OK to Open Carry

Bryan Hull will soon strap his Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver to his hip and meet his armed friends at Beverly's Pancake House here. They have no interest in the cash register. They just want a late-night breakfast.

When the law takes effect, Oklahoma will become the 15th state to allow people to openly carry firearms with a license. Those 15 states include Utah, Iowa, New Jersey and Connecticut. Several other states, including Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada, have even more permissive laws that allow the carrying of unconcealed firearms without a license. All but six states and the District of Columbia allow some form of open carry, said John Pierce, founder of OpenCarry.org.

Now we just need to see the repeal of all but the prohibition of assault and aggressive acts with weapons, as no firearm law has ever prevented bad people from doing bad things. These laws just make life difficult for peaceful individuals' efforts to defend themselves. 

The governor and the bill's supporters say those who will be openly carrying are law-abiding citizens, all of whom received their concealed-carry license after taking a firearms training course and passing a criminal background check by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. The average age of a license holder is 51.

The new law has illustrated the ways in which the state's image as a bastion of rugged outdoorsmen and gun-toting cowboys is as much fact as it is fiction.

The law prohibits concealed or unconcealed firearms in a handful of places, including government buildings, schools and bars. Most businesses, however, must decide on their own how to handle those openly carrying.

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