Guns, abortion remain popular topics for Oklahoma lawmakers

MEMBERS of the Republican-controlled Legislature can’t help themselves, apparently. Far too often, playing to their base takes precedence over filing legislation that could have a meaningful impact on the state as a whole.

The 831 Senate bills and 1,340 House bills filed for the session that begins Feb. 6 include numerous pieces of legislation dealing with two favorite GOP causes: gun rights and abortion.

One bill would let statewide officials and federally elected or appointed officials carry a firearm anywhere in Oklahoma, including at the state Capitol. Another bill would allow anyone with a valid handgun license to carry a weapon at the Capitol. The pile of gunrelated bills includes one to prohibit people who live in the country illegally from possessing firearms, and one keeping public officers or their employees from using taxpayer funds to advocate for or promote gun control.

GOP lawmakers also hope to reduce the number of abortions performed in Oklahoma, which is a laudable goal, but their legislative efforts to accomplish this are surely doomed to fail, as so many others have through the years.

One bill would require the state to issue death certificates for aborted fetuses. A bill by Sen. Paul Scott, R-Duncan, would ban abortions after the fetus’ heartbeat becomes audible. This is something that's been tried without success in other states — the bills have failed to survive the legislative process or have been blocked in federal court. The latter is sure to occur if Scott’s bill is approved, with state taxpayers picking up the bill for the legal fight.

Speaking of legal fights, Sen. Joseph Silk, R-Poteau, is itching for one with bill that would classify abortion as first-degree murder. A Republican colleague filed a similar bill last year but it didn’t receive a hearing. The same should happen to Silk’s legislation.

He says he knows his bill would immediately be challenged in court as unconstitutional, but that such fights are what are needed to ultimately overturn the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. “It’s going to take a direct, full-front assault on Roe v. Wade to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to get them to overturn it,” Silk told The Associated Press.

The senator may be forgetting that even when President Donald Trump nominates a new Supreme Court justice to replace the late Antonin Scalia, the court’s balance is likely to remain 5-4 in favor of upholding Roe v. Wade. It will take a strong conservative bench to have any chance of success — and even then, there is no guarantee.

More immediately, putting taxpayers on the hook for this legal fight would be irresponsible, especially given the giant budget challenges facing the Legislature.

Sen. Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, majority floor leader, told AP he agrees the budget is paramount, just as it is in household, “but we also talk about other things” at home. Fair enough. We just wish Republican lawmakers would focus their conversations less on ideology and more on productivity.