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oklacowboy
Guest
Yes, this right here. Let's get some kind of open carry passed this year. Next year we can work on constitutional carry.
Nope, I didn't say that at all. I merely pointed out that the CC permit process currently works the way HB2522 would have the OC permit work. Between the two, I would rather have a like minded private citizen than a government bureaucrat to deal with.
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usaffiremanboyd
Guest
Too small of "baby steps", such as this, tend to not work very well at all. Most people are complacent about letting government control their lives. Many people who argue for "constitutional carry" will have no problem finding another permit as acceptable, much like people have no problem requiring a prescription for a natural substance. I argue that anybody who holds a position in support of any form of permit, licensing, registration, or other documentation to be enemies of the Second Amendment.
The NRA's fine lawyers had two chances to actually defend the Second Amendment in Heller and McDonald. Instead, they chose to expose the Second Amendment to further erosion by refusing to argue that the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a natural right and therefore an immunity of being a United States citizen and argued that the Second Amendment granted a "right" to keep and bear arms from the government and is therefore subject to "due process" with existing prohibitions presumed Constitutional unless decided otherwise by the Supreme Court except in the case of a single handgun within a person's home for their self defense inside that home.
Perhaps a better alternative would be to put together an initiative petition to strike the final clause from Article 2 § 26 of the Oklahoma Constitution. After all, as the Oklahoma Constitution currently stands, outright prohibition of bearing arms in a public setting, concealed or unconcealed, without first being summoned by a governmental power, qualifies as "constitutional carry".
Cost of such a petition? ~$250,000 just to get it on the ballot, plus campaigning...
Given the negative anti-open carry comments in the various news articles on the Internet.. I don't think a initiative petition would accomplish a thing and would be a waste of money. As hard as it is to herd the 'Cats' in the legislature into approving Open Carry... doing it with state-wide voters would be much more difficult.
I agree. A state wide referendum would be doomed to failure.
The option for that very thing was bandied about in last year's legislative session. A poll was taken (can't find the reference) but at the time something like 73% of Oklahomans were against any type of open carry.
The sheep don't want open carry. They're as happy as sleeping clams in their shells living in a state of oblivion happily living in a world where there are no bad people and even if there are those same bad people won't ever bother them.
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oklacowboy
Guest
It's sad, but this is true.
Who says it has to be marketed as "open carry"? Essentially, that proposed petition would have little to do with open carry.
Just don't implode like the 744 folks did.
hrdware, thanks for the update. Life has pulled me away from the issue and it's difficult to get updates, other than from here.
I think the anti 2A folks from all over the country will be quick to point out any proposed legislation if it is about OC. regardless of how it is "marketed".
In my opinion we can't "market" legislation, we just have to be honest about what we want and educate people on past statistics: in this case that 41+ states have some kind of open carry, including several with constitutional carry, and there have not been any adverse effects at all. In fact in many cases there have been beneficial effects.
