Oklahoma Judge Denies Desperate Injunction against Constitutional Carry

Attorney General Mike Hunter today released the following statement after Oklahoma County District Judge Don Andrews’ ruling that denied the plaintiffs request for a preliminary injunction that would have prevented the constitutional carry law from going into effect on Nov. 1.

The law will now take effect Friday, despite ongoing litigation.

 “We are pleased Judge Andrews ruled in our favor and did not grant a preliminary injunction, which will allow this law to go into effect on Nov. 1,” Attorney General Hunter said. “My office is proud to defend the constitutional carry law against a political attack by plaintiffs who were unable to succeed at the legislature, unable to persuade voters in the referendum process and now seeking to overturn a duly enacted law with meritless claims and scare tactics.”

Oklahoma is the 15th state to restore Constitutional Carry. Vermont has always had Constitutional Carry, since becoming a state on March 4th, 1791. The states that have restored Constitutional Carry have not seen an increase in violent crimes involving guns, or accidents involving guns.

Constitutional Carry is the right to carry loaded handguns in most public places. It is the state of the law which existed when the Constitution was written and when the Bill of Rights was ratified. It remained the state of the law for forty years until the original writers of the Constitution were dead. The last of them, Jame Madison, died in 1836.  In Oklahoma, Constitutional Carry has been popular in the legislature. From an article I wrote two weeks ago:

On 27 February, 2019, Governor Kevin Stitt signed House Bill 2597, Constitutional Carry, into law. The bill had passed the Senate 40 to 6, with 2 excused, on the same day.

Two weeks earlier, the bill had passed the House, 70 to 30, with 1 excused.

In 2018, Constitutional Carry had passed the legislature with large margins. Governor Mary Fallin vetoed the bill on 11 May, 2018.

Earlier this year, 2019, a veto referendum was attempted by Representative Lowe and others. It required 59,320 signatures. It failed with 37,057 valid signatures. Lowe had claimed the effort had collected over 59,000 signatures, then later said his information was wrong.

Those who oppose Constitutional Carry do not seem to be interested in the facts.

It might be they are afraid of them. An easy prediction: Constitutional Carry will go into effect. There will not be a noticeable effect, except that Second Amendment rights will be restored, and the rule of law re-enforced.

This may be what those opposed are afraid of most: to be shown, their fears and predictions are wrong. It has happened many times in the past, with the restoration of Constitutional Carry in the previous 14 states.

Vermont always had Constitutional Carry.

15 States have passed some version of Constitutional Carry since 2003.

• 2003, Alaska restored Constitutional Carry to the exercise of Second Amendment rights.
• 2010, Arizona restored Constitutional Carry.
• 2011, Wyoming restored Constitutional Carry.
• 2013, Arkansas passed Act 746 into law. It is effectively Constitutional Carry. Some county prosecutors have threatened prosecution. None has occurred.
• 2015, Kansas, and Maine became Constitutional Carry club members.
• 2016, Idaho, Missouri, West Virginia, and Mississippi became Constitutional Carry states.
• 2017, New Hampshire, and North Dakota restored Constitutional Carry.
• 2019, South Dakota and Oklahoma, and Kentucky have restored Constitutional Carry.

Several other states seem ripe to pass Constitutional Carry. A Democrat governor has vetoed Constitutional Carry in Montana for years.

A Republican governor may well be elected in Louisiana. Tennessee,  Alabama, Indiana, and Iowa are all plausible candidates to restore Constitutional Carry.

Wisconsin, Michigan, and Texas all have significant efforts to restore Constitutional Carry.

32% of all the states currently have Constitutional Carry. If one more state restores Constitutional Carry, more than 1/3 of the states will have Constitutional Carry in effect.