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Oregon lawmakers take aim at loophole in state gun law

Sales are allowed to proceed because state police are often unable to complete background checks before the deadline.
Credit: AP
A man enters a gun shop in Salem, Oregon, on Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, in Salem, Ore. So many people are buying guns in Oregon these days that the state police are often unable to complete background checks in time, allowing the sales to proceed if the deadline isn't met. A handful of Democratic lawmakers have now put forward a bill in the Oregon Legislature that would close this loophole. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky)

SALEM, Ore. — So many people are buying guns in Oregon these days that the state police are often unable to complete background checks in time, allowing the sales to proceed if the deadline isn't met.

A handful of Democratic lawmakers have put forward a bill in the Oregon Legislature that would close this loophole. 

The bill is opposed by gun rights groups. 

It's often called the Charleston loophole because Dylann Roof was able to buy a gun that way, and then murder nine Black people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015. 

In Oregon, it's up to the state police to do a background check. But they are overwhelmed.

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