Last week OK2A's cofounder Tim Gillespie unleashed a savage attack upon Rep. Mike Christian, calling him "anti gun", mainly because Christian voted his conscience and the will of his district rather than kiss the ring of Tim Gillespie. A legislator sent us an excellent response to the vicious and irresponsible attack which is a tactical endorsement of Democrat John Whetsel. Keep in mind that Whetsel has had more people die in his jail than all other Oklahoma County sheriffs combined since statehood. More deaths in the Oklahoma County jail under Whetsel's rule than the state of Texas had in that same time period. Think about that, twenty years of jail deaths in Texas is less than twenty years of jail deaths in a single Oklahoma County.
Here is the legislator's guest opinion that shows just how irrelevant OK2A has become:
Unfortunately, OK2A exhibited all the signs of a dog that was chasing its own tail. They also demonstrate diseased RINO-Speak. That is that Rep. Christian was only 80% with us and he must be sacrificed.But Whetsel was thanked personally by Bill Clinton for the Brady Bill, not to mention that in 2014, the OK House had to override the Governor so that way we could compel someone like him to allow citizens proper access to the full range of firearms and accessories they are permitted to by federal law. The audacity of OK2A to remotely or implicitly say that Whetsel is worthy of consideration displays a callous disregard for advancing real conservative 2nd Amendment policies. It's not a shock that OK2A is a kiss of death for getting things done at the capitol. Let's look at things rationally. HJR1009; Mike Christian co-authored, just the same as other demonstrated 2A leaders like Rep. Enns, Bennett, and Fisher. Why HJR1009 failed is that last minute monkey business occurred between the Rules Committee in each chamber. The addition of "by the state or by a political subdivision, agency or instrumentality thereof" at the last minute caused disagreement and required conference. It doesn't take a novice to figure out that sending something to conference is a great way to have things die on the vine for many reasons. Basically, HJR1009 died because of an issue regarding a phrase that someone had to throw in, and no one could get signatures at the last minute and I don't see Mike Christian's name on House Rules committee. Enough about HJR1009, it died because certain people didn't do their homework and have it ready to fire from the get go. Remember, when the Senate strikes title, it's them spiking the ball. What could possibly be the issue with Mike Christian on this matter? Moving on to another issue where OK2A is off base. SB1057, their own pet bill, was to effectively protect gun shows. They claim Rep. Christian killed such a thing. You can pull up the vote for yourself at this link. Shocking information in that house vote link, only 2 nays by liberal democrats. HB2869 which is what ol' Tim was bellyaching about never survived after 2/25/16. Further, Rep. Christian voted in SUPPORT of SB1057 which came out a month later. Here is a little reality of the Oklahoma Legislature, there are some real turds, polished turds, and maybe some good things produced. But only when it goes to the governor's desk does legislation have any chance of being more than a scribbles and type. Rep. Christian voted in support of HB3098 (not requiring SDA card for inside the state), yet again, digging through bill info is within a keyboard's grasp. However, what OK2A failed to talk about is how car carry portion is where things get tricky. The whole idea they wanted throw into the firearms in vehicles portion was: "In the absence of reasonable and articulable suspicion of other criminal activity, a person possessing a firearm in a vehicle shall not be disarmed, have the firearm inspected or be physically restrained by any law enforcement officer." Here's what that translates into: LEO pulls you over for speeding & no insurance (common in Oklahoma) as you are driving along an interstate. You're going to be upset that your plates will be pulled and get some tickets. You happen to be carrying a loaded subcompact. They might ask you to step out of the car and off to the side to help mitigate injuries from an inattentive driver ramming you. With the proposed language that OK2A is arguing about, that LEO in that scenario is required to make zero effort to know that your firearm is A) physically secure B) if chambered and/or loaded. Now...a lot of jurisdictions only have one officer in a large vicinity. But ask yourself, if you were an officer, how you would run the information and paperwork back in your vehicle? Are you able to maintain eye contact and observation of a possible chambered, loaded, and physically unsecured pistol at the same time your seated looking up information on your screen from dispatch? Nah, it's impossible to do that. That very scenario is what can give a former lawman pause on that level of openness. Unintended consequences of loose language that even the NRA rejected is what killed their pipe dream. OK2A and Tim are complaining how things didn't get heard and how "leadership" killed their bills. Campus carry for instance. There are only a couple of conservative legislators that have enough stones to really "maximize" the rules to advance good causes. If OK2A had listened to sage advice their bill would have passed and they were given a road map on how to get what fantastical legislation they dream of out of a policy committee but Tim refused to listen. Instead they tried failed routes. So in a nutshell, OK2A is acting like Kasich. They had a chance to get their ideas brought forward and have no one to blame but themselves. Instead of whining like Holts, they could go on the offensive and use similar tactics that lobbyists employ. Saddest of all, in a true binary choice for Sheriff, they pile on against Rep. Christian for being the Reagan 80/20 vs. attacking the true enemy of the 2nd Amendment.
