On Wednesday morning, the House Rules Committee will hear House Joint Resolution 1009. This measure, authored in the House by Representative Dan Fisher (R-60), is a critical improvement to the current state Right to Keep and Bear Arms Amendment in Oklahoma’s constitution. HJR 1009, if passed by both the House and Senate this year, will be referred to the 2016 ballot and put to a vote of the people for adoption. This is a critical measure that provides the strongest possible protection for your gun rights, guaranteeing in the state constitution your Right to Keep and Bear Arms against any infringements or restrictions for you and future generations of Oklahomans. All proposed restrictions to any of your fundamental rights should be subject to a standard that ensures the strongest possible protection for that right, and your fundamental Right to Keep and Bear Arms is no exception. HJR 1009 provides these protections by subjecting any restrictions to your firearms freedoms to strict scrutiny. Currently, the courts have found that the state constitution only provides for weak protections.
Please contact members of the House Rules Committee IMMEDIATELY and encourage their support in passing this important measure to prevent restrictions of your rights. Contact information can be found here.
On Thursday, the House Public Safety Committee will hear House Bill 1730, authored by Representative Sean Roberts (R-36). Please contact members of the Committee and encourage them to vote for and pass the Committee Substitute for HB 1730, as proposed by Representative Roberts. As amended, this important measure would protect the rights of Oklahoma taxpayers by ensuring that public funds are not used to lobby or otherwise advocate for gun control. The practice of using YOUR taxpayer dollars to fund campaigns contrary to your beliefs and rights--such as gun control support and to lobby against your Second Amendment rights--must be prevented. Senator Anthony Sykes (R-24) has authored the same measure in the Senate with Senate Bill 582, where it is currently awaiting consideration by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Please call the chairmen of the following committees to request hearings for the following measures before the committee deadline:
House Bill 1936, authored by Representative Kevin Calvey (R-82), would streamline the carry permit process and make an Oklahoma license to carry more affordable by reducing fees and removing the fingerprinting requirement. This bill has been assigned to the House Public Safety Committee and is awaiting an assignment for a hearing date. Please call Chairman Mike Christian (R-93) and members of the committee and request that this bill be heard. Encourage their support for this important measure to remove the burdensome fees and obstacles standing in the way of Oklahomans getting a license to legally protect themselves and others.
Senate Bill 19, authored by Senator Kyle Loveless (R-45), would create an exception to the ban on concealed carrying of a handgun while on a public bus for those with a valid concealed carry permit. Existing Oklahoma law prohibits any person, even law-abiding permit holders, from carrying a handgun concealed while utilizing public transportation, yet allows the same law-abiding permit holder to exercise their right to self-defense while using private conveyance. This common sense legislation would allow those licensed to carry a firearm elsewhere in Oklahoma to do so on a public bus line. By creating this new exception for law-abiding permit holders, SB 19 does away with a discriminatory provision that would force those to be unarmed who cannot own a vehicle to travel due to economic status. This bill has also been assigned to the Senate Public Safety Committee and is awaiting an assignment for a hearing date. Please call Chairman Don Barrington (R-31) and members of the committee and request that this bill be heard.
Senate Bill 212, authored by Senator AJ Griffin (R-20), would require institutions of higher education to provide public notice regarding the firearm policy of specific campuses, as well as provide information regarding the procedure for law-abiding adults with a permit to carry to request permission to carry on campus. This measure has been assigned to the Senate Public Safety Committee, where it has yet to be assigned a hearing date. Please call Chairman Don Barrington (R-31) and members of the committee and request that this bill be heard.
The committee deadline is February 27 in the House and February 26 in the Senate.
Your NRA-ILA will keep you updated as these and other gun-related bills move through the Oklahoma Legislature.
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