Demonstrators march on Capitol for gun reform despite opposition in Legislature

Jun. 11—OKLAHOMA CITY — Activists and demonstrators wanting gun reform — including measures opposed by Oklahoma's Republican caucus — rallied at the State Capitol Saturday.

More than 100 demonstrators — including community organizers, students, faith leaders, public officials and candidates for offices at all levels — gathered at the Capitol steps. The speakers promoted stricter gun laws, including background checks, to prevent homicides.

The rally was one of a number of March For Our Lives demonstrations held across the country Saturday following mass shootings across the United States, most prominently in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York. The march at the Capitol also came 10 days after a disgruntled patient in Tulsa killed his doctor and three others with an AR-15, and two weeks after a gunman in Taft killed one and shot seven more during a fight at a Memorial Day weekend festival.

John Marshall High School student Alasia Smith, 17, wondered Saturday if her school is actually a safe place away from violence in her neighborhood in light of mass shootings.

The rally also came as Democrats in the state Legislature have proposed the Stand Against Violence and Extremism (SAVE) Act ahead of Special Session Monday. The bill would repeal Oklahoma's anti-red flag and permitless carry laws and would raise the gun purchase age to 21.

In Oklahoma, more than one of every 5,000 people was killed with a gun in 2020, either through homicide or suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"(I'm) kind of a country boy at heart, as was my dad, as was his dad, as was his dad, and because of that, I've seen what guns can do, and that's not the situation the people who wrote the Second Amendment had envisioned," Garrett Eakers of Oklahoma City said Saturday.

State Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, D-Norman, spoke in support of the SAVE Act.

However, state Rep. Justin Humphrey, R-Lane, who was not at the rally, made it clear Saturday that while he supported the protesters' right to demonstrate he disagreed with the proposals speakers put forth at the rally. He said there's a "knee-jerk reaction" following mass shootings to "take everyone's gun rights."

Humphrey also said the Legislature's Republican supermajority has "no appetite" for the SAVE Act after Democrats rolled it out June 2, the day after the Tulsa shooting. He argued the bill would take away rights away from law-abiding citizens.

Humphrey suggested Oklahoma enact stricter probation and parole supervision laws to keep convicted criminals from getting guns.

While Humphrey said his heart goes out to anyone affected by gun violence, he argued the proposals in the SAVE Act won't stop the problem; he said most guns used to commit crimes are illegally obtained.

"They're going to take my rights away, make it harder for me to obtain a gun, harder for my son and my children to obtain guns, but again, what are these criminals going to do?" he said.

Humphrey's comments contrasted with the demonstrators' overarching sentiment — that gun laws in the United States and Oklahoma specifically need to be stricter than they are.

Oklahoma City activist and artist Jabee Williams, who said his brother and cousin have both been shot to death, said the "more guns" argument doesn't work when it comes to mass shootings. He cited the shooting in Buffalo, where the security guard got a shot off but didn't stop the shooter.

"You would think it would be easy to save the lives of people. You think it would be easy to save the lives of children, right? But the reason that it is so hard is because we're trying to unravel and reweave the country that it was built on, and that fabric is covered in the blood of Black and brown people, and is surrounded by violence," Williams said. "So whenever we talk about trying to save lives, violence and regulating guns and all these things, and mass shootings and all this stuff — the reason is, those were the things that this country was built on."

Williams said he's impacted and traumatized by gun violence because of deaths in his family and because he's a father.

Derek Geasland, who drove from Tahlequah Saturday morning to participate in the march, said he wanted to join because he has nieces and nephews who "could have been" the students killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

"It's just time for some sensible gun laws," he said.

Congressional candidate Joshua Harris Till and Senate candidate Kendra Horn spoke at the rally. Several progressive candidates and Democratic officials also attended.