On April 20, the Oklahoma Senate voted 37-9 to pass legislation recognizing that the Second Amendment is a sufficient open carry permit.
The legislation, HB 3098, had already passed in the House by a vote of 73-15.
According to News 9, the Senate passed the bill via “a procedural move that forces the bill into conference committee” for one final look before it heads to Governor Mary Fallin (R). If changes are made to the bill while in committee, it will be brought back to the Floor for another vote.
The decision to return to committee came after some senators voiced “concerns about how police would be able to tell whether a person open carrying is a felon or is mentally competent to carry a gun.” But it is key to remember that open carry is already legal in Oklahoma–so the sight of people with handguns on their hips would not be a new one resulting from HB 3098.
The permitless open carry legislation is sponsored by Senator Nathan Dahm (R-33), who said, “I know that there are people that have concerns. We are listening to those concerns.” He added that he was “not trying to downplay those concerns, but 30 other states already have this. (They) don’t have any major incidents because of this,” News 9 reports.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.