Oregon GOP lawmaker posts personal information of clergy behind assault weapon ban: report

An Oregon state lawmaker this week posted the personal information, including phone numbers and home addresses, of three area clergy pushing for a ban on assault weapons.

Rep. Bill Post (R) posted the information to a Facebook group on Wednesday, according to the Oregonian, encouraging supporters of gun rights to contact Rabbi Michael Cahana, the Rev. Alcena Boozer and Pastor W. J. Mark Knutson.

{mosads}Cahana, Boozer and Knutson recently filed an initiative to ban the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and large capacity magazines in the state. If the initiative collects the required 88,000 signatures by a July deadline, it will be on the ballot in November.

Post told the Oregonian that he personally left voicemails for the three leaders of the initiative, but declined to say what his message was or why he posted their personal information on Facebook.

“Knowledge is power,” he told the paper. He added that he thinks having the initiative on the ballot would prompt “the greatest red wave in Oregon’s history.”

Cahana told the Oregonian that he received “quite a number” of phone calls about the proposal, in addition to Facebook and email messages, which he said were “not so polite.”

Earlier this month, Oregon became the first state to add a new gun safety law since the Florida high school shooting. Gov. Kate Brown (D) signed the bill, which bars convicted domestic abusers from owning guns.