The Portland City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to make it illegal for people to carry guns into City Hall and other city buildings where public meetings happen, even if an individual has a concealed weapon permit.
The move follows a similar one by Multnomah County after state lawmakers in 2025 gave local governments the option to further restrict guns on their properties.
As is often the case at City Hall, Wednesday’s vote followed a sometimes contentious discussion about the legislative process, with occasional councilor-to-councilor jabs in the mix.
Council President Jamie Dunphy, who introduced the proposal in April, said the ordinance was a response to rising conflicts at public meetings. In February, Portland police arrested four people who disrupted a City Council meeting over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions.
One of the protesters had moved past the table for public testimony and stood directly in front of councilors, prompting Councilor Loretta Smith to later float the possibility that Portland should allow councilors to openly carry a gun while conducting council business. (She then dropped the idea.)
“Adding guns to a tense situation turns it into a terrifying one,” Dunphy said Wednesday. “Heated debate is part of defending democracy, but gun violence is not. No one should fear for their safety or their families’ for participating in local government.”
Councilor Olivia Clark said she had “a little bit of mixed feelings” about restricting people with concealed weapons in the wake of this month’s deadly shooting at Bend’s Silver Rail Elementary School. A father who happened to be passing the central Oregon school on Oct. 15 spotted the 16-year-old assailant, followed the teen with his concealed handgun and killed the teen before the teen could kill more teachers and students.
Dunphy countered that city buildings aren’t like schools in that they have armed security already. “That was a scenario in which a good guy with a gun was able to do something,” Dunphy said. “We have good guys with guns in this building.”
Councilor Eric Zimmerman questioned the process that brought the ordinance to council, saying the proposal needed more work to determine how the ban applied. He also noted that armed security guards are often not in city buildings when staffers remain inside.
He tried to table the ordinance in committee to address those holes, but was ignored, he said.
“This was always just a game for some folks, I think, and a special project that I don’t think will actually make much of a situation here different until we have a deep fixing of it by the city administrator,” he said.
Councilor Angelita Morillo rejected Zimmerman’s criticism, saying it was a positive thing that the ordinance was somewhat lacking in specifics because that would allow the city administrator to craft it appropriately.
“I don’t appreciate the impugning of motives that happened here,” she said, adding that the timing was right for the ordinance and that she trusted the city administrator to carry it out.
“I think that it meets the moment,” she said. “I think that it gives the executive the room to actually implement this well.”
The ban will apply to City Hall, the Portland Building and the 1900 Building and will exempt police and security guards.
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