Today (April 26) has been a banner day for OK2A and all Oklahoma gun owners. Several major 2A bills passed the House today, among them open carry.
With only 3 dissenting votes, SB1733 (licensed open carry) passed the House. SB1733 is much more than just open carry, though. It contains the elements of HB2522 that OK2A added to it, including private property open carry and relaxing the police notification requirement. This bill now faces one more vote by the Senate before being sent to the Governor. One interesting note, four representatives that voted against HB2522 decided to vote for SB1733: Cooksey (R), Nollan (R), Jeanie McDaniels (D), and Williams (D). The bill passed the House 85-3.
Perhaps the most important bill of the session is SB1760. This bill will prohibit the government (state or local) from confiscating weapons or prohibiting the otherwise legal possession, use, carry, sale, etc of firearms, ammunition, or accessories and it allows for civil recourse if the government violates the law. This is critical legislation if we want to make sure that a Katrina-type incident never happens in Oklahoma. This bill passed the House unanimously.
Another important bill, possibly second only to SB1760, is SB1785. SB1785 grants reciprocity to visitors from non-permitting states, such as Arizona. Constitutional carry states have not enjoyed reciprocity because they have no permit. This bill will recognize the driver’s license from constitutional carry states as a permit. What makes this such an important bill is its implications for future legislation in Oklahoma. If our legislature recognizes the “constitutional rights” of people from out of state to carry why shouldn’t they recognize our “constitutional right” to carry? SB1785 passed the House 82-4.
In addition to these bills, SB1743, the suppressed hunting bill, passed 77-5 and SB1541, Sen. Jolley and Rep. Cooksey’s elite carry bill, was laid over and is now dead.
All in all, not a bad day. We appreciate everyone who called or emailed the legislators. Today’s outcome is the result of much labor by many people and we should all be pleased.
