Lawmakers debate allowing guns on city buses

[CODE_3]

OKLAHOMA CITY – The ongoing debate over guns laws finds a new battleground.

A new bill has been filed at the statehouse that would make it legal to carry firearms, open or concealed, on buses in Oklahoma.

Since 1980, it’s been illegal to carry concealed weapons onto city buses.

The open carry law enacted last year essentially superseded the old law.

For months city leaders wanted to close that loophole and ban all weapons on buses but some in the Capitol are going the opposite direction.

“Those that use public transportation shouldn’t be penalized for protecting themselves,” Sen. Kyle Loveless said.

Loveless is sponsoring a bill that would permanently allow bus riders to carry firearms, open or concealed.

“I believe we have the Second Amendment for a reason,” Loveless said.

“We have this concern that public safety on buses might be compromised,” Metro Transit spokesperson Michael Scroggins said.

Officials with metro transit hope to pass a different law allowing the city to renew its weapons ban on buses.

“We would like to see the loophole closed so individuals are not carrying weapons on board our buses,” Scroggins said.

Some bus passengers agree with the city and don’t want guns next to them when they ride.

“We should not allow guns on city buses at all,” one rider said.

“You don’t want your kids riding next to someone with a gun do you,” another said.

“There is a third position that could be made,” local attorney Doug Friesen said.

Friesen suggests one solution is to ban open carry on buses but allow conceal carry.

“That would allow citizens to protect themselves and not be offended by others that are afraid of the sight of guns,” Friesen said.

The city council has put a gun ban among their top items to lobby for this year.

The legislative session kicks off next week.

http://kfor.com/2013/02/01/lawmakers-debate-allowing-guns-on-city-buses/

 

[Belthos]

I have never used public mass transportation.
I prefer to be surrounded by law abiding citizens each armed as they see fit.
I myself carry concealed, not openly for personal reasons.
This law seems to be aimed at preventing the working poor of our city from defending themselves.
It's wrong to assume that the more affluent members of society in our nice personal vehicles are any more or less trustworthy to carry firearms
than those of us who use buses out of choice or necessity.

Would I want members of my family young or old to sit by an armed law abiding citizen? Absolutely.
No law will stop an armed criminal from sitting near them.

Belthos

 

[n2sooners]

I have a fourth option. Make buses open carry only and those who are skeered can just get over it. People who are likely to shoot you are unlikely to care what the law says about carrying on a bus.

 

[10Seconds]

I have noticed that all the Tulsa buses are posted with the gun buster sign as well. I agree this needs to go. People that have to use public transportation should be allowed the same right of self defense as the rest of us.

 

[n8thegr8]

Why is it that these people consider anything that respects personal liberty a "loophole"?

 

[Poke78]

I have noticed that all the Tulsa buses are posted with the gun buster sign as well. I agree this needs to go. People that have to use public transportation should be allowed the same right of self defense as the rest of us.

Exactly the point - why should they have to give up an effective self-defense tool to ride public transit? Isn't there a potential to need it when no longer on the bus?

Why is it that these people consider anything that respects personal liberty a "loophole"?

Because most of them are busy being scared of their own shadow and need nanny government to take care of them.

 

[Dale00]

“We would like to see the loophole closed so individuals are not carrying weapons on board our buses,” [Metro Transit Spokesperson] Scroggins said.

They always avoid the use of the word ,"Citizen." We are individuals not citizens in the minds of OKC City government.

 

[tweetr]

Yeah. All these proposals, including the Self-Defense Act and the open carry law, are steps in the right direction. All on balance do more good than harm. But all are completely wrong-headed and explicitly violate the Second Amendment (which applies at the state level because of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.)

The obvious and correct action, which could be contained in a single-sentence bill, would not require all these myriad bills to repair the myriad problems. The single-sentence bill? Something like this:

"The Oklahoma Firearms Act of 1971 is hereby repealed."

QED. Done and done. Pass it in both houses, put the Governor's signature on it, and move on to the next pressing matter.

 

[WessonOil]

What better place for yet another social misfit to commit a mass killing than a bus or train?

Nobody else is armed, and depending upon whether it's a bus or a train, not even the ability to escape from a moving vehicle that will be traveling at a high rate of speed.