At March For Our Lives in Oklahoma, advocates ask ‘where can we be safe?’

OKLAHOMA CITY – Standing on the steps of the Oklahoma State Capitol, Alasia Smith pleaded with lawmakers for her future. 

The 17-year-old Oklahoma City high school student described for the crowd around her the new fears and anxieties she’s felt growing in the past weeks as shootings across the nation, including in her home state, have occurred in what she once thought were her safe spaces.

“Grocery stores, schools, hospitals,” Smith said. “Gun violence is something that has interrupted my life. I feel like I shut down for a couple of weeks because it was just so hurtful to see it all back to back to back.” 

“Where can we be safe?”

Alasia Smith, 17, front left, and other participants march around the Oklahoma state Capitol during a “March For Our Lives” rally against gun violence, in Oklahoma City, Saturday, June 11, 2022. The event was part of several “March For Our Lives” demonstrations across the country. Photo by Nate Billings for the PBS NewsHour

Smith was part of hundreds who gathered in Oklahoma City on Saturday, one of hundreds of rallies across the U.S. that were part of the national “March For Our Lives” against gun violence.

Oklahoma’s rally comes 10 days after a man killed four people at a Tulsa medical center before turning the gun on himself. Killed were Dr. Preston Phillips, Dr. Stephanie Husen, receptionist Amanda Glenn and visitor William Love at the Natalie Medical Building.

READ MORE: We asked every senator what action should be taken on guns. Here’s what they said

Oklahoma does not have a waiting period for firearms purchases and the gunman purchased an AR-15 rifle one hour before carrying out the attack, according to police.

Smith acknowledged the challenges she and fellow activists faced in one of the more gun friendly states in the U.S. Oklahoma is ranked as having the seventh weakest gun laws in the U.S. along with one of the highest gun violence rates in America, according to Everytown Gun Law Rankings. The RAND Corporation, a public policy research organization, estimates that 51 percent of households in Oklahoma owns firearms.

“This is possible, change is possible,” she said. “This is bigger than the people in those offices and in this building. 

In 2020, the country saw the highest level of gun-related deaths ever recorded by the Centers for Disease Control, according to a Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions analysis of firearms mortality data, which includes gun deaths from homicides, suicides and accidental discharges. The same year saw a record number of gun sales. In the analysis, researchers noted states with the highest gun deaths had looser gun restrictions. 

State lawmakers in Oklahoma have eased or erased gun regulations in the past decade. In 2020, Oklahoma ranked 12th nationally in firearms mortality rate, with 20.7 deaths per 100,000 residents. The state’s majority-Republican legislature passed a number of laws during that period to deregulate gun restrictions and strengthen ownership and use rights including allowing for open carry of a weapon without a permit, the ability to conceal carry at parks and zoos and allowing designated staff members to carry firearms at schools. In November of 2019, the Oklahoma legislature passed House Bill 2597, commonly known as Oklahoma’s permitless carry law, which allows Oklahoma residents age 21 or older to carry a firearm in public without obtaining a license. 

In 2020, state senator Nathan Dahm, a Republican from Broken Arrow, authored a law that forbids the state’s cities and counties from enacting red flag laws. The gun control measure, adopted by 19 states nationwide, allows the public or police to petition a court to temporarily seize a person’s firearms if deemed a risk to themselves or others. Dahm is currently running for the United States Senate. 

Overall, the firearms mortality rate increased 31.8 percent between 2014 and 2020, according to data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. 

People listen to a speaker during a “March For Our Lives” rally against gun violence, at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, Saturday, June 11, 2022. The event was part of several “March For Our Lives” demonstrations across the country. Photo by Nate Billings for the PBS NewsHour

Rodney Cox, 32, works as an assistant principal at an Oklahoma City-area high school and has been hearing from students who are scared to come back to school after the mass shooting at  Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers were killed by a gunman.

“They don’t feel safe,” Cox said. “I believe it’s time to put some action behind everything that we are saying. We want them to be safe and we want them to have longevity and have a future, it’s time to put action behind those words.” 

Cox said he has seen gun violence throughout his life. Growing up in the Oklahoma-Texas border town of Hugo, Oklahoma, Cox said the small town of less than 6,000 residents was frequently home to shootings and incidents of gun violence.

Cox said he’s lost friends, family and students to shootings.   

“I’ve seen these problems in every shape, form and fashion,” Cox said. “This is why I’m so passionate and why I’m here today and why it’s so frustrating because we are often forgotten. I’m here to be a voice for the voiceless.” 

People pray at the start of a “March For Our Lives” rally against gun violence, at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, Saturday, June 11, 2022. The event was part of several “March For Our Lives” demonstrations across the country. Photo by Nate Billings for the PBS NewsHour

Nationwide, support for gun rights is eroding, according to the latest polling from the PBS Newshour, NPR and Marist, which showed nearly six in 10 Americans wanted to prioritize controlling gun violence. As lawmakers in the U.S. House and Senate debate national gun legislation, Oklahoma House Democrats introduced a series of gun safety measures at a news conference following the shooting in Tulsa. They included proposals to repeal the state’s permitless carry law, strike down the anti-red flag law and implement a waiting period for firearms purchases.

Monroe Nichols, a state representative from Tulsa, said the caucus has asked to amend an upcoming special session, which begins June 13, to include gun legislation. 

“The time has finally come to rethink the way in which we’re writing gun laws in this country,” Nichols said at the conference. “Everyone is coming to the realization that this is not about partisanship. This is simply about safety.”

Don Spencer, president of the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association, wrote in a Facebook post that the measures proposed by Democrats will most likely not succeed.

“We will work to improve the safety and security for which self preservation laws are designed to do,” Spencer said. “Perpetrators have, are and will ignore the laws and make more victims out of people who may choose to defend themselves.”

Participants march around the Oklahoma state Capitol during a “March For Our Lives” rally against gun violence, in Oklahoma City, Saturday, June 11, 2022. The event was part of several “March For Our Lives” demonstrations across the country. Photo by Nate Billings for the PBS NewsHour

Outside the Oklahoma Capitol on Saturday, dozens of signs could be seen that expressed the frustration and anger of the moment. 

“How many more must die?”
“Ban assault weapons now!”
“Make Murder More Difficult.” 

Jolly Brown, 58, held a sign detailing her anguish over seeing yet another mass shooting and her reason for being in attendance — her brother. 

Brown’s brother Graydon Wesley Brown was killed in 2012 while shopping inside an electronics store with his 11-year-old daughter when he was hit by gunfire from outside the store.

Brown said each mass shooting brings those memories back of the day she found out her brother had been killed and makes her want to push for more safety measures.

“These kids should be safe in their school, they should be safe while shopping and we are not,” Brown said. “When you get a call and you lose a loved one in such a violent way it’s gut wrenching, it’s devastating and it’s devastating to your whole family. There are ripple effects.” 

As Alasia Smith finished speaking to the crowd she pointed back at the State Capitol behind her, and reminded the crowd of the work ahead of them. 

“We can change the world.”