OKC Rep Files Bill Repealing Permitless Carry

OKLAHOMA CITY -- State Rep. Jason Lowe (D-97, OKC) has filed two pieces of legislation focused on making public spaces safer for Oklahomans. The bills are numbered HB 3357 and HB 3897.

House Bill 3357 would repeal last year’s permitless carry legislation.

“There is no doubt in my mind that if people got to vote on whether firearm safety training should be necessary to carry a firearm in public, where our children are, permitless carry would not be the law,” Lowe said. “This legislation is a product of the hundreds of conversations I have had personally with Oklahomans who don’t want irresponsible gun owners to carry firearms in public.”

House Bill 3897 would ban long-barrel firearms from Oklahoma restaurants. This legislation is meant to make these spaces safer and more welcoming to citizens.

“Having patrons carry long-barrel firearms into a restaurant isn’t good for business or the mental health of the restaurant’s patrons,” Lowe said. “Oklahomans, especially children, veterans suffering from PTSD, people suffering from mental illness, should have the ability to enter a restaurant in Oklahoma and not feel threatened or endangered by the presence of military-style weapons.”

While public safety is paramount, a byproduct of Lowe’s legislation would be a fix to an unintended consequence caused by the passage of permitless carry.

“The business owners I have spoken with don’t like being drug into this highly controversial issue,” Lowe said. “When we told store owners that they could decide who could and couldn’t carry in their place of business, we forced them to pick sides and alienate customers. Our government should make laws that help small businesses not hurt them.”

Oklahoma is currently one of thirteen states across the country to allow permitless carry, irrespective of whether the firearm is carried openly or concealed. Three other states, Idaho, North Dakota, Wyoming, require permits for out-of-state residents, and four states, Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Washington, place limits on the carrying of concealed weapons.

In 2013 Utah’s permitless carry bill was vetoed by Republican Governor Gary Herbert, declaring the veto would, "Send a message that we have a quality of life that is sophisticated, and that we're not the wild and woolly West."

Rep Lowe serves District 97 in the State House of Representatives, covering the outer north-east portion of Oklahoma City in Oklahoma County. The two bills were introduced on January 16 and will receive their first reading when the Legislature reconvenes next Monday, February 3.