PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

My friend, Bend Senator Tim Knopp, showed up on the gun control issue yesterday by introducing a bill in Salem that would make threats against schools a felony, not just a misdemeanor.

In that way, I agree with him on the need for a new law as I wrote in this blog a few days ago, thus defying my normal hesitancy to write about the subject.

Here is the Oregonian newspaper’s story on the Knopp proposal:

A person threatening to attack a school could be charged with a felony and not just a misdemeanor in Oregon under an amendment introduced Monday amid a spate of threats in the wake of the Feb. 14 Florida high school shooting.

Sen. Tim Knopp, a Republican, represents the central Oregon town of Bend where a threat last week resulted in the arrest of a 16-year-old for disorderly conduct.

Knopp said Oregon’s district attorneys are constrained by current law that only allows misdemeanor charges such as menacing, disorderly conduct, and harassment in such cases.

“Creating a new statute to address these circumstances will go a long way in deterring future threats and punishing individuals threaten the well-being of our kids, families, and communities,” Knopp said in a statement

The amendment is similar to existing laws in other states criminalizing making a threat to commit a crime that will result in great bodily harm, regardless of whether the person intended to carry out the threat, Knopp’s office said.

I am not sure how this proposal will fare in the Oregon Legislature, which is meeting in Salem for another couple weeks.  But what I do know that Senator Knopp has performed as valuable service by making this “threat” proposal.

Plus, he agrees with me or I do with him, so that, for me, is another way to underline the need for this new state law.