Oregon's Measure 114 forced residents through fingerprinting, training, and a waiting list just to buy a gun.
A sixteen-year-old grabbed his mother's shotgun and walked straight past every gun law Oregon just passed.
Then an off-duty dad with a pistol did what Oregon's entire permit system never could.
Oregon's Measure 114 Gun Law Promised to Prevent This Exact School Shooting
Oregon voters narrowly passed Measure 114 in 2022 after a campaign led by Portland clergyman Mark Knutson and his group, Lift Every Voice, who promised that fingerprinting and permits would make the state safer.
Governor Tina Kotek is now the named defendant fighting in court to keep that promise alive, and the Oregon Supreme Court still hasn't ruled on whether the law can stand.
Democrats pitched Measure 114 as common-sense gun safety, and Griffin just showed Oregon exactly how much common sense it bought.
None of that paperwork mattered on October 15, when 16-year-old John J. Griffin II picked up his mother's pump-action shotgun.
Griffin didn't need a permit, a safety class, or a waiting period – he never bought the gun, he just took it from home.
He shot through the locked doors of Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend to force his way inside, then headed straight for a classroom full of special-education students.
Griffin killed three children, ages 5, 8, and 11, along with a teacher, and critically injured a 7-year-old student in a wheelchair, shooting the child in the face.
Griffin's mother is left insisting her son was a "good boy," but a good boy doesn't shoot through locked doors to hunt down second graders.
How Concealed Carry Holder Kaylub Giamanco Ended the Silver Rail Elementary Rampage
Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old carpenter and father of two girls at that same school, was headed back from his lunch break when the shooting started.
He had a concealed handgun on him and had trained in shooting drills with a group of Iraq War combat veterans.
Giamanco ran toward the gunshots instead of away from them, chased Griffin into that special-education classroom, and shot him dead.
Authorities say the entire rampage, from the first shot to Giamanco ending it, lasted under three minutes.
President Trump called Giamanco "a great hero" who "took care of business," and he's not wrong.
Giamanco won't do interviews.
His family says he's riddled with guilt for not saving more people, which tells you everything about the kind of man Oregon got lucky enough to have behind the wheel on October 15.
This isn't the first time an armed citizen with no badge has ended a massacre in seconds instead of minutes.
In 2019, church security volunteer Jack Wilson drew his pistol and killed a gunman inside West Freeway Church of Christ in Texas in six seconds flat, saving an entire congregation.
Why Armed Citizens Stop Shootings That Oregon Gun Control Never Touches
Researchers digging into FBI active-shooter data have found the bureau's own reporting routinely leaves out cases where a private citizen, not a responding officer, is the one who actually stopped the shooter.
That's not an accident, it's a dataset built to make permit laws and waiting periods look like the only thing standing between America and the next shooting.
Kotek's law protected paperwork, not children.
Real Americans don't wait for Salem's permission to protect a classroom full of kids.
What the Bend, Oregon School Shooting Should Teach Gun Control Advocates
Kotek's radical permit scheme could not have stopped the October 15 attack, and no new background-check bill working its way through Salem will stop the next one either.
What stopped it was a man with a concealed carry permit who ran toward gunfire instead of waiting for someone else to arrive, and that's the only gun policy that's ever actually worked.
Sources:
- Jared Downing and Zoe Hussain, "New Details Revealed About Hero Girl Dad Who Stopped Oregon School Shooter John J. Griffin During His Lunch Break," New York Post, October 16, 2026.
- Nick Arama, "Meet the Hero Who Took Down the Texas Church Shooter," RedState, December 30, 2019.
- RealClearInvestigations, "The 'Good Guys With Guns' the FBI Stats Omit," RealClearInvestigations, August 10, 2022.
- The Federalist, "New Trump Admin Stats Prove Good Guys With Guns Save Lives," The Federalist, October 9, 2026.
- Associated Press via Yahoo News, "Oregon Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on Controversial Measure 114 Gun Control Law," Yahoo News, 2026.
- Religion News Service, "Oregon Interfaith Leaders Declare Win in Vote to Tighten Gun Control," Religion News Service, November 10, 2022.
- Firearms Policy Coalition, "Summary: Challenge to Oregon Gun Control Measure 114 (Arnold v. Kotek)," Firearms Policy Coalition, 2026.
