We have already been on record stating that these 2nd Amendment audits aren't something that we would do or recommend and not convinced that they are that useful or educational, but, our opinions or even reality itself doesn't mean that others don't have the right to do the audits. Our interest in this issue is the fact that it is certain at this point that OK2A leader Don Spencer was right in the middle of these audits, advising the men that were doing the audits, including giving them legal advice, up until the point that blow back occurred and Don Spencer threw everyone under the bus claiming that they weren't OK2A members.
And again, we had always assumed that these guys were working solo, not coordinating with Spencer at Ok2A. And frankly we didn't pay a lot of attention to the arrests, thinking it was some loose cannons looking for attention. Indeed Spencer had a habit of sending these men out, even pointing out the areas to target according to emails and texts shown and shared with STP by friends of Harper and one of the other auditors.
Tim Harper for his part would be the last person that I would advise to do audits and stir up controversy, he is a federal employee, or was. The guy is a Navy veteran, a boiler technician, worked for law enforcement as a jailer, he even was part of the team that escorted Terry Nicholes. And is apparently courageous after winning an award for refusing to leave a fellow jailer behind in a riot, opening the cage door and charging in after locking the cage door behind him. And getting the tar beat out of him but he bought the other jailer enough time that both survived.
The other part of this issue is that Oklahoma County D.A. David Prater is persecuting this man not as an activist, but as some sort of criminal or terrorist. The point is to stop these men from doing the audits which are perfectly legal in most cases, perhaps not advisable, but constitutionally legal.
Yes, Harper showed up at a black church, Jason Lowe's home church, the man that was pushing back against Open Carry, supposedly after being invited to start a dialog. Harper was on public property though and the cops had to leave, infuriating David Prater who was feeling the pressure from the black community. Worse, Jason Lowe is a black lives matter activist.
The story a few weeks back led to an outpouring of contacts from gunnies and friends of Harper alike. Don Spencer was called an attention whore who lived to get his face in front of a camera, a lot of anger is out there for Spencer claiming credit for the October Fest OK2A audit.
Other activists had been going to the event for the last five years and being detained, thrown out, even arrested. When they submitted their videos to Spencer they were told “good job on the video” but that it was “too aggressive” to use in a lawsuit against the event. The same thing happened we were told at The Gathering Place, both Spencer and Harper were thrown out, both contacted attorneys and the City Attorney who told the cops that the men can legally carry in the public park, yet Don Spencer took all the credit according to the supporters of Harper and other 2nd Amendment activists.
Specifically we were told Harper and another man named Hubbard were told to audit October Fest, with Spencer claiming he sent them there because “they had problems there” and “go do your thing”. We saw both emails and text messages from Spencer supporting the claims. Worse, we were told that Spencer went to the legislature to carve out an open carry exception on public trust property, which many of the gunnies claim was a stab in the back of the 2nd Amendment. But those that spoke up were quickly booted from the Facebook group used by OK2A.
And in an amazing display of incompetence, it turns out that the Open Carry law that Spencer pushed is massively flawed in that events held on public streets or alleys CAN ban Open Carry and Concealed Carry. OK2A members clamored for a fix to the law and some are concerned that Spencer is going to water the bill down rather than fix the core issues in the legislation.
Worse, at the initial hearing Don Spencer asked for a private conference with David Prater which happened. After coming out some of Harper's supporter were asking what was said, only to be told that Spencer just explained that what Harper did was legal under the new law. Leaving those Harper supporters asking “ it took twenty minutes to say that?” Some expressed concerns that Spencer had cut a deal with Prater, allow Harper to be prosecuted and imprisoned, in return for Prater not fighting the changes to Open Carry in a weakened form.
Spencer has stated at numerous speeches that he is the only full time board member of OK2A, that he had quite his full time job to run the organization. Which would explain why Spencer is whipping up the gunnies in a frenzy over Jason Lowe's lawsuit and the bills filed by minority party members, none of which stand a chance of passing into law. But it helps to whip up fear and raise money, yes?
And Spencer has started banning long time OK2A supporters off their group pages. Read some of the comments remarking that they had been banned as well.
Since 2009 we have seen many instances of individuals attempting to profit from their activism and selling out their cause for access to the politicians. If the friends of Harper are to be believed this is exactly what OK2A has been doing. Thankfully the 2nd Amendment is strong in Oklahoma and OK2A is a very minor part of the changes in the law protecting all of our rights
