The process for obtaining any NFA item, be it a silencer or a machine gun, is frustrating enough if everything goes according to plan. But when your local Chief Law Enforcement Officer refuses to sign off on the paperwork to even begin the process, everything falls apart. For those whose CLEOs refuse to sign paperwork it’s a de facto ban on legal firearms, and the Oklahoma legislature passed a bill to ensure that such a situation would never happen within its borders. OK’s governor, however, was not on board with that common sense gun law reform. Thankfully, the Oklahoma legislature has just voted to overturn that veto . . .
According to the local coverage, the governor is trying to pass off their pro gun control stance as an effort to “re-focus” the legislature on “more pressing matters,” using the Constitutional rights of his citizens as a bargaining chip in a game of politics.
“Last Tuesday I vetoed 15 bills in an attempt to refocus the attention of the Legislature on important issues facing this state that have been left unaddressed. Those issues include: the need to support local communities seeking to build storm shelters in schools; the need to repair our crumbling state Capitol; addressing our unfunded and fiscally unstable pension system; working to reduce the crisis of prescription drug abuse in Oklahoma; and delivering a responsible, balanced budget that funds core areas of government such as education appropriately while delivering targeted pay raises to some state employees.
“Those issues remain unaddressed and time is running out. The Legislature has chosen to override one of my vetoes, which is certainly its legal right and an outcome I knew was possible. The legislation they passed today makes it easier to sell and transfer restricted firearms and accessories like silencers, which is fine. Now that they’ve accomplished that, I am asking the House and Senate to work with each other and with me to deliver legislation to fund our state government, improve our economy and generally do the things their constituents have put them in office to do. The legislative session is scheduled to end on May 30th. The time for action is now.”
As the governor says, the time for action is now. The time for action on your Form 1 and Form 4 if you live in Oklahoma . . .
“Thankfully, the Oklahoma legislature has just voted to overturn his veto . . .”
HER veto. Mary Fallin is our governor…bless her heart.
For those deriding Fallin below, she’s an odd political duck who won, mostly, on OKC-based name recognition (she was OKC’s house member before becoming governor)
She’s up for re-election this year, and she faces a couple of primary challengers: an OKC based defense lawyer who specializes in drug-law cases, and a regular guy from Edmond who went after representative Lankford over his support of the NSA last year.
I dunno if either of them can overcome her name recognition in the primaries, but she’s been irritating a pantload of republicans in the state, lately.
Okay, let me get this straight. Fallin didn’t want the legislature wasting time by focusing on stuff like the NFA. So, she vetoed the NFA bill KNOWING that the legislature would take up an override vote which would “waste” more time on the same stuff.
Really? That’s the kind of illogic that I expect from Democrats, not Republicans. But then again, a soccer mom is a soccer mom.
Not familiar with her but she could be a RINO like that whale Christie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Fallin
Now now, let’s not insult the whales, their blubber has a purpose.
Anyone know if she got a contribution from Bloomy or Watts?
Just sayin….
No, definitely not. Read-up on her mostly pro-gun stance and has passed a few as well.
Manchin and Gotlieb were “ostensibly” pro gun too and both of them are now pushing for universal background checks. Manchin was likely always squishy, but seems like Mrs. Governor and Alan both pulled a 180. Whatever the reason (coughbribecoughNSAcough) is, they can’t be trusted anymore.
Well, now we know, and it is best to have this sort of industrial-strength stupidity on the record to prevent it from aspirations of national office.
Unlike the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, who ran on a record of voting “present.”
Obama is an awesome president – as long as you don’t mind a failure to balance the budget, a huge deficit, NSA spying, poor border security, a weak economy, overpriced green energy, IRS targeting of conservative groups, expanded government bureaucracy, overpriced health care which underperforms (provided you can even sign up for it), sucking up to the UN, and gun control.
You totally left out a foundering foreign policy that is making the whole world less safe and stable as well as being a huge embarrassment, however he sucks so bad in so many ways it’s forgivable to leave something out.
The budget deficit really isn’t a problem as long as it doesn’t grow faster than GDP. What, GDP didn’t grow? Well, LOOKOVERTHEREINCOMEINEQUALITY! *smokebomb*
An excuse is an exercise in grabbing straws, not an exercise in logic.
exactly – OK gov is female
Actually, our governor is a she. Mary Fallin.
Now, to be fair, she has signed more then a few pro-gun bills these past two or three years including open carry. I agree that she shouldn’t have used these fifteen bills as part of her political temper tantrum but I wouldn’t go so far as to call her anti-gun.
Otherwise, happy days for us and I think I’ll be swinging by the local dealer to price check a gemtech.
I love it when a veto is shoved up a politicians ass.
That one made me raff out roud!
So true.
If this site allowed a thumbs up, you would have gotten mine. :o)
So she didn’t veto it because she was against it, she vetoed it because she wants the legislature to work on something else?
How did a 4 year old get elected as Oklahoma’s governor?
Has OK decriminalized weed? 😉
Hey, I never said it doesn’t make you stupid, just that people shouldn’t be jailed for it stupid or otherwise!
