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Oklahoma To Allow Open Carrying Of Firearms

Agnus Dei Farrant |
October 30, 2012 | 8:30 p.m. PDT

Executive Producer

(Creative Commons).
(Creative Commons).
A new law takes effect in Oklahoma on Thursday that will allow anyone licensed to carry a concealed firearm to carry a weapon out in the open, The New York Times reported. 

The state has 142,000 people licensed to carry concealed weapons. Oklahoma will become the 15th state to allow people to openly carry firearms with a license, the newspaper reported. 

State officials told the Associated Press that they’ve seen a large increase in the number of handgun license applicants. Whether that’s due to the new law is unclear. 

From the AP:

"There certainly is some concern," said Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton, who was a Tulsa police officer for 27 years before being elected sheriff. "There's a lot of unknowns, and the law enforcement profession has a lot of questions about this, and citizens have a lot of questions about it."

Walton's biggest fear is that the required one-day training course to obtain a handgun license is inadequate to properly prepare most people for the dangers associated with carrying a gun. He also said problems could easily arise if someone inadvertently carries a gun into a school or other prohibited place.

The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the law, the AP reported, and Republican Gov. Mary Fallin signed it earlier this year.

“This enhances Oklahomans’ ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” said the Republican state senator who wrote Senate Bill 1733, Anthony Sykes, to The New York Times. “I think the evidence is clear that gun owners are some of the most responsible people, and they’ve shown that in not just Oklahoma, where we’ve had conceal carry for quite some time and there’s never been an incident, but in these other states as well.”


Reach Executive Producer Agnus Dei Farrant here.



 

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