Loretta Smith calls for open carry for Portland city councilors following latest protest

After protesters interrupted a Portland council meeting Wednesday, one councilor is looking to loosen the city’s rules around carrying guns in City Hall.

Councilor Loretta Smith, who represents East Portland in District 1, has drafted a city ordinance to allow city councilors to openly carry a firearm while conducting city business. Smith has never carried a firearm.

“It’s a defensive mechanism,” Smith told OPB. “If people know that you’re a serious person and you’re going to protect yourself they’re not going to be as quick to mess with you.”

Portland has a culture of public protest that dates back decades, and council chambers have long been a backdrop for public attention and unrest. But, Smith said, recent demonstrations feel different.

For months, a concerted group of activists dubbed “Revoke the ICE Permit PDX” have urged city councilors to take stronger legislative action to close the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in South Portland.

On Wednesday night, roughly 40 members of that group interrupted the council meeting with chants and shouted demands. One woman named Susan Anglada Bartley squeezed past the public testimony table and stood in front of the council dais, where she held up a petition.

“I’ve collected 19,000 signatures to revoke the ICE permit,” Anglada Bartley told OPB Thursday evening. “I’ve brought it to council five times, and they have never paid attention. I saw an opportunity to hold it up.”

When security guards tried to remove Anglada Bartley, they ended up pushing her toward where Smith was seated at the dais.

Smith recorded and took photos of the interaction with her phone. In one photo, Anglada Bartley is holding the petition toward Smith while a guard’s arm is held around her neck.

Anglada Bartley was later arrested by Portland police, along with three other people, and charged with trespassing.

That interaction rattled Smith, who later posted the vidoes she took on social media.

“These are not peaceful protesters,” she said in an interview with OPB. “They are getting more aggressive and it’s not OK. They yelled at me, ‘Do your job, Councilor Smith.’ We can’t do our job because of them interrupting our meetings.”

Anglada Bartley rejects that characterization. She told OPB that she was intentionally using non-violent action to show her opposition to city councilors.

“I didn’t have a weapon, I didn’t hit anyone,” she said. “Why am I now being threatened with violence?”

Smith said she feels particularly vulnerable to threats as a woman of color in political office.

She isn’t the first to feel this way in City Hall. Previous city commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty received so many death threats while in office that the city replaced her council office windows with bulletproof glass.

Wednesday’s council meeting continued after a roughly 40 minute delay, with all councilors appearing remotely. This is the second time a city council meeting went online so far. A meeting on Jan. 21 was also protested by the Revoke group, leading to a brief shutdown and switch to an online meeting.

Portlanders are allowed to carry a concealed firearm in most public buildings if they have a license to do so. But it’s illegal to openly carry a loaded firearm in public, with some exceptions. Smith hopes a city ordinance can introduce an exception to this rule. The proposal has yet to be reviewed by the city’s legal team.

Revoke the Permit PDX organizer Holly Brown told OPB she was shocked by Smith’s plan.

“Councilor Smith is so afraid of constituents using First Amendment rights that she wants to shoot people?” Brown told OPB. “No one was threatening her. Susan was simply holding pieces of paper. The councilor is the threat here.”

Council President Jamie Dunphy is tasked with deciding when to kick people out of council chambers for disrupting a meeting — and when to take meetings online. Dunphy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Smith’s ordinance.

Mayor Keith Wilson did not attend the Wednesday meeting. But, in an email to OPB, he said those kinds of disruptions by protesters “pose serious safety risks.”

He didn’t outright support Smith’s proposal, but acknowledged her concern.

“I stand in support of my council colleagues who were subjected to unacceptable aggression and verbal abuse,” Wilson wrote, “one of whom stated that the session was so unsafe and ‘out of control’ that she is now considering a concealed weapons permit and a firearm.”

According to the Portland Police Bureau, about 26 officers responded to Wednesday night’s council protest. No one was injured.

“We fully recognize and respect the community’s right to peaceful protest,” said PPB Chief Bob Day in a statement. “That right is fundamental. Our goal is always to balance protecting constitutional rights with maintaining safety for the entire community.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized how Anglada Bartley approached councilors during the Wednesday meeting. OPB regrets the error.