Open Carry--My Thoughts.

Oklahomans love their freedom. If they had their druthers, they would just as soon the government leave them alone and let them go about their business. As a general rule, Oklahomans are pretty staunch about their right to keep and bear arms. Most of the time, I am 90% with them. No, on second thought I’m 98% with them. Your right to keep and bear arms is an issue that is pretty important to me. I have always been proud of my A rating with the NRA. I am a gun owner as well as a sportsman. I think our forefathers knew what they were doing when they established the second amendment. I have however really had to stick my thumb in the wind on the open carry issue.

I think that open carry may make some people nervous. In fact, I had a conversation Friday back in my district when I grabbed a nice, healthy lunch at the Hop-N-Sack and set down to talk with some neighbors, one of which was even in camo and is an avid outdoorsman. They said that it gave them concern and these are guys that would fight ya’ for their right to keep and bear arms. Everyone in the group said they kept a gun in the pickup all the time. Their concern was that if open carry passed without any constrictions, an 18 year old kid with no training or background check could strap on a hog leg, and off he goes! I was a little surprised because I would have bet ya a dollar to a doughnut because I would have thought those guys would have said “shoot ya, let’s open carry”. I told them that I had actually used them in discussions when I compare guys in a convenience store in the country to a Starbucks in OKC or Tulsa. My thoughts were that if someone were to come into a store like the one we were sitting in with a gun on his hip, no one would be too alarmed. If that someone came into a Starbucks in a metro area or something like it, people would get really nervous. While I voted for the amended version of HB1647, and by the way the amendment tightened it up a lot, because it said that someone with a protective order in fear of their life would be able to open carry, but that the “everyday Joe” would not. One good reason to be in contact with your voters is because if you will listen, they will tell you. These are all God fearing, hard working, gun owning guys.

I think those nervous about open carry outnumber those in favor for it. I think it was interesting that the NRA was neutral but the OK2A which is a group of Oklahoma gun owners who fight for the second amendment and are promoting open carry, would love to see it. I think for many it is just a flat out scary issue. If one if a guy would think rationally, most of us really have no fear of law abiding citizens keeping firearms, whether in a vehicle, a purse, in the nightstand or for that matter, in the gun rack in a pickup. I do however think that for some, certainly not everyone but again, for some open carry maybe be going a little too far. I think my epiphany happened Friday in Chattanooga, Oklahoma when my gun-toting buddies said it worried them. I think it boils down to this: most conservatives will defend your right to keep and bear arms; they just do not necessarily want to see it.

We will see what the final version looks like and I will probably be a yes vote. But, you better believe, I am going to be running some more traps with the country boys between now and then. ‘Til next time…
If you would like to contact me while I am at the Capitol, please do not hesitate to call
1-800-522-8502 or send an e-mail to donarmes@okhouse.gov.

And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:

“An armed society is a polite society.” – Robert A. Heinlein