This week Gov. Mary Fallin signed open carry into law in Oklahoma–sort of. If you have a concealed handgun license you will be able to open carry in public. Citizens without one may not open carry.
Businesses will be allowed to forbid open carry on their properties, as they can prohibit weapons now. There is not a statutory penalty for doing so unless you stay after they ask you to leave. It would then be trespassing.
Tulsa area law enforcement will reportedly check for concealed handgun licenses of those who are seen carrying. The highway patrol has not yet made a statement on exactly how they will handle OC’ers.
Read more at NewsOK
wish they would do this in florida already!
is this act going to allow people who are a non resident to carry open in oklahoma with a permit
Yes. It recognizes other state’s cc permits as simply firearms permits allowing them to oc here. There was also another bill signed by our governor two weeks prior to this one granting reciprocity to non-permit issuing states. So, if you are a resident of a state that allows carry without a permit, your driver’s license stating your residence will serve as a permit in OK. Hopefully that will give us some ammo (no pun intended) in coming legislative sessions because in a very real sense, some non residents have more 2A rights in OK than residents. Since now a non resident from an non-permit carry state can carry here with no permit but OK residents must have a permit.
I believe you are mistaken about this advice.
I guess I missed something here but, Doesn’t the Second Amendment to the Constitution say we have the right to keep and bear arms? ‘course it does, so then why do we need a law that says we can if it’s already a right that cannot be taken away without an act of congress?
How is Tulsa getting away with publicly stating they will conduct random checks for licensure of those seen OCing? This will need to be fought for and changed in the next legislative session. Obviously PDs will try to infringe on the right of licensed gun carriers by inconveniencing them at any opportunity. Since the Oklahoma Self Defense Act previously was concealed carry, this wasn’t a problem but it looks as if they updated it to concealed or open without making sure officers needed probable cause to check. That’s like pulling me over to see if I have a driver license just because they saw me driving a car. They have to have a reason to pull me over first (even if it’s fabricated).
Seems like a stupid law. Just gives law enforcement the right to harass you. Will want to see your ID and concealed permit. Just carry concealed…duh. Tennessee has the same law. I live in Kentucky where citizens have the right to open carry. Our state laws are very pro carry. Law enforcement is required to know this law and not subject citizen’s to harassment
I moved to Oklahoma before this bill took affect. When my fellow officers and I heard about this bill, we thought it was a great idea but our fear was the state legislature would require a concealed handgun license to open carry. We didn’t like the idea of requiring a license to open carry because individuals who couldn’t wait in-between finishing the class and receiving the license.
As predicted, the state legislature changed the law at the last minute to get the law passed when they probably never needed to. I’m since living here, I’m very dumbfounded how the laws in general are, and more specifically how the guns laws are in Oklahoma. The State of Oklahoma has a reputation across the nation for being very “pro-gun,” yet there are so many laws on the books in this state that prohibit open carrying, while other liberal states like Oregon allow open carrying without a license.
Wear your permit in a clear holder around your neck, not very inconvenient to show it then. As a person living in NJ I can say I’d gladly be inconvenienced to be able to open carry. Or concealed carry for that matter.