2008 Oklahoma Rifle Association Awards

by Steve Remington

Saturday, August 16 marked the annual Oklahoma Rifle Association (ORA) Convention and awards ceremony and without a doubt t was one for the record books.  Wayne LaPierre was the keynote speaker and as the Executive Vice President of the NRA, he knows how to fire up the troops.  LaPierre spoke about the Heller case that the SCOTUS recently ruled upon, how though individuals are now guaranteed the right to keep and bear arms, the fight is hardly over.  In Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit and even Washington D.C., city councils and mayors are working to more narrowly interpret the SCOTUS case.  The NRA’s response:  To file suit against those cities to ensure the average citizen maintains the right to keep and bear arms.

The ORA banquet saw what was arguably the largest turnout in recent history.  Three of the five members of Oklahoma’s congressional delegation were present and had time to speak to the crowd.  Congressman Tom Cole, Congresswoman Mary Fallin and Congressman Dan Boren all talked about the importance of the 2nd Amendment to them and to Oklahomans in general.  The funniest quote of the evening was from Tom Cole who said, “It’s ironic that in D.C. turkey hunting guns had been banned for so long because the floor of the house is a target rich environment.”

Lt. Governor Jari Askins also spoke and she did so without notes and without a proverbial net.  It was the first time I had seen her speak in public and she was phenomenal.  Touching all the right buttons on the issues of gun rights in Oklahoma, how we need to ensure that we continue to support our veterans and that without our veterans, we wouldn’t have the rights we do.  She is one impressive lady.

Now to the awards ceremony -there were two awards of particular interest to me.  First, the Mike McCarville Media Award recipient this year was the Oklahoman’s outdoor editor Ed Godfrey.  Second, the Legislator of the Year this year was Guthrie’s Representative Jason Murphy.  Murphy authored the campus concealed carry bill that eventually died in the Senate because, in my opinion, there are too many in the Oklahoma State Senate who are looking to run for higher office and since the university presidents in Oklahoma banded together around their flag of Great Britain and screamed against the individual right to keep and bear arms on their “sanctuaries of higher learning,” many in leadership in the State Senate grabbed their ankles and killed the bill in committee.

Cowards.

While it is true that Oklahomans will get to vote on a Constitutional amendment to protect hunting and fishing in Oklahoma and this was brought about in part by State Senate President Pro-Tem Glenn Coffee, he kissed the proverbial pooch on the campus concealed carry bill by shuttling it off to a committee where the members wouldn’t know the difference between a semi-auto and a revolver if their lives depended upon it.

Last year, Representative Jerry Ellis won the award and I was the 2007 ORA Media Award recipient.

At the end of the day, we got some great film for WILD Oklahoma television and ended up coming home with a new lever-action 30-30 Suzanne bid on.

If you’re not a member of the Oklahoma Rifle Association or if you’re not a member of your state’s NRA affiliate, I highly recommend you join today.