PA Bill Number: HB1661
Title: Further providing for schedules of controlled substances; and providing for secure storage of xylazine.
Description: Further providing for schedules of controlled substances; and providing for secure storage of xylazine. ...
Last Action: Act No. 17 of 2024
Last Action Date: May 15, 2024
OU professor: Restrictive gun laws don't keep people safe :: 06/27/2015
The Oklahoma Second Amendment Association created a bit of a brouhaha recently when it sued the city of Norman over a gun ban at Norman's annual music festival. Not surprisingly, the judge issued a restraining order against the city. What was surprising were reactions on social media to the lawsuit and the realization that people might be carrying guns at the festival. A segment of our population seems to be unaware that guns are now commonplace in Oklahoma.
In 1996, Oklahoma joined a long list of states that have passed "shall issue" laws which mandate the issuance of carry permits for law-abiding citizens. Today, the vast majority of states have adopted similar laws with spectacular success. More than 11 million adults in the U.S. have permits to carry guns. In five states, no permit is required. As of 2014, more than 190,000 people in Oklahoma had gun permits, or about 7 percent of the adult population. Gun sales in the U.S. have doubled in the past 10 years. While the possession and carrying of weapons has become more common, the violent crime rate in the U.S. has dropped by 50 percent in the past 20 years. This simple fact ought to give pause to anyone who reflexively associates guns with crime.
Some opinions on firearms continue to be based more on fear and ignorance than facts and reason. A common viewpoint I often see expressed is that no one needs a gun, and therefore a person who carries one is irrational and dangerous. Nonsense. We're all at risk, in every place and at every time. The beheading of a woman at a Moore food processing plant last September should have illustrated this point. A gun is usually the most effective means of self-defense. The fact that many people are now armed is a powerful deterrent to crime. Armed robberies, carjackings and muggings have become very dangerous activities!
It's perplexing that some people continue to think that putting up a sign that reads "No Guns Allowed" will magically protect them from a criminal or a deranged person intent on committing mayhem. Over and over again, we have seen mass murder committed in so-called "gun free" zones where the only people who don't have guns are those who would have used them to save lives. The deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in U.S. history, the Virginia Tech massacre of 2007, occurred in a "gun free" zone. Yet the higher education lobby in Oklahoma continues to stubbornly and irrationally resist policies that would let people defend themselves on college campuses.
For those who still want more restrictive gun laws, consider the example of Venezuela. In 2012, Venezuela banned the sale of all guns to anyone but the military and the police. It now has the second-highest homicide rate in the world. Murders per capita in this gun-free paradise are more than 10 times higher than in the United States. More guns in the hands of responsible people means less crime, not more.
Deming is professor of arts and sciences at the University of Oklahoma.
http://newsok.com/ou-professor-restrictive-gun-laws-dont-keep-people-safe/article/5430177
