Since January 1 in Oregon, giving sexually explicit material to anyone under 13 or material which intends to arouse the reader to anyone under 18 is a criminal act. The ACLU of Oregon and a group of bookseller and advocacies are suing to get it stopped. They say the law is too broadly written and could be abused by “overzealous police and prosecutors.”
Rep. Andy Olson (R-Albany), said, “This law was carefully written to respect Oregonians’ First Amendment rights. It is clearly targeted at individuals who use pornography to lure and harm Oregon’s kids. No adult and no bookstore should be in the business of providing kids with the kind of content that is specifically listed in this law.”
I live in Oregon and have never heard of this law. And I’m surprised. This is the sort of thing that makes progressives thump their chests and screech about right-wingers imposing their repressive morality on all freedom-loving Oregonians. Whether the average Oregonian thinks giving kids porn is freedom or filthy isn’t really the question, now is it?
Of course, in our state as an adult business is 1000 feet from a school or a church, it can be located anywhere. And never mind that they have found high school boys are not questioned much when they drop by the local porn shop, located 1001 feet from the school, during their lunch break.