Free Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C. --(Ammoland.com)- On November 1 2012, a new law will go into effect granting hunters in the state of Oklahoma the right to use legally owned suppressors while hunting all game animals. With the help of ASA lobbyists, Senate Bill 1743 was signed into law by Governor Mary Fallin on May 25. The passage of the new law made Oklahoma the third state in 2012 to legalize suppressor use while hunting. Earlier in 2012, similar measures were also passed in Texas and Arizona. Contrary to popular belief, suppressors, also referred to as silencers, do not render gunshots inaudible. However,...

NORMAN — Don’t look for too many Norman residents openly carrying firearms today. There may be a few, but other states that have enacted open carry statutes say the novelty soon wears off. The statue goes into effect today, allowing an estimated 141,000 Oklahomans with a license to carry a concealed weapon to openly display them in a holster or belt. Norman police explained their procedures to a packed house Monday at city hall.

Tulsa, Okla. — Don't be surprised if, on November 1st, you see people carrying firearms in holsters in plain sight. November 1st is the day the state's Open Carry law takes effect. Tulsa Police have been getting some additional training on how to deal with people who are carrying their guns in the open. And Tulsa Police Officer Jill Roberson says it will take some adjustment on the part of the public as well. She said they expect to get lots of 911 calls from people who are concerned because they see someone with a gun, at least at first,...

Oct. 19-- Arby's franchisee U.S. Beef Corp. is one of hundreds of businesses in the state trying to figure out what to do when Oklahoma's open carry firearm law takes effect Nov. 1. Although U.S. Beef Corp. has the right to restrict weapons from entering its properties, the Tulsa-based company inadvertently became the target of a passionate Second Amendment controversy when it started posting "No Weapons" signs outside its Arby's restaurants two years ago. The situation led to protests, and now U.S. Beef Corp. and other businesses face another decision: Should customers be allowed to carry guns openly in their...

CALERA, OK - Yesterday we reported on a brave 12-year-old Bryan County girl who was home alone when she shot an intruder that broke into her house. She's been the talk of Texoma the past 24 hours, and today Steven Powell sat down with her to hear the story in her own words. "He opened the screen door and started pounded on the door. So I didn't answer it. And I called my mom. She said to go get the gun and hide in the closet." Kendra St. Clair says she stayed in the closet until she thought the coast...

In two weeks the open carry law takes effect. Gun-training classes have been filling up and in some cases doubling their normal size. One Bixby Police Officer says more education is needed, even for law enforcement. "This is a shift in culture,” said Bixby Police Officer Michael Konshak. “Now we're going to have guns out in the open." Konshak has been in law enforcement nearly 22 years. He's a firearm instructor certified by the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training. Konshak is worried there hasn't been enough talk about this law. "I don't have any fear,” he told FOX23....

An Oklahoma law going into effect on November 1 allows employees to store ammunition in their locked vehicles parked at work. A key aspect of Oklahoma’s Self-Defense Act allows people with valid gun licenses to carry handguns openly as well as concealed weapons in many public places. But another part of the open-carry law affects how people can store ammunition in their cars. The bill was signed by Governor Mary Fallin on November 15. Oklahoma law already prohibited employers from having policies banning employees from keeping guns locked in their vehicles in employer parking lots. The new law says employers...

From the February 2012 issue of GunNews (Guns Save Life) - At the January meeting, GSL President John Boch brought up the story from New Year’s Eve of Sarah McKinley from Blanchard, OK. This 18-year-old mother lost her husband to cancer on Christmas Day 2011 and less than a week later, two opportunistic, armed thugs try to break into her home, probably to rape her. She barricaded her front door with her couch, then got her shotgun, her baby and her phone and retreated to the back of the residence. For twenty-one minutes she waited for police to arrive as...

An Oklahoma gun owner shot and killed an intruder who broke into his home last Thursday. Yeah, yeah, we know – you’ve heard this story and stories just like it a thousand times before. This one’s a little bit different though, because this time the would-be thief was a woman. The burglar in question was 50-year-old Mary Kathleen Sanders, but she also brought along two accomplices, 26-year-old Misty Dawn Puskaric and 37-year-old Starr Michelle Timmons. According to reports, Sanders had previously worked for the homeowner and therefore knew that he was disabled. But just because somebody is disabled doesn’t mean...

To most Americans, a job is a job is a job --- but, in the quest to generate employment for the more than 12 million Americans currently out of work, statists betray a prejudice in favor of public-sector jobs, while free-marketeers betray a prejudice in favor of private-sector jobs. That is, a private-sector job seems barely a job to the statist, while a public-sector job seems barely a job to the free-marketeer.To big-government advocates, growth in the public sector is essential to lowering the unemployment rate --- and it apparently need not come at the expense of the private sector....

