House passes legislation to prevent enforcement of federal 'infringement' on gun rights

House Bill 2984, by Rep. David Hardin, R-Stilwell, forbids enforcement of new federal laws or interpretations of existing laws that “infringes upon, calls in question or prohibits, restricts, or requires individual licensure for or registration of the purchase, ownership, possession, transfer, or use of any firearm, any magazine or other ammunition feeding device, or other firearm accessory.”

HB 2982, also by Hardin, asserts the right of Oklahomans to manufacture and own noise suppressors, commonly known as silencers, within state’s borders without the federal licensing normally required.

A former Oklahoma City police officer and Adair County sheriff, Hardin repeated his belief that the federal government “is going to come after our firearms,” to which Rep. Forrest Bennett, D-Oklahoma City, replied, “We’ve been waiting for that to happen almost as long as we’ve been waiting for trickle down economics to work.”

Quizzed by Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Oklahoma City, Hardin said he does not believe federal law on this matter would supersede state law, although both the U.S. and Oklahoma Constitution contain supremacy clauses indicating otherwise.

Hardin’s arguments rest on the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, although it is unclear who would decide what violates that amendment.

Existing state law, passed last year, says any “federal, state, county or municipal act, law, executive order, administrative order, court order, rule, policy or regulation ordering the buy-back, confiscation or surrender of firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition from law-abiding citizens” should be considered an infringement of Second Amendment rights.

HB 2982 is patterned after a Texas law passed last year, but Kansas has had a similar law since 2013. In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower court decision that the state law could not prevent federal prosecution of individuals who violated federal laws restricting the manufacture and sale of guns and suppressors, even if the items did not involve interstate commerce.

Also Monday:

The House passed two education bills by Speaker Pro Tem Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow.

HB 3092 would require school districts to consider age-appropriate “community standards” when buying new library materials, and HB 3084 would allow school buses to cross district boundaries to pick up transfer students.

The first bill is one of many this session that address parental concerns about reading and multimedia materials; the second is considered an important addition to the bill signed into law last year that facilitates open transfers among public school districts.

HB 2986, by Rep. Steve Bashore, R-Miami, which would be good news for those buying cars but not so good for school districts and others that receive motor vehicle tax revenue, advanced without much opposition.

The bill would base excise tax calculations on a vehicle’s net sales price — price minus discounts and trade-in value — instead of the purchased vehicle’s full value. An accompanying fiscal impact statement estimated the state would lose about $47.4 million a year from the change.

HB 3414, by Rep. Daniel Pae, R-Lawton, which authorizes research and clinical trials using psilocybin and psilocin, passed without discussion. The two substances are what make some mushrooms “magic,” and have also been linked to possible treatments for anxiety and post traumatic stress.

Also passing was HB 3822, by Rep. Carl Newton, R-Fairview, which would legalize — at least to some extent — what’s been common practice in rural Oklahoma since the internal combustion engine.

The bill would allow youth as young as 14 to be issued provisional driver’s licenses for farm and ranch work or to drive to school, provided they receive certain training.