Dear Editor,
It is estimated that over 50% of Oklahoma adults are gun owners. So, it is no surprise that Republicans in the state are concerned about federal overreach on law-abiding gun owners, given Democrats control both the House and Senate, as well as the White House. But there is a debate going on in the U.S. Senate that Republicans who support the Second Amendment should be amenable to, and that is strengthening background checks.
After a recent uptick in mass shootings, it was reported that a bipartisan group of Senators were discussing crafting a bill to strengthen background checks and close loopholes. While it is understandable that some Republicans are suspicious of this effort, in reality, the vast majority of Republicans, and even more Independents, support expanding background checks due to the obviously dangerous loopholes that currently exist.
One tragic but clear example of this was seen in the 2019 Odessa-Midland shooting. The mass shooter was barred by law from buying
a firearm because of mental illness. Unfortunately, the loophole allowed the murderer to purchase a weapon through a private sale, where the seller was not obligated to conduct a background check despite selling this weapon to a stranger he just met online and knowing nothing about whether the shooter had a legal right to own the weapon.
If you are required to ID someone before selling them booze, and can be held liable if you don’t, it would stand to reason that there should be some sort of background check requirement when a stranger is selling another stranger a gun.
Thankfully, our elected officials, like Sen. Lankford, have been able to balance strong support for the Second Amendment with the need to strengthen our background check laws to ensure felons or the severely mentally ill cannot gain access to guns. As Sen. Lankford explained when
he supported the introduction of the Fix NICS Act in 2017, “In order to reduce gun violence and protect lives, we should have an efficient background check system to ensure that firearms don’t [fall] into the hands of people who shouldn’t have them.”
There is obviously still more work to be done to strengthen background checks. Congress should focus their efforts on closing the current loopholes in gun laws, as opposed to adding new gun laws that might infringe on the rights of law-abiding gun owners.
Oklahoma has a proud history of standing up for our Constitutional rights to self-protection. We expect our federal elected officials to do the same. But that does not mean they can- not support commonsense policies that strengthen our background check system. If the right bill comes before the Senate, that strikes this balance, I urge Sen. Lankford to continue supporting legislation that helps our communities stay safe.
Strengthening background checks will help keep our families and communities safe, which is a large reason why many of us support the Second Amendment in the first place.
—William Miller, Deacon, First Baptist Church, Grandfield, Oklahoma