Journalist: Sydni Callaway (OSU)
Gun and firearm safety is of large importance in today’s world. Sen. Savana Frysinger (ORU), presented Senate Bill No. ORU-009 in the Senate Chamber today. Striking a large amount of caucusing and questioning amongst other senators, this bill was tabled before lunch and did not complete until a couple hours after the Senate reconvened.
Senate Bill No. ORU-009 ensures that anyone who owns a firearm must properly be stored away. If the owner fails to do so, it could result in a fine or criminal liability to the owner if those with prohibited access utilize the firearm to which results in injury or death.
Sen. Belinda Garvie (NWOSU), proposed “Amendment 1”, which ultimately aimed to allow those to display firearms in which the ammo was properly stored away. This amendment failed. Speaking on her amendment, Garvie said “whenever I was reading the bill, I noticed that there wasn’t any exceptions or something like that. And we’re in Oklahoma a lot of people love guns, they’re going to display them.” Garvie’s amendment put an emphasis on there being no ammo inside of a gun that was on display. However, there was still a bit of disagreement with that statement with the author and other senators. Upon failure, Garvie spoke about how she felt with her amendment not passing. “I’m okay that it didn’t pass,” said Garvie. Garvie was glad that the bill ended up passing. However, her concern was still there. “I am a little concerned about stuff like decorative guns and how that will be done,” said Garvie.
Sen. Javen Sands (OU) also gave his insight on the bill. “I’m a father myself, so personally I have a firearm and keep it locked away from my son. I don’t want him to ever play with it” said Sands. Sands voted yes on this bill. “It passed the Senate because everybody has a general consensus that some sort of gun control is needed” said Sands. In reference to “Amendment 1” proposed by Garvie, Sands provided reasoning on why the amendment failed. “It did not clearly outline that guns were allowed to be displayed. So it was interpreted as I could keep a gun on my holster on my waist, and it could be seen as long as it’s not loaded” said Sands.
Ultimately, the bill passed in the Senate with a vote of 15-8, and is waiting to be heard in the House.