OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Advocates of Oklahoma’s permitless carry law are challenging a petition seeking to reverse the measure that expanded residents’ gun rights.
The Oklahoma Second Amendment Association on Friday filed a legal challenge to a proposed state question aiming to repeal the 2019 law that allows most people living in Oklahoma to carry a firearm without training or a permit. The group is asking Oklahoma’s Supreme Court to toss the proposal, The Oklahoman reported.
The association alleges that the proposal’s supporters missed their opportunity to repeal when they neglected to gather enough signatures for a separate petition in 2019.
Rep. Jason Lowe and groups favoring the repeal tried to collect signatures for a veto referendum. However, they didn’t get enough signatures within the 90-day window that immediately followed the end of the legislative session.
The initiative petition filed this year is totally different, Lowe noted. It seeks a statutory change and would mandate a higher signature threshold — nearly 95,000 signatures — to qualify for the ballot.
Lowe called the legal challenge a stalling tactic.
“If they believed the people in the state of Oklahoma are on their side, they would have no problem with a vote,” he said. “We’re looking forward to going to court, getting this resolved quickly and moving onto the signature-gathering process.”
The Second Amendment group also alleges that the petition’s gist, the summary people see when they sign, is erroneous.
Kevin Calvey, the association’s attorney, said the permitless carry law was too complicated to distill it down into a short, accurate description.
Calvey added that he’s confident Oklahoma voters would back the legislation.
“We don’t have a problem with them collecting the signatures to go on the ballot, we just want to make sure the information that goes to the person who may be signing it is accurate and correct,” said Second Amendment Association President Don Spencer.