By: José Niño
Few elected officials stand out as Second Amendment champions the way Oklahoma State Senator Nathan Dahm has since he was elected to office in 2012.
Dahm’s efforts in the Oklahoma Senate were instrumental in the passage of Constitutional Carry in 2019. Now, he wants to strengthen Constitutional Carry by lowering the legal minimum age to exercise Constitutional Carry from 21 to 18 in Oklahoma.
Dahm recently filed Senate Bill 1039 to add Oklahomans ages 18 to 20 to the list of people eligible for Constitutional Carry.
Constitutional Carry is a policy that makes it so law-abiding citizens do not have to ask the government permission before exercising their Second Amendment rights.
According to a report by Tulsa World, Dahm is of the view that making lawful citizens ages 18 to 20 eligible for Constitutional Carry aligns with the government’s “primary function and responsibility… to protect individual rights.”
Dahm tweeted, “Why shouldn’t 18, 19, & 20-year-olds have their right to self-defense restored?”
Dahm told KOCO News, “The people have a constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. Just as they have the right to vote starting at 18, they should not have to wait until turning 21 to exercise their right to self-defense.”
As a seasoned political realist who understands how embedded anti-Second Amendment sentiments are among significant segments of the population, especially the media, Dahm fully expects strong opposition to his bill in a way that was similar to opposition to Constitutional Carry in its early days.
He noted that the media claimed at the time, “Oklahoma would turn into the ‘Wild West’ if we passed Constitutional Carry. As usual, their lies were unfounded scare tactics seeking to dictate and dominate other people’s lives. I’m sure they’ll continue to use the same sophistry to try to oppose this bill, but as always I will fight for the people and champion the cause of liberty no matter who it offends.”
In his time in office, Dahm has been very active in putting forward pro-Second Amendment legislation, such as Senate Bill 1081, which he introduced at the end of 2019 to counter the potential threat of red flag gun confiscation orders.
Under SB 1081, the Oklahoma legislature would “occupy and preempt the entire field of legislation in this state touching in any way federal or state extreme risk protection orders against or upon a citizen of Oklahoma to the complete exclusion of any order, ordinance or regulation by any municipality or other political subdivision of this state.”
Nathan Dahm is one of the few elected officials who can be reliably counted on to defend the Second Amendment and introduce legislation that shifts the Overton Window in a way that favors the right to bear arms. He’s a model legislator whom aspiring pro-Second Amendment champions should emulate.
José Niño is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. Sign up for his mailing list here. Contact him via Facebook, Twitter, or email him at [email protected]. Get his e-book, The 10 Myths of Gun Control, here.