While state legislatures across the nation are making their constituent’s intents known regarding gun ownership rights, Oklahoma has taken a unique step in designating a Second Amendment Day for the state.
A bill authored in the House by Steve Vaughn and in the Senate by Frank Simpson ultimately garnered a total of fifteen co-sponsors as it sailed out of committee with a unanimous “do pass” recommendation. It passed by wide margins in both chambers. Governor Mary Fallin signed the bill into law on April 14, 2011.
An “emergency” provision of the bill places the act into immediate effect, meaning that beginning this year and every June 28 thereafter will be the official Oklahoma Second Amendment Day.
June 28 was selected, quoting the act, “to commemorate the day the United States Supreme Court , in the case of McDonald v. City of Chicago, Illinois, 130 S.Ct 3020 (2010), declared that through the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Second Amendment right of individuals to bear arms is fully applicable to the states.” The ruling nullified the long standing ban on handguns in the city of Chicago by ruling such bans unconstitutional.
Oklahoma is the first state to officially designate a “Second Amendment Day.” Guns and Patriots reported last week on the designation of official state firearms being proposed and passed by state legislatures. It would appear the people, through their state legislatures, are expressing their opinions about the Second Amendment in various ways, including the ones mentioned as well as many other states expanding the right to carry.
How about Gunners? Should this become a national movement to recognize and commemorate the date, or is this just one more Red State act of defiance?
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