Lol you’ve hit on what I’m thinking exactly. Either you’re against these measures or your for them. There is no middle ground of vetoing them because you wanted some other legislation. The concept is dictatorial and absurd, especially in the face of legislature that apparently regularly overturns your veto’s anyway. One has to wonder at the confusion of an electorate that has a governor whom regularly veto’s bills passed by such a majority of the legislature that they can override said veto. Sounds like someone not likely to be reelected to me.
When a bill lands on the Gov’s desk, isn’t the legislature pretty much done with it? How does vetoing it help them focus on something else???
“the need to repair our crumbling state Capitol”
You don’t need a fancy building to legislate. In fact, that should be a low priority. But, I’m not an Okie, so it’s a moot point for me.
I was thinking the same thing.
Also, there was the bit about pay raises for state workers. The average American has seen reduced wages over most of the 21st century, but giving pay raises to those unproductive parasites is important?
If the Capitol is in such bad shape, why did they spend so much f’ing money putting a dome on it that uit was never structurally designed for. And that was a big cause fro the Dems back in the ’60’s, putting that dome on. Atkinson pushed it all the time with his paper
I think that dome is part of what’s causing the current problems.
She’s showing herself to be an establishment republican. Says she wants smaller, more limited government, but then encourages expansion for certain bits and pieces that fall into her ideological wheelhouse.
It doesn’t help much that most of the folks in the capitol suck at math and are just as ideological as she is.
Oklahoma spent most of its life a Democrat state. In the 90s God, Guns, and Gays started winning races over the fiscally conservative, socially liberal/moderate democrats, and (like other southern states) so it goes.
With any luck she’ll lose in the primary to Ewbank (http://www.dax4ok.com/) or Moody (http://www.thedruglawyer.com/), both of whom are positioning themselves as non-establishment Liberty-minded candidates.
The governor’s line of reasoning sounds so nonsensical you’d almost expect to see it in a sitcom or something.
Very strange. She said she was for unlicensed open carry and signed licensed open carry since that is what the legislature passed. Usually open carry is the litmus test for everything else, but not in this case…
She doesn’t sound anti 2A, just sounds like another sniveling game playing politician.
@OK legislature, way to send the bill back and get shit done. I wish we would see more of this especially when a bill is passed by an overwhelming majority in the house and senate.
I recently met with some of the 50,000 militia members in Oklahoma. They brought up this matter and assured me that their legislature would override the veto. They are very active in politics and know their elected legislators.
Best to all of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, and other areas where the recent tornadoes caused havoc, destroying homes and businesses, and hurting and killing citizens. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt. Some Bloomberg PAC offered her a donation based on her veto. She vetoed knowing she would be overridden. Gets the donation, the law passes anyway, win-win.
And no, my therapist doesn’t think my paranoia is irrational.
4 year old indeed. Did she just consider these bills to be icky ” boys stuff ” ? And this is a pro-gun governor!?!
Gee, would it have been faster to just sign them and move on or veto them and force further action?
Not on the planet she lives on.
I get her point. Mandating CLEO sign-offs, while certainly something I would support, vote for, and sign, nevertheless is not among the highest priorities. The state has more pressing problems than cutting red tape for the acquisition of expensive toys.
That said, the Legislature has determined this to be a priority. The Legislature’s priorities are its own to determine and it’s up to the people through the political process to asssess the Legislature’s work. The Governor’s role is to help influence that process through executive leadership, not to thwart that process through petty, counterproductive temper tantrums.
Governor Fallin has a strong record overall and a nice 2A record in particular, which she probably counted on to give her cover for pulling this political stunt. That suggests that 2A issues are indeed a matter of politics, not principles, for her; which is disappointing and disturbing, given her aspirations.
Governor Fallin knows her way around politics, having served four years in the Oklahoma House, four years in the U.S. House, 12 years as Oklahoma’s Lt. Governor, and now is in her third year as Governor. That’s a lot of success in politics. Perhaps too much success, as she’s never lost an election. Factor in that her name was bandied about as a veep possibility in 2012 and now as a presidential candidate in 2016, and she seems to be getting a little too big for her breeches.
Take your lumps, Governor, and start showing a little more leadership, and a little less petulance.
Then the thing to do is start a campaign to amend the state’s constitution to require that neither chamber of their legislature may take up any additional non-emergent legislation until such time as the budget is passed.
Legislators, be they in Congress or in your state house, are publicity whores. They love to have their names in the press for some attention-seeking bill(s), rather than the hum-drum legislative duties that should take up most of their time.
This is another case where the press is doing the country a disservice. They’re the reason why so many elected people are publicity whores.
1. Mary Fallin is very pro-gun. She passed reforms that Brad Henry Vetoed multiple times. Although Henry did not tow the democratic line and hop in bed with the Gun Control snakes. He just maintained the status quo.
