Sounds like it takes us back a few years to when there was no law forbidding open carry. We seem to forget that having to license and register to open carry was actually not granting a privilege, but rather taking a right.
Shenanigans.The very first authorized law in Oklahoma is the Oklahoma Constitution. Adopted the year of statehood, 1907, Article 2, section 26:
§ 26. Bearing arms - Carrying weapons.
The right of a citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person, or property, or in aid of the civil power, when thereunto legally summoned, shall never be prohibited; but nothing herein contained shall prevent the Legislature from regulating the carrying of weapons.
Emphasis added.
On the day of statehood we were already talking about regulating the carrying of weapons. It should come as no surprise that before being a state, there were restrictions on carrying weapons in town, and there were rules for and by the tribes on carrying weapons.
The first law after statehood concerning the carrying of a firearms hit the books in 1910, cleverly called "unlawful carry" and is the basis
for the same law today ("A. It shall be unlawful for any person to carry upon or about his or her person, or in a purse or other container belonging to the person, any pistol, revolver, shotgun or rifle whether loaded or unloaded or any dagger, bowie knife, dirk knife, sword cane, blackjack, loaded cane, billy, hand chain, metal knuckles, or any other offensive weapon, whether such weapon be concealed or unconcealed....") It was amended in 1957, and '69 (and after...). In 1971 Oklahoma passed the
Firearms Act of 1971, which again spelled out when you CANT carry firearms:
A. A person shall be permitted to carry loaded and unloaded shotguns, rifles and pistols, open and not concealed [ later amended to include: and without a handgun license as authorized by the Oklahoma Self-Defense Act, Sections 1 through 25 of this act], pursuant to the following conditions:
1. When hunting animals or fowl;
2. During competition in or practicing in a safety or hunter safety class, target shooting, skeet, trap or other recognized sporting events;
3. During participation in or in preparation for a military function of the state military forces to be defined as the Oklahoma Army or Air National Guard, Federal Military Reserve and active military forces;
4. During participation in or in preparation for a recognized police function of either a municipal, county or state government as functioning police officials;
The Attorney General of Oklahoma interpreted that law very clearly in a 1981 opinion, specifying that even District Attorneys cannot conceal carry or open carry in Oklahoma. Only "Law Enforcement Officers," which means the actual police. Other than law enforcement, no one had a right to open or conceal carry in Oklahoma.
1981 OK AG 193.
That 1971 law was amended to conform with the 1993 Amendments to the Unlawful Carry statute, as well as significant alterations to conform to the
Self Defense Act of 1995 which authorized conceal carry in Oklahoma:
2. The carrying or use of weapons in a manner otherwise permitted by statute or authorized by the Oklahoma Self-Defense Act, Section 1290.1 et seq. of this title; or
You now could legally conceal carry
if you had a permit.
In 2003 they added an exception for carrying a firearm in public for the purposes of reenactment --- 13 years ago in Oklahoma you couldn't legally carry a fake musket onto a fake battlefield.
In 2007 they added the bit about allowing Judges to carry in the Courthouse, with a permit.In 2012, the word "concealed" was removed from the Oklahoma Self Defense act, authorizing open carry in Oklahoma if you had a permit.
2012 SB 1733. 2016 they remove the requirement for a permit.
So if you meant to say that it was adding back a right that we never really had since Statehood... sure. But if you were implying that there was some recent restriction on that right as it applies to any person who was alive when that "right" may have existed in the State of Oklahoma, you're wrong.