PORTLAND ― Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) is not about to let armed, pro-gun enthusiasts intimidate her when she advocates for gun control, even if they hang and burn an effigy of her on the steps of the state capitol. Which they did.
Last week, dozens of people advocating open carry laws strung up and set afire a mannequin that represented Brown, which they taunted as it smoldered on the ground. The guy hanging the effigy was wearing a mask. Someone on a microphone mentioned white supremacy. Another attendee talked about all the money she had to spend to put her son in a Christian school “so his gender can be preserved.” It was all kinds of crazy. Here’s a video from the scene:
”Oh, look at Kate burn,” one man says.
“Take that, Kate Brown!” shouts another woman. “Down with Brown.”
The governor wasn’t in Salem at the time. But on Friday, she had a message for those trying to scare her away from taking action on gun control.
“If these extreme groups continue to burn mannequins of me, an effigy, every time I stand up for the safety of Oregonians, then they’re going to run out of mannequins,” Brown said during a gubernatorial debate in Portland. She got a round of applause.
The governor has been pressing legislators to pass bills limiting gun sales when background checks take longer than expected, and banning a gun sale for 30 days if someone warns authorities that the buyer may be going through a mental health crisis. She signed an executive order earlier this year to give police more tools for tracking gun transactions, and to create a work group to review firearms-related domestic violence offenses.
Brown is running against Republican gubernatorial challenger Bud Pierce in November. She’s currently leading Pierce 43 to 35 percent, according to a September poll by DHM Research, an independent survey firm in Portland.
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