2. The Oklahoma Legislature is not out of control. Granted there is political fighting on tax breaks and budget cuts for teachers and state employees. Regarding education – Janet needs to quit complaining about more money each year and work on reducing their spending. Despite all of the fighting they have not failed to pass a budget like the morons on DC. Given how Oklahoma has a balanced budget amendment and 70+ % of State Debt is due to pension obligations/etc. I don’t consider the lack of a definite budget yet to be a huge issue. They will pass one before the deadline. What I do consider an issue is the fact that Fallin is wasting time vetoing something that she knew would get overturned. This wastes considerable time, especially considering it was essentially a unanimous vote with only 3 people voted against overturning the Veto.
When a super majority of the elected representation of the people decide that these are the most pressing issues, whatever these are, then these are the most pressing issues. The sheer gall of an executive to interfere is such that the person in question couldn’t get my vote again if they offered to mandate free ammo for everyone. I think her majesty barks up a tree of being unelectable in the next election.
This is pretty poor writing from a site which normally chastises the lack of research in mainstream media.
1) The Gov of OK is a female- Mary Fallin
2) She is not “pro gun control” as you claim, in fact she’s signed far more pro-2A legislation than many governors in that same time period. She signed in Open-Carry after it was vetoed by the previous governor, Brad Henry.
3) She is not always predictable. Her veto of this HB2461 cannot be used to describe her as anti-gun (aka “pro gun control”) because, like this one, she has surprised constituents on a number of vetoes and changes in support in the past. Some of them made judicial sense (vetoed a tornado liability protection law because it didn’t give equal protection to all business and would have faced litigation, despite near unanimous legislative support). HB2461 was among 14 others that were vetoed- none of them firearm related, and most she normally would have signed- in a clash of egos between executive and legislative branch.
4) Yes some of the vetoes reek of hypocrisy when the claimed reason was to refocus the legislature to stop wasting time passing minor bills, and now more time is spent overturning some of the vetoes or voting on replacements. However, it’s interesting to note that, as of this time, the only bill the legislature has ever overruled in her tenure is the one pro-2A HB2461 she vetoed last week. Yes she mischaracterized the bill as “regulating federal authority,” but she may have been misinformed by staff and advisors as to what the law did. Nevertheless, the legislature saw through that and voted to overrule- something they have yet to do for any other veto she has penned. The OK legislature, like the one in DC, has a problem with passing bills they don’t fully read (like the workers comp reform last year that man lawmakers admit they didn’t read fully), and while she seems to suffer from the same problem on this bill, she’s correct that they need to hold more scrutiny in what they pass. After all, the Republican Party is the supposed supporter of a small government, that more laws doesn not equal a good thing (or so they try to claim, despite their actions).
more laws doesn not equal a good thing
By that logic, we’d be better off without the Bill of Rights.
More laws and smaller government are not mutually exclusive. When laws restrict the misuse and abuse of governmental power, that’s a good thing.
Well to be fair, the Founders argued extensively over the notion of the Bill of Rights, not so much because they were against it, but they feared by listing specific rights in that manner, it would give the Federal Government a (misconstrue) litmus to push the boundaries for what was left up to the individuals and states to decide. Granted the 9th and 10th was supposed to make that clearer, but you give an inch and than yada-yada. Also several states refused to ratify the Constitution without the promises that the Bill of Rights would be up for passage shortly after.
Did the over ride ‘take up more time’ than just signing her name?
Seems to me that if she would have signed the bill into law in the first place, the OK Congress could have gotten back to work a lot earlier, on those issues she was describing. Hmmm…
Guess the Colorado Telegraph got to them .. he he he ..
the message was loud and clear!
Robert Seddon
P.S. The Colorado Telegraph WORKS, even if the MEDIA doesn’t choose to PRINT what is really going on. Just watch the results of conflicts like this, and KNOW that the power of thousands (millions?) of gun owners is out there, loud and clear. We must stick together and use our VOTES to make this Democracy work now.
You’re looking fine Oklahoma!
So even harassing regular guys, take a back seat to pimping the governors mansion she lives in (funding state government/repair the state capitol)……….
Westbury man beaten; struck 40 times. Police lied about it, luckily it was caught on camera. Watch it before the MDA, oops, I mean TTAG, censors delete this.
“But, but, there are some good ones”(TM)
Given the comments and whatnot, I can’t see why she wasted her time vetoing the bill in the first place. The “bad staff advice” comment is the one that makes the most sense, but, still, it leaves much to be desired.
At least our governor has a concealed carry license and is pro-firearms. However, the teachers’ union is making an extremely strong push to have her not re-elected, and the most likely opponent makes Bill Ayers and B.Obama look fairly libertarian.
if she can’t make it thru the primary, she’ll won’t have to worry about losing to Dorman (http://joedorman.com/)
I’m not sure she would lose to him, but i’m also not sure she beat him handily. With any luck, Ewbank will beat her in the primary and he should be able to beat Dorman.
I only give her, and the LEO’s the benefit of the doubt in one small handful, and that is due to the fact that there is really no up-side for the poor LEO’s to actually sign them, they are a potential liability that must be hard to stomach (I don’t envy the people who need to sign, while believing wholly that it is part of their sworn duty, i.e., If you don’t like it, go scoop ice-cream somewhere).
And thank GOD for that veto, thank you OK legislature.