Edmondson calls for assault rifle purchase limits
Staff Writer ccasteel@oklahoman.com
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Drew Edmondson said Tuesday that the state requirements for carrying a handgun should also apply to purchasing some semiautomatic rifles, a change that would prevent teenagers from buying socalled assault weapons.
In an interview, Edmondson said he had been mulling the assault rifle proposal recently and that the killing of 17 people at a Florida high school last week “certainly brought it home.”
The 19-year-old shooter charged with the killings used an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle that he purchased legally, according to media reports.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday called for a national ban on bump stocks, devices that make the AR-15 fire more rapidly. The White House said it was still considering whether to support a federal age requirement for buying some weapons.
Trump’s proposed ban on bump stocks stems from the October massacre of people attending a concert in Las Vegas. The gunman in last week’s Florida shooting did not use one.
Edmondson served as Oklahoma attorney general for 16 years. When he ran for Congress in 1992, he accepted donations from the National Rifle Association. He said Tuesday he was a member of the organization but quit more than 20 years ago after its highly charged rhetoric about federal law enforcement officers.
Edmondson said his proposal would apply the same definition for assault weapons as was in the national ban that expired in 2004.
The law defined assault rifles as semi-automatic rifles able to accept detachable magazines and two or more of these: a folding or telescoping stock; a pistol grip; a bayonet mount; a flash suppressor, or threaded barrel designed to accommodate one; a grenade launcher.
He said when he received his permit to carry a concealed handgun, he had to submit to a background check by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and meet several requirements. Among them were being 21 years old with no felony convictions or history of mental illness or domestic violence.
“I see no reason that same regimen shouldn’t apply to the purchase of an assault weapon,’’ he said.
Oklahoma’s current licensing requirements apply to open and concealed carry. A person must be 21, submit to an OSBI background check and have no history of violence, substance abuse or mental illness.
Applying the same requirements to the purchase of an assault weapon “would help a great deal prospectively,” Edmondson said Tuesday. “It would keep teenagers from buying assault rifles.”