CANYON CITY — Sheriff Todd McKinley can’t yet put a dollar figure on the impact of Measure 114, but if it survives the court challenges filed against it, it could be “significant,” he told the Grant County Court.

Approved by fewer than 25,000 votes in the November election, M114 imposes some of the most stringent gun control requirements in the country. Among other things, the measure bans the purchase, sale or transfer of magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition; requires a permit issued by a local law enforcement agency before buying a firearm; and mandates the creation of a permit and gun ownership database to be maintained by police.

Lawsuits challenging the measure on constitutional grounds have been filed in U.S. District Court in Pendleton and Harney County Circuit Court. M114 was supposed to take effect on Dec. 8 but has been temporarily blocked by legal rulings.

Speaking at the Grant County Court’s Dec. 21 meeting, McKinley said the measure would put “an undue burden” on his office to process permits for county residents wanting to purchase firearms. He said his office could also be responsible for providing live-fire safety training, another of the new law’s requirements.

“I can’t even say what it’s going to cost our office” to fulfill those requirements, the sheriff said. Depending on how many people want to take the training and apply for permits, he told the court, he would either have to hire more staff or reassign patrol deputies to handle the additional workload.

In any event, he added, the $65-per-permit fee established in the new law won’t be enough to cover the added costs.

“We need to make a plan for how we’re going to do this if it goes through,” McKinley said. “It could be a significant impact to the county’s law enforcement (staffing) if I have to pull people off patrol to do this.”

There could be other costs as well. The way the law is written, McKinley said, it criminalizes high-capacity magazines, meaning the sheriff’s office might need to re-equip its deputies.

“I may have to buy a bunch of 10-round magazines to supply my officers … because technically they couldn’t leave the (sheriff’s office) building with the magazines they have now.”

McKinley made no bones about what he thinks of the new law.

“It’s criminalizing the law-abiding is the way I see it,” he told the court. “It’s not going to affect the criminal element one iota.”

McKinley also provided a summary of Grant County Sheriff’s Office activity for 2022, noting that the department has taken on much of the responsibility of policing John Day and saying it has been busier than at any time in its 158-year history.

So far in 2022, McKinley said, the department had handled more than 7,000 calls for service, documented 781 cases, served 741 sets of legal papers and issued or renewed 520 concealed handgun licenses.

The Grant County Jail staff, meanwhile, had conducted 341 bookings and served 13,500 meals while achieving the facility’s best inspection report on record, and Community Corrections officers had served more than 50 clients.

“It has been a record year,” McKinley said. “It has been very, very busy.”

In other business, the Grant County Court:

• Approved $168,780 by the Grant County Fairgrounds for a number of capital projects and service contracts. The spending includes $55,000 for the headlining musical act at the 2023 Grant County Fair (although the performer’s name has not yet been publicly disclosed), about $38,000 for a new pole barn, $19,889 for a new sound system for the rodeo grounds, $13,500 for a rodeo stock contractor an $2,300 to hire rodeo announcer Jim Bob Custer.

• Approved a request by the Emergency Management Office to spend grant funding of $24,407 for laser sights, $65,265 for communications equipment and up to $2,400 on vehicle repairs.

• Decided not to change the bylaws of the Natural Resource Advisory Committee to reduce its membership from 10 to seven, noting that the bylaws set membership at “up to 10” and that the committee currently has eight members.

• Approved a request from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office to spend $4,094.94 to purchase refurbished Tasers to replace some of the department’s worn-out stun guns.

• Agreed to sign a “letter of acknowledgment” on behalf of Thom Seal in a dispute with the Bureau of Land Management over a road that runs through his property near Dixie Creek.