A safer future is possible here in Oregon. Together, we are creating that future.
.png)
Community Violence Intervention helped the greater Portland Metro area reach a 20% reduction in shootings and a 30% reduction in gun homicides for Black men and young adults. This work, led mainly by local Black, Latino and Tribal organizations such as such as Healing Hurt People, Love is Stronger, Latino Network, and many more organizations helped prevent shootings, stopped retaliation, and helped families begin the process of healing.
The Alliance, in partnership with leaders from our GVP Equity Table, helped successfully advocate for $10 million of Community Violence Prevention funding last year from the state legislature and helped ensure the City of Portland funded gun violence prevention. This funding went to organizations across the state working to prevent violence before it occurs and improve community safety.
In 2023, 6,160 illegal crime guns were recovered in Oregon, with Portland having more illegal guns (1,642) than Seattle (942) or Oakland (1,386). To understand where all these guns were coming from, the Alliance analyzed ATF data, including through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Our report on crime guns found over 75% of traced crime guns in Oregon are coming from Oregon gun dealers, with a huge portion of crime guns coming from trafficking, straw gun sales, and theft from dealers.
Nationally, the AFT is supposed to inspect gun dealers every 3 years. Yet, in reality - only 2% (34) of Oregon’s 1,963 gun dealers were inspected for compliance in 2023. When inspections do happen, almost half the time, significant violations are found: selling firearms without background checks, not reporting sales of more than 6 guns at a time (as required by ATF, and a sign of trafficking), and unreported missing inventory that later show up at crime scenes.
The state today has ZERO regulation of gun dealers. The good news is: this is a problem with a real, evidence based solution: State gun dealer licensing and inspections. Sixteen states have created state licensing systems, and research associates this with a 36% reduction in gun homicides, as well as a huge reduction in the flow of illegal guns.
In partnership with doctors and Gun Owners for Responsible Ownership, the Alliance created a new training to ensure doctors and clinics in rural areas have tools to talk to patients about firearms and create firearm safety plans. More than 200 healthcare professionals were trained as part of this pilot work in 2024.
The Alliance helped create the newly formed, Oregon Veteran Alliance, to create a collaborative space for Veteran's to lead on efforts to address Oregon's high Veteran suicide rates. Notably, Oregon unhoused Veteran suicide rates declined for the first time in 2024.
In early 2024, the Alliance brought together stakeholders from across the state to develop strategies to increase use of Extreme Risk Protection Orders in the state. In partnership with those personally impacted by suicide, firearm owners, and partner organizations, the Alliance developed new language to change how we talk about ERPOs and is beginning efforts to increase awareness and use of ERPOs.
Oregon's tragically high firearm suicide rates demand a bi-partisan effort to save lives. The Legislature created a Taskforce to put forward recommendations to reduce gun tragedies.
.png)
There is not required professional development training for healthcare or law enforcement on the use of ERPOs and they continue to be underused. We’re working to increase awareness of this life-saving tool, and make them more effective through policy updates.
Students in our Youth Advisory Board led advocacy efforts, where they collected hundreds of signatures with their recommendations to make schools safer. Two students presented their recommendations to the PPS School Board & published them in an LTE. Based on their advocacy, the District has begun to notify students before drills and several lawmakers took up gun tragedy prevention bills in the 2025 session.
In partnership with SEI, the Alliance developed a first of it's kind Youth Leadership Academy curriculum. The curriculum not only supports youth who have been personally affected by gun tragedies in their communities or at school, but shifted youth perspectives: by the end of the academy, 80% of students reported it was possible to reduce gun violence, and that they personally could help make change (compared to less than 20% in the beginning).
Oregon school threat assessment team funding has been cut under the Trump administration, which already has impacted Oregon's ability to respond to school threats. One important way Oregon schools can help keep kids safe is by providing all families with information on secure storage of firearms.
Alongside Lift Every Voice Oregon, the Alliance has fought to ensure Measure 114 can finally go into effect, as voters intended. This important ballot measure - passed in 2022, but held up due to lawsuits brought and paid for by the Virgina based Gun Owners of America- a prominent gun lobby group has meant Measure 114 has been on hold.
The Alliance worked with doctors and healthcare leaders, faith leaders, and survivors to support the Measure 114 case, filing 3 different amicus briefings showing the extensive evidence and research that permitting will save lives
Research shows that if Oregon had adopted a handgun purchaser licensing law when Connecticut did in 1995, we would expect 193 fewer firearm homicides and 849 fewer firearm suicides over a decade.* The large number of preventable firearm suicides is particularly notable, given Oregon's relatively high firearm suicide rate. This means there would have been an estimated 1,041 fewer deaths due to gunfire in Oregon from 1996-2005 if a handgun purchaser licensing law existed.
Oregon has the 14th highest rate of gun ownership in the country, with a long historic tradition of firearm ownership. States with higher rates of firearm ownership are correlated with higher rates of gun deaths and injuries, including higher rates of firearm suicide, higher rates of firearm homicide, and higher rates of domestic violence fatalities with firearms. Oregon is making progress to show that we can both respect responsible firearm ownership and lower our gun death and injury rates through smart policies that prioritize community safety.
.png)
Recent analysis, above, has shown Oregon's gun tragedy prevention laws are making a significant impact in lowering our gun death rate. While Oregon's gun death rate is far too high - 25th highest in the nation at 14.4 deaths per 100,000 - when we compare to states with other rates of high gun ownership our firearm death rate is significantly lower. States with the worst gun laws have gun death rates nearly double those with the strongest gun laws.
Together, we elected some of the strongest champions the State has ever seen and with these leaders in office, we know we can do more to make Oregon catch up with our neighbors and begin to lead the nation in gun tragedy prevention laws.
Oregon has one of the highest rates of Veteran suicide in the country. To better understand why, and what can be done, we commissioned a landscape analysis to hear from Veterans, their families, healthcare providers, nonprofits, and state leaders on what is working - and what is not - for Oregon Veterans and Service Members.
We are working to connect people from across the state - survivors of gun related tragedies, firearm owners, rural and urban residents, Veterans, healthcare practitioners, faith leaders, and local community leaders - in a collective effort to create safer communities for everyone.
Our team at the Alliance now includes 5 full and 2 part-time team members.
.png)