A group that wants to give Oregon voters a chance to amend the state constitution and allow people to carry a concealed gun without a permit has completed another step to put the initiative on the November 2024 ballot.

Constitutional Carry for Oregon, whose three chief petitioners include former Baker City Mayor Kerry McQuisten, last week submitted the required 1,000 “sponsorship signatures” to the Secretary of State’s office. The group submitted 1,345 signatures.

After the office validates the signatures, which could take up to 10 days, the Attorney General’s office will create a ballot title.

The initiative promoters then would have until July 5, 2024, to gather 160,551 valid signatures from registered voters in the state to get the matter on the ballot.

Oregon allows residents to carry a concealed handgun, but only if they obtain a permit through a county sheriff’s office.

The constitutional amendment that McQuisten and the other petitioners are proposing would make Oregon a “constitutional carry” state.

Oregon would join 26 other states, including Idaho, with that legal status.

Carrying a handgun that’s openly displayed does not require a permit in Oregon.

McQuisten, who was a gubernatorial candidate in 2022, is joined as a chief petitioner with Constitutional Carry for Oregon by Joel Pawloski, a retired Army Lt. Colonel in Marion County, and Jean Sampson, a former city council member from Clatskanie in Columbia County.

More information can be found at www.ConstitutionalCarryforOregon.com.