Oklahoma Representative Files Lawsuit Against Constitutional Carry

On 7 October, 2019, Representative Jason Lowe, D-Oklahoma City, filed a lawsuit to stop the implementation of Constitutional Carry in Oklahoma. The law is scheduled to go into effect on 1 November, 2019.  He and four other plaintiffs have asked for an injunction to stop the law from going into effect while their case is litigated. From koco.com:

The law will allow most people in Oklahoma 21 and older to carry a gun without a permit.


On Monday, state Rep. Jason Lowe filed a lawsuit at the Oklahoma County District Court, asking for a judge to stop the permitless carry law. He argued that the law is unconstitutional and called it a dangerous law.

"We're gonna continue to fight. We're gonna continue to push," said Lowe, D-Oklahoma City. "We believe this law is dangerous, and we believe the citizens in the state of Oklahoma agree with us."

This is the latest attempt by Lowe and others to derail Constitutional Carry.

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.

The effort was filed on 12 August, only two weeks before the deadline for signatures to be turned in. It could have been filed anytime after the legislature adjourned on 24 May, leading to speculation about why it was filed at at such a late date.

It is unclear where funding for the signature gathering for the referendum came from. The effort was closely associated with Moms Demand Action, a group that recieves considerable funding from billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

Referendums such as the one attempted typically cost about $100,000.

Don Spencer, President of OK2A, says Representative Lowe could not say where the money for the lawsuit was coming from. Spencer says he talked to the Attorney General who told him "He would be on this like a chicken on a June-bug."

The claim made by Representative Lowe is the bill violated the single topic rule.

Don Spencer characterized the lawsuit as a "Hail Mary pass".

Oklahoma is the 15th state to restore Constitutional Carry in the United States. Vermont has had Constitutional Carry for the entire existence of the state, and has not had to restore it. The movement to restore Constitutional Carry has been passed in those 15 states during the last 17 years, with nine states passing Constitutional Carry in the last five years.

Constitutional Carry is the right to carry a loaded handgun in most public spaces, concealed or openly. It is the state of law that existed when the Constitution was written and when the Bill of Rights was ratified.

 ©2019 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.

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