The only shots the Oklahoma City Thunder want to see are the ones on the court.
The basketball club is among a couple dozen businesses and organizations that sent a letter to Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman asking him to block a pair of bills that would require a statewide vote on whether to curtail the Legislature’s ability to regulate firearms and would remove license or background checks for felony-free adults age 21 or older to open-carry.
Our current law says folks can carry concealed or open firearms in public if they obtain a gun license, which includes training and both criminal and mental health background checks.
It’s not exactly tyranny.
If you think, “Who cares what a bunch of basketball players think about guns?” maybe the concerns of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations (OSBI) will carry more weight.
OSBI officials said the laws could fully repeal gun licensing requirements. Licensing fees help fund the cash-strapped agency to the tune of $8 million.
If the bills pass, the state’s current budget crisis will impact the agency’s ability to send investigators to small towns that rely on OSBI assistance in serious crimes like murder.
“Our effectiveness as agents, as laboratory analysts will diminish greatly, because we’re not going to have the resources to get out there and do our job,” agency spokeswoman Jessica Brown told KFOR.com.
Print headline: Carry on
This article appears in May 4-10, 2016.