The proof is in the procedural crap
It's about 11:45 at night and the house just passed HB1647.....but don't do the dance of joy just yet, lets dig through the big pile of crap that is our government at work.
As introduced, this bill had a line that allowed open carry for those that had a "reasonable belief of bodily harm". It also provided a lifetime CWL for veterans and active duty personnel.
This bill died in committee.
This bill was the subject of a discharge petition that did receive the correct number of signatures...68.
The discharge petition was filed in the clerks office Tuesday 3/15 at approx 10:30 am.
At 3:25pm it was placed in the general order for available consideration on Wednesday 3/16, 3:25 PM.
Sometime before Wednesday 3/16 3:25 PM, Amendments were filed, meaning consideration could not take place until Thursday 3/17, 3:25 PM.
On Wednesday 3/16 at 10:30 PM a motion was made and passed to suspend rules and consider the bill early.
The first amendment, which was to strike the OC clause, was withdrawn.
On to amendment 2, which would have removed the section about OC and replaced it with other language about restoring gun rights to convicted felons after serving there sentence. For some reason Rep Bennett (the author of the bill) wanted to accept this amendment. There were objections and a vote ensued. The amendment failed.
There was a motion to Move the question. (No more amendments and vote on the bill). The motion passed.
Now on to the bill....right??? Wrong. Since the bill in it's current form would have allowed for OC, Floor Leader Sullivan said that since there was a fiscal impact that no-one brought up, the motion to Move the question should be rescinded. So then came the debate. At this point Rep Bennett debated against rescission, quoting the 2A and saying it was our right and to vote against the political machine and political pressures. During Rep Sullivan's debate for the rescission, he stated that some of the 68 members who signed the discharge petition were misled. Therefore Rep Reynolds asked the chair to remind the Floor Leader to not impute other members in his debate. Reb Bennett tried to get Sullivan reprimanded but could not bring the motion to the floor as debate was going on. The vote to rescind passed.
If this wasn't good enough, Floor Leader Sullivan, then moved that the advancement of the bill from the general order should be rescinded as well. Meaning the bill would go back on the general order to be available for consideration after 3:25 of Thursday 3/17. This failed.
Next, one of Floor Leader Sullivan's buddies made a motion to strike the title of the bill due to the fiscal impact. A bill can not become law without a title. This motion failed.
No back to the bill and the last amendment, this amendment added text to the OC clause so that only those who had requested an Emergency Order of Protection or had been granted one would be allowed to open carry. Rep Bennett accepted this as a friendly amendment and it was accepted without issue. :shocker:
The bill then was voted on and passed from the house.
So thanks to working late and not thinking, along with political crap, the house now has a bill that allows only those who have filed for an Emergency Order of Protection, or have been granted an Emergency order of Protection the ability to OC in the state of OK. Hopefully the Senate will fix 1289.6 and allow all citizens to openly carry. For some reason though, I don't see the House and Senate agreeing on this and it all going down in flames.