SHAWNEE, Okla. — Applications for those seeking a concealed weapon license through Oklahoma’s Self Defense Act appear to be on the rise in Pottawatomie County. And when the law changes Nov. 1, those with licenses also can choose to openly carry their weapons. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation processes SDA applications and keeps statistics by year. In 2011, the OSBI approved 24,018 SDA permits statewide and denied 975 applications. For those in Pottawatomie County, 442 licenses were approved in 2011. If statistics being tallied by the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office so far in 2012 keep at the current pace,...

TULSA, Oklahoma - An east Tulsa neighborhood is sending a message to would-be criminals. Residents in the Magic Circle neighborhood want everyone to know that the homeowners there may be packing heat. The signs are hard to miss around 21st and Garnett.The Magic Circle neighborhood association put them up earlier this year in an effort to curb crime. Jonathan Penick and his wife, Leah, have lived in the Magic Circle neighborhood for four years. "Neighborhood association does a real good job cleaning up, keeping crime out as much as they can, putting speed bumps in, and just taking care of...

“I disagree with the Supreme Court’s ruling and believe that state governments were intended to serve as a check on the federal government,” said Ritze, R-Broken Arrow. “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is better known as ObamaCare, is an example of federal overreach and my legislation will authorize the state to resist it and ban the enforcement of it.”

When Gov. Fallin pulled the trigger on the open carry law, Evan Wilbanks started predicting problems. He's a firearms instructor, and while he stands for the Second Amendment, he also believes carrying a gun openly goes too far. "I'm not a big advocate of walking into an establishment with a firearm. I feel it makes you a target,” said Wilbanks. The bill prohibits carrying firearms on city, state, or federal property. You can't pack heat in schools or sporting events either. "I’m not a gun enthusiast personally," said Bill Hermann. Hermann patrols his South Tulsa neighborhood daily for anything that...

Sean Michael Combs is probably like a lot of 18-year-old young men, except maybe for the M-1 rifle slung across his back. The Troy High School student was arrested April 13, according to the Detroit News, after strolling down the street in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham with the weapon strapped on his back. He now faces three misdemeanor charges, according to the newspaper, "for brandishing a weapon, resisting and obstructing police, and disturbing the peace - each punishable by up to 93 days in jail." After the arrest, Birmingham Police Chief Don Studt acknowledged Combs had a legal right...

OKLAHOMA CITY - Police say when a suspect pulled out his gun and started shooting, the manager of a northwest Oklahoma City pool hall pulled out his own weapon and fired back. According to a police report, a man and his friend were playing pool at Chester's Pool Hall near N.W. 50th Street and N. May Avenue on June 10. The man saw two people walk up to a counter, steal a tip jar filled with cash, and walk toward the exit. The witness told the manager what he'd seen, and the manager went outside to confront the men. The...

OpenCarry.org Welcomes Oklahoma as America’s 44th Open Carry State But Police-State Style “License Checks” Will Not Be Tolerated --------- OpenCarry.org’s 28,000+ members join the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association (OK2A) in welcoming Oklahoma as America’s 44th open carry state. Though we are disappointed that the Oklahoma legislature saw fit to require a license to open carry, this reform is still a great step forward for freedom and self-defense rights. But we are also alarmed that some Oklahoma law enforcement officials seem ready to hijack the license requirement as an excuse to violate gun owners Fourth Amendment rights. For example, “Midwest City...

OKLA. CITY — Someone using the handle “bronathan” posted a question on a Web page dedicated to Senate Bill 1733, an open carry bill. The author of the post wrote that he and his family relocated to Oklahoma more than nine months ago. After relocating, he notified Texas about it so he could change over his concealed carry license to out of state now that he is a resident here. His question: Will my Texas permit allow me to open carry or will I need to have an Oklahoma license to open carry? A fellow poster supplied what appeared to...

Say what you will about the Oklahoma Legislature, but your elected officials are remarkably adept at one thing: offering solutions in search of problems. At a time when the state faces significant challenges, some lawmakers insist on ignoring the obvious and obsessing over the preposterous. You might call it the Straw Man approach to leadership. It's much harder, you see, to tackle real problems -- such as improving inner-city public schools or ensuring health care for 600,000 insurance-less Oklahomans -- than it is to offer faux solutions to ominous-sounding, but wholly contrived crises. Thankfully, cooler heads squelched the lawmakers' worst...

It may take a while to get use to someone next to you in the grocery store with a visible gun. That’s why a newly-formed group is launching a public awareness campaign before the new open carry law begins on November 1st, 2012. Franklin Smith is a former police officer, veteran and one of the founders of the Oklahoma Open Carry Association. He says the people who openly carry are law-abiding citizens. Smith says, "The truth is that criminals just don't open carry their firearms." Hear Smith's entire interview. He says he knows because he was part of another start-up...