State Senator Josh Brecheen is a Second Amendment advocate pushing for restoration of Second Amendment rights in Oklahoma. The Senator sees Oklahoma permit fees as chilling the exercise of the right to keep and bear arms. From kfor.com:
Senator Josh Brecheen wants to reduce the cost of gun licenses from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and possibly eliminate the administrative costs from the local sheriff’s office.
“It’s an attempt to make sure cost isn’t keeping someone from the right to bear arms in accordance to the law,” Republican Sen. Josh Brecheen said.
He and the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association are proposing reducing the $100 for a new license, and $85 for a re-licensing fee to $25 a piece.
Brecheen is considering a rollback of the requirement for fingerprints to obtain the Oklahoma permit. Senator Brecheen has some influence. He is a member of the Appropriations Committee, and of the Public Safety Committee. The bill in question, SB5, has not been processed yet.
Several states do not require fingerprints. They serve no measurable useful purpose. They add to the cost and difficulty of obtaining a permit. It’s likely that is the purpose of requiring finger prints: to chill the exercise of Second Amendment rights.
John Lott’s research has confirmed the obvious. The higher the costs to obtain a concealed carry permit, the lower the percentage of people who obtain the permit. Each $10 increase in fees reduces the percent of adults with permits by about a half a percentage point, he asserts at crimeresearch.org:
©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch