Opponents Of Oklahoma's Constitutional Carry Trying To Roll Back Law

Tomorrow’s the deadline for gun control activists in Oklahoma to turn in almost 60,000 signatures in their effort to roll back the state’s new constitutional carry law, but some 2nd Amendment supporters are challenging the signature gathering process, claiming those gathering signatures aren’t telling the truth about the new law. Now they’re asking the state’s highest court to weigh in.

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Members with the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association (OK2A) said the gist, or the summary of the petition, is not accurate and therefore all the signatures are invalid. The group is taking their argument all the way to the state Supreme Court.

A video provided by OK2A shows signature collectors saying the new permitless carry law that goes into effect November 1 will allow people to carry guns on campus. That’s not true, according to state lawmakers.
Under the state’s constitutional carry law, legal gun owners can have their firearms in the parking lots of universities, colleges, and vo-tech centers, because the law views parking lots as separate from the broader campus. According to the anti-gun activists pushing for repeal, that means guns are allowed on campus on campus.
“The bill says for purposes of this law, the parking lot of a college, university, to technology center is not part of the college, university, or technology center,” Attorney Brian Ted Jones said. “So the way in which we express that in the gist is accurate.”
I’m no attorney, but I think Jones is wrong here. The legislation specifically states that parking lots are not considered a part of a campus, yet the petition to repeal constitutional carry states that guns are allowed in “defined areas of colleges, universities and technology centers.”  That’s actually the opposite of what the law states. Firearms are allowed in places that aren’t defined as “colleges, universities, and technology centers”.
The state lawmaker pushing the ballot measure, Rep. Jason Lowe, says he just wants Oklahomans to get a chance to vote on the issue.
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“That’s what we’re asking for,” Lowe said. “We’re asking for people in the state of Oklahoma, not legislators who have gerrymandered seats, to decide this issue.”

If that’s the thrust of his argument, why have lawmakers vote on any bills at all? Just put everything before a vote of the people. I suspect that even if this does get on the 2020 ballot, voters in Oklahoma will endorse the action taken by the legislature and Governor Kevin Stitt. This push is far more likely to raise the profile of a state lawmaker than it is to repeal the state’s constitutional carry law.

If Lowe manages to turn in 59,000 valid signatures by 5 p.m. Thursday, the law will be stayed until voters weigh in on Election Day in 2020, unless the state Supreme Court rules that the signatures may be valid, but the process by which they were obtained was improper, which would end Lowe’s efforts. If that happens, or if Lowe fails to get the required number of signatures, Oklahoma’s constitutional carry law will go into effect on November 1st of this year.

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