or appearances; protective order work limited to plain explanation of the existing law.
  4. The Lock It Up council would review every Advocate document before release and could pause any material naming firearm legislation; the Advocate report would be kept physically separate from Lock It Up materials and from anything that goes through a school; districts would receive only material branded by the High Desert Education Service District (the regional agency that supports all six school districts), the Oregon State Police, the Oregon Health Authority or a county.
  5. Compliance: the fiscal sponsor agreement names lobbying as permitted and counted; the 501(h) election (the IRS election that sets a clear dollar limit on lobbying) is filed with the IRS application; a tracker registers anyone who exceeds 24 hours or $100 of lobbying in a quarter with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission within three business days; most volunteers are kept to unpaid committee testimony, which is exempt from registration; two named spokespeople, one a gun owner; no employer titles in testimony.
  6. Pay Advocate costs only from a separate unrestricted fund; name donors above a threshold; accept no Advocate-earmarked gifts from outside the three counties and none from organizations whose primary purpose is firearm policy on either side; never charge advocacy to St. Charles, PacificSource Foundation or federal lines.
  7. Publish an annual Advocate report each October: what was asked, what passed, what moved, what the group got wrong; process measures (bills, hearings, testimony) appear there only, never on the school-facing scorecard.

How we would know it is working

  • Agenda and neutrality statement published by day 60 and reaffirmed each October
  • Council sign-off on 100 percent of Advocate materials; zero Advocate content through school channels
  • Zero candidate activity; lobbying log reviewed quarterly by the treasurer, with every required registration and filing made on time
  • 100 percent of advocacy spending drawn from named unrestricted gifts
  • Gun-owner partners retained year over year, counted by the council

What could get in the way

Outcome language is not a guardrail: protective order expansion, waiting periods and dealer rules can all be described in outcome language, and a lobbying scorecard with the wrong bill list ends the Lock It Up pillar.
Name content limits, not only legal limits; publish the bill list before each session; restrict year one to things a hunter can sign; keep the Advocate report physically separate from Lock It Up materials.
The pattern after other tragedies is the burden of proof: a new nonprofit formed after a shooting is assumed to be a gun policy campaign.
The identity statement says what the group would not do and is signed by hunters and a range operator by day 60, with the three sheriffs' offices invited to sign.
The fiscal sponsor may refuse to host lobbying at all, or cap it below what the agenda needs.
Plan an education-only year one with unpaid individual testimony, which is exempt from registration, and defer legislative asks until the determination letter arrives.
Donor-advised fund gifts are anonymous, and hunters will assume national money.
Name Advocate donors above a threshold, refuse Advocate-earmarked gifts from outside the three counties, and adopt the gift acceptance policy before the first ask.

Who we would work with: Oregon Association of Education Service Districts and the Safe Schools Alliance, Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson county sheriffs, Oregon Firearm Safety Coalition and Gun Owners for Responsible Ownership, Local firearm dealers and ranges, Lock It Up council, Fiscal sponsor and pro bono Oregon nonprofit counsel, Board treasurer and named spokespeople

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