Where Oklahoma delegation stands on gun control
Following the worst mass shooting in modern American history, members of Oklahoma’s all-Republican congressional delegation faced questions this week about gun control legislation. Their answers ranged from ambivalence to opposition and twice mentioned the Oklahoma City bombing.
Late Sunday, Stephen Paddock opened fire from his Las Vegas hotel suite, killing at least 59 people and injuring more than 500 at a concert below. The crime, like other mass shootings in recent years, ignited national dialogue on access to high-powered firearms.
Investigators believe Paddock, 64, used several semi-automatic weapons in the meticulously planned rampage, converting the guns to fully automatic firing weapons through a legal tool known as a bump stock.
U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, had never heard of a bump stock before this week and said Congress should investigate their legality.
“I think there’s no question we ought to look into that ... when I saw the clips and heard the fire, I just assumed he had an automatic weapon,” Cole said Wednesday on MSNBC. “I did not know that there was technology capable, that cheaply, of transforming a semi-automatic into an automatic weapon. So, I don’t think there’s any question we ought to look into that.”
What Congress should not look into is a ban on semi-automatic weapons, Cole said.
“There’s millions of them in circulation. When they’re used appropriately, they’re not dangerous,” he said.
After an MSNBC host interrupted to say they have been dangerous in some situations, Cole said, “So are trucks driving into crowds. So, again, I don’t see that as the obvious answer. We have 300 million guns in circulation legally now. You’re going to go back and reclaim them all? I think there’s not an easy legislative fix here, and I think people who suggest there is are not very persuasive in that regard.”
U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, said on Fox News Radio that details of the Las Vegas shooting, such as how Paddock received his weapons, remain unclear and legislation should only address “what would actually help.”
“When you deal with other things, you can’t just knee-jerk and say we voted on something but it wouldn’t have made a difference. That doesn’t help anyone,” the senator said.
Paddock had a large stash of firearms both in his hotel suite and in his homes, according to investigators. Cole said the possession of 49 guns would not be unusual in his southern and central Oklahoma district.
“I have friends that have that many weapons. That’s not uncommon in my part of the country,” he said. “I mean, I literally could tick off 10 names right now of people — they’re collectors, they’re sportsmen. This is something they do. They’re not a threat to anybody. Quite the opposite, they’re some of the most solid citizens in my state. So, that doesn’t surprise me.”
Lankford made similar remarks, saying that “any house you look at anywhere in Oklahoma, there’s a gun inside of it” and “a lot of people have multiple weapons in their own homes and we have a very peaceful society.”
Gun ownership statistics are difficult to calculate. A CBS study, utilizing national firearms registrations and census data, found there are about a dozen guns for every 1,000 Oklahoma residents, ranking it near the middle of states. A 2002 report from the American Academy of Pediatrics reached a similar conclusion.
U.S. Rep. Steve Russell, R-Oklahoma City, founded a rifle company that sells semiautomatic rifles. He said Wednesday that Congress should progress undeterred with legislation making it easier to purchase gun suppressors — more commonly known as silencers — and armorpiercing bullets. The bill was pulled from consideration in the House after Sunday’s shooting.
“That’s a separate issue entirely, obviously, from the things going on in Las Vegas,” Russell said on Fox Business.
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, said mass shootings will not be stopped with restrictions on gun ownership. He blamed “cultural problems” and “permissiveness” for the bloodshed.
“What about all these states that have laws that protect people who break laws?” he told Vox on Tuesday. “I mean, the cities that support (a culture of permissiveness) — that is something that certainly has a profound impact on people’s behavior. You can go ahead and break a law and you can come to a sanctuary city and they wouldn’t enforce the laws.”
When asked if he was blaming sanctuary cities for mass shootings, he added, “I’m saying we’re inundated with permissive laws ... that has a lot more to do with it than gun laws.”
In discussing the Las Vegas shooting, Lankford and Cole made reference to the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City that killed 168 people.
“Look, I’m from a state and was in public office when we lost almost three times as many people from a guy using fertilizer and a truck,” said Cole, who was secretary of state at the time. “So, you can turn almost anything into a weapon of mass destruction if the evil intent is there to do it. I don’t mean we shouldn’t do what we can to minimize this. We must. But I can’t give you an easier, quick answer.”
Ammonium nitrate, a key ingredient in fertilizer and in the Oklahoma City bomb, has been regulated and monitored by the federal government since 2007, when Congress instructed the Department of Homeland Security to do so.
Lankford said the 1995 bombing and Sunday’s shooting both remind us of the world’s injustice.
“For those of us from Oklahoma that have watched the Murrah building bombing and all the people that were killed there because of a radical hatred against all government, we’ve seen things that are just grossly unjust. This one just screams it,” he said.