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Oklahoma City Thunder (courtesy nab.com)

“Firearms bills to allow most Oklahoma adults to openly carry guns without any training or background checks have led to a showdown in Oklahoma between supporters of expanded gun rights and the state’s business community, including the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder,” abcnews.go.com reports. “The Thunder are among more than two dozen businesses, public universities and law enforcement groups that sent a letter Wednesday to Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman urging him . . .

to stop the two bills, one of which passed late Wednesday [the Senate passed House Bill 3098] on a 37-9 vote.”

On Thursday, the Senate passed House Joint Resolution 1009 by a vote of 39-7. If reconciled and signed, the former will make Oklahoma the 12th state to enact permitless or Constitutional Carry.

If the Resolution makes it out of committee it will place a measure on the November ballot to amend the state Constitution to make any regulation of gun rights subject to strict scrutiny. In other words, the courts would have to strike down any law that infringes on Oklahomans’ natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.

None of this pleases the usual suspects. Once again, the facts are no impediment to opposition. abcnews.go.com:

Longtime University of Oklahoma President David Boren, a former Oklahoma governor and U.S. senator, said an unintended consequence of the resolution could be to overturn existing gun bans at college athletic events or Thunder basketball games.

“It could, for example, possibly cause people from other teams and athletic officials to refuse to come to Oklahoma to participate in athletic contests where fans can bring guns into those contests,” Boren said.

Hello? Nothing in H.B. 3097 prevents colleges or the NBA or any other private entity from banning firearms on its premises. Both bills have a ways to go. At least one legislator — a Democrat — predicts neither bill will make it out of committee.

Sen. Charles Wyrick, D-Fairland, also voted against the measure and predicted that it would not make it to the ballot.
Wyrick said the measure was brought up so lawmakers, in an election year, could be on record voting for a gun bill. He believes that the measure is dead and called it “smoke and mirrors.”

Yes, well, Republicans outnumber Democrats in the Oklahoma house by a margin of 40 to 8, and dominate the Senate by a margin of 71 to 30. Governor Mary Fallin is also a Republican — who vetoed a bill that allowed LICENSED carry on public property. So . . . watch this space. [h/t FedUp]

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37 COMMENTS

  1. I’m getting tired of sports franchises trying to blackmail states on legislative matters such as this or religious rights in Georgia or trans gender bathrooms in North Carolina.. Fans should, but won’t, boycott the Thunder. And, the Thunder should leave Oklahoma if this bothers them this much. Maybe ‘gun free’ Chicago could use a second basketball team.

    • The only team Americas should care about is Team Constitution. Any business/individual that supports infringing on my rights is automatically boycotted.

  2. “It could, for example, possibly cause people from other teams and athletic officials to refuse to come to Oklahoma to participate in athletic contests where fans can bring guns into those contests,” Boren said.

    Oh, totally! I mean the Phoenix suns completely collapsed after Arizona passed constitutional carry back in…. oh, wait, my bad… that didn’t happen at all.

    As an aside, I went to a suns game the other day. It was the only venue I’ve been to in AZ where police actively wanded people prior to entry. Not sure if that says something about Phoenix or basketball fans…

    • We also have no license concealed carry as well in AZ and the streets aren’t running with blood of children. It’s pure madness

  3. Republican does not equal pro-gun.

    Last year, Queen Mary vetoed a bill that allowed LICENSED carry on public property.

    What do you think she’ll do about an unlicensed carry bill?
    https://www.nraila.org/articles/20150512/oklahoma-governor-mary-fallin-vetoes-pro-gun-self-defense-legislation

    And, once again, the world of professional sports shows the people just how much regard they have for our civil rights. Remind me again why we pay to watch them engage in childhood games.

      • You pay for them with your tax dollars if you live in state that has any profession sports arena or field. And most professional sports associations are completely tax exempt. So in some way either state or federal; your tax dollars (you pay your taxes right?) go to ever growing athletic welfare fund. Because you know those multi-millionaire athletes and multi-billion dollar team owners need welfare, gotta fuel up the jet somehow.

    • I am with JWM, most team pro sports (and several college sports teams) are just a home for felons. I have far better things to do with my time!

    • Same here. Most NBA and NFL players would be in prison jumpers if they weren’t wearing pro uniforms. I now watch a lot more of the NHL and PGA.

  4. I am always fascinated when business leaders take sides in political debates. Historical, the practice has proven to be one of the surest ways to destroy a businesses longevity. Eventually, their stance will close the doors of opportunity.

