Post by Logan on May 12, 2016 1:10:09 GMT -6
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — It's become a common scene at the Oklahoma Capitol: While construction workers, employees and visiting schoolchildren wait patiently to walk through the metal detectors guarding the entrances, a man with a briefcase arrives and breezes straight through the checkpoint without stopping, setting off the alarms. The security officers on duty flinch but look away.
Just a lawmaker in a hurry? That's all it is, some members say. But security officials are grumbling about a trend among some conservative legislators who are now declining to submit to the weapons screening that has been required at government buildings for years. And suspicions are growing about a likely reason: they're armed.
"I won't name names, but I know for a fact that they do," said Rep. Sally Kern, a conservative Republican who says she doesn't necessarily disapprove of lawmakers who carry guns at the Capitol. She said several colleagues have admitted to being armed. "I take my colleagues at their word."
Oklahoma is one of 45 states that now allow some form of open carry of firearms, and pro-firearms lawmakers have been pushing to make guns allowable in most places, even college campuses and public arenas. A bill now pending in the Legislature would eliminate the need for licenses, training or background checks.
Read more: www.messenger-inquirer.com/ap/ap_national_news/guns-are-banned-but-are-oklahoma-lawmakers-packing/article_0aee8c4d-dff6-563f-ba5f-8be941006e07.html
Just a lawmaker in a hurry? That's all it is, some members say. But security officials are grumbling about a trend among some conservative legislators who are now declining to submit to the weapons screening that has been required at government buildings for years. And suspicions are growing about a likely reason: they're armed.
"I won't name names, but I know for a fact that they do," said Rep. Sally Kern, a conservative Republican who says she doesn't necessarily disapprove of lawmakers who carry guns at the Capitol. She said several colleagues have admitted to being armed. "I take my colleagues at their word."
Oklahoma is one of 45 states that now allow some form of open carry of firearms, and pro-firearms lawmakers have been pushing to make guns allowable in most places, even college campuses and public arenas. A bill now pending in the Legislature would eliminate the need for licenses, training or background checks.
Read more: www.messenger-inquirer.com/ap/ap_national_news/guns-are-banned-but-are-oklahoma-lawmakers-packing/article_0aee8c4d-dff6-563f-ba5f-8be941006e07.html