It looks like Governor Brad Henry of Oklahoma is having second thoughts about the open carry bill there. Will he sign? The big problem for him would seem to be opposition from the Oklahoma State Troopers Association. Keep in mind this is coming from a state where gun rights generally are not really controversial.
4 thoughts on “Governor Wary of Open Carry Bill”
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I know this is a broken record from me, but where are the ads from supporters pointing out that “X” states currently allow open carry, “X-Y” without permit, for decades and their State and local Police have demonstrated no documentable problems with the practice?
Follow that with a direct question asking the Governor and State Police chief/union how they can rationally believe the people and law enforcement of Oklahoma cannot be equally responsible?
Put the ball in the anti’s court to defend their implicit bigotry against their own people.
We have all these experiments in freedom around the country for almost any loosening of gun restrictions we could ask for, why aren’t we leveraging them?
Why aren’t we making it clear that no gun law relaxation is “new” or untested, that the evidence to judge its “risk” is and has been available from other states?
That other state’s citizens can handle such freedoms safely and responsibly, so why do our own state’s anti’s think their own neighbors can’t?
Present them with a binary egalitarian choice, either they think people really are equal or they think some people, their own people, are somehow less responsible.
Either their cops are just as professional and competent as the cops in Vermont, Alaska and Arizona (as examples of low gun restriction states) or they aren’t.
Time to reread the news story.
The State Troopers are against the bill, not for it. If the governor doesn’t sign the bill, he is doing what they want.
Jujube,
I think what he meant was a problem for the governor in signing the bill the Legislature (and thus the populace) is “for” is that the Troopers are against it.
The Gov. doesn’t want to be seen to oppose the Staties, the “professionals” (as opposed to the mere politicians), by signing the bill.
He can be accused of not caring about the safety of law enforcement or some nonsense.