  5. Liberal agendas from folks who don’t even live here. They make their money and leave for a more liberal spot. Why people support, watch and buy into sports is beyond me anyway. The only reason they even have money is because of you who watch, bet and buy swag. Quit feeding the bear

  6. I want someone from the legislature to go on air and remind everyone that Kansans can now carry concealed without a license in Oklahoma, while us lowly citizens of the state have to ask permission. Here’s a big FU to the thunder and everyone else opposed.

  7. The NBA and NFL are both anti-gun, which is not all that surprising when you consider how many players are former felons, future felons, Crips or Bloods.

    For every Karl Malone, there are twenty like Jason Williams, Aaron Hernandez, Erik Naposki, JR Smith, Mookie Blaylock and Rae Carruth. And the ones are listed are only some of the killers — if the drug dealers, rapists and child molesters were listed, it would take an entire post.

    Let’s face it. If those guys weren’t playing inside the arena, they’d be breaking into cars outside it.

    • Somewhere I heard the NBA as a whole has something like over 30 percent of its members are felons, and the average NBA player supports something like 4 family units, each.

  8. time to start boycotting places people and things

    a lot of people believe a lot of things right up until such time as it costs them money

  9. As a disgruntled Seattle Sonics fan, I don’t give a rat’s-ass to anything the Oklahoma City “Plunder” has to say.

  10. Why is it that liberals always say that they are tired of the rich corporations running the country, but love it when rich corporations stick their noses into these political issues.
    I’m from NC. I’m tired of hearing on the news how so many businesses, other cities or states, or musical are boycotting my state.
    This again is just big money pushing their weight around.
    The people legally carrying guns aren’t the problem.

  11. The NBA is joining the legions of anti gun corporations. Sad to say but I suppose I will be watching other sports from now on that havnt been sissified.

  12. We need to concentrate on expanding gun rights as much as possible before SCOTUS grants cert. on any new 2A court cases that could roll back the gains we have made with Heller – McDonald, et all.

  13. Nba is run by mostly Jewish owners.
    The commish is Jewish.
    80% of Jews vote democrat.
    It’s not a Jewish thing. It’s a democrat thing.

  14. Id be all for totally up ending these totally liberal sports organizations. (Which alone surprises me, as liberals think football is barbaric, and would likley ban it given the chance. Liberals also hate huge corporations, and would ban them, given the chance.) Anyway, we start letting all these real criminals in maximum security prison start killing eachother in arenas and pay per view, all these liberal sports orgs will be gone in mere weeks. Gloria-perpetua ad imperium Romanum.

  15. 1. Just because theyre a conservative or republican does NOT make them an ally. Sometimes your worst enemies wear your very own colors.

    2. Can any of these idiots even own a gun legally? /sarc ….or not.

  16. Mary Fallin has disappointed conservatives and constitutionalists on a few occasions. She has generally been a decent governor but when it has come to the ‘hard’ (less establishment) decisions, she has dropped the ball. Maybe this presidential election will wake a few people up to “We the people…”.

  17. Weapons, including knives and guns, are already banned from the ‘Peake, enforced by metal detectors.

    Ironically, at the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark two blocks away, were the minor league Dodgers play, you could walk right in with a concealed gun and nobody would know. Or care.

    If I was forced to bet, Mary would veto, considering she’s done it before. Of course, with a 2bn budget shortfall, our congress is focused on everything OTHER than fixing the budget without fucking over the kids and the elderly.

  18. The NFL and NBA have been hammered by bad PR from their bad-boy players and are now trying to do SJW penance.

  19. “Longtime University of Oklahoma President David Boren, a former Oklahoma governor and U.S. senator, said an unintended consequence of the resolution could be to overturn existing gun bans at college athletic events or Thunder basketball games.”

    Silly me, for thinking overturning childish bans, ought to be an _Intended_ consequence, of all justifiable legislation in a free society.

  20. Oklahomas problem is fallin ore better fallinG ^^

    It s not “only” sb41 veto (not overriden 🙁 ) , theres more as nfa shall sign veto to (overriden) ore knife preemption only in second try (no override too 🙁 ) ………..

    If you can replace her ore house and senat learn to any time mandatory override the bitch then you got kansas laws !!

  21. The only noteworthy thing about this to me is the new knowledge that Oklahoma City has an NBA team.

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