Gun law signature count to start soon
The Oklahoma Secretary of State's Office on Tuesday said i t soon will begin counting the signatures on a referendum seeking to let voters repeal permitless carry.
The office had previously said it would not begin the count until the Oklahoma Supreme Court determined the fate of a legal challenge to the effort.
“We are going to perform our normal count like we do on all of the questions,” said Amy Canton, Oklahoma Secretary of State director of the executive and legal division.
She said it should not take long to perform the signature count and “should have some number next week.”
The Oklahoma Supreme Court in an order released Friday asked respondents to provide the number of signatures, “if known.” It also gave respondents until 5 p.m. Thursday to respond to the challenge.
Supporters of State Question 803 turned in their signatures by last week's deadline, but were uncertain whether they had enough to get the measure on the statewide ballot.
Approximately 59,320 signatures were required to get a vote in 2020. Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and other groups spent time gathering signatures across the state.
Rep. Jason Lowe, D-Oklahoma City, is one of three proponents of the referendum. He said Tuesday that he was uncertain how many signatures had been collected.
Shortly before the 5 p.m. Thursday deadline, he said about 50,000 had been obtained, but more came in as the deadline neared.
Lawmakers last session passed House Bill 2597 that would let individuals carry a weapon without a permit or training.
The legislation was signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt and takes effect Nov. 1. Oklahoma already has an open carry law.
HB 2597 was supported by the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association, of which Don Spencer is president.
Spen cer's organiza-tion is among those who filed the protest with the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
“Since they misrepresented what the law said in their referendum, I am sure the circulators most likely misrepresented the amount of signatures,” Spencer said. “We feel it is good that the secretary of state is going ahead and getting the rough count so this can be determined and this whole situation can be ended as soon as possible and law abiding citizens will be able to enjoy their rights on Nov. 1.”
Joshua Harris-Till, one of the petition organizers previously has said that e ach peti tion in cluded a copy of HB 2597, and therefore, didn't misrepresent the new law.