Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated provisions of SB 1140. It has been corrected.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. Mary Fallin said yes Friday to Ten Commandments monuments and religion-based adoptions but no to looser gun laws.
Fallin vetoed Senate Bill 1212, which would have allowed people to carry a weapon without a permit.
The governor signed Senate Bill 1140, which will allow private adoption agencies to refuse some child placements based on religious beliefs, and House Bill 2177, which will allow for the display of the Ten Commandments on public property.
In a statement released Friday evening announcing the veto of SB 1212, Fallin stressed that she supports the Second Amendment and owns firearms herself. However, she cited safety concerns for using her veto pen on the so-called “constitutional carry” bill.
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“Oklahomans believe that law-abiding individuals should be able to defend themselves,” Fallin said. “I believe the firearms requirement we currently have in state law are few and reasonable. Senate Bill 1212 eliminates the training requirements for persons carrying a firearm in Oklahoma. It reduces the level of the background check necessary to carry a gun.
“SB 1212 eliminates the current ability of Oklahoma law enforcement to distinguish between those carrying guns who have been trained and vetted, and those who have not.”
SB 1212, introduced by Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, passed the Senate by a vote of 33-9 during a late-night session. It had earlier passed the House by a vote of 59-28.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation had expressed concerns that the bill would impact “the safety and security” of Oklahomans. The Tulsa Regional Chamber urged a veto because the bill “impairs the right of businesses and property owners to implement safeguards to prohibit untrained individuals with no background checks from carrying guns into their establishment.”
The Oklahoma Second Amendment Association, also known as OK2A, wrote and strongly supported the measure. The association has proposed permit-less carry since 2010 in one form or another, said Don Spencer, OK2A president.
Spencer said he was “disappointed that Oklahoma rights were not respected.”
“She had a great opportunity to defend our liberty and leave a wonderful legacy and she chose not to,” Spencer said.
Adoption bill
Fallin signed off on SB 1140, saying the legislation “will help continue Oklahoma’s successful placement of children with a broad array of loving families and basically maintain the status quo.”
“Under Senate Bill 1140, the state will not be in any way restricting current practice allowing LGBTQ individuals and couples fostering or adopting,” Fallin said in a prepared statement. “It does not ban same-sex adoption or foster care in Oklahoma.”
SB 1140 prohibits private child placement agencies that do receive state or federal funding from being required to participate in child placements “that violate the agency’s written religious or moral convictions or policies.” It also protects them against sanction if they refuse participation in foster placements or adoptions to which they object on religious grounds.
“SB 1140 allows faith-based agencies that contract with Oklahoma to continue to operate in accordance with their beliefs,” Fallin said. “In a day and time when diversity is becoming a core value to society because it will lead to more options, we should recognize its value for serving Oklahoma also because it leads to more options for loving homes to serve Oklahoma children. Other states that have declined the protection to faith-based agencies have seen these agencies close their doors, leaving less options for successful placement of children who need loving parents.”
Executive Director Toby Jenkins said Oklahomans for Equality, which lobbied against the measure, was “angry and disappointed” that Fallin signed the bill.
“The measure, which will allow faith-based adoption and foster placement agencies to declare their ‘sincerely held religious beliefs as a reason for rejecting LGBTQ adoptive and foster families while still receiving taxpayer funding, is reprehensible,” Jenkins said. “The same measure will allow such agencies to refuse to place LGBTQ youth in foster or adoptive homes, instead leaving them to languish in state shelters. This is abhorrent and unacceptable. This law will be challenged in court, and it will be found to be unconstitutional. And once again, the taxpayers of Oklahoma will pay for the misguided desires to discriminate of many of our lawmakers and our governor.”
The measure was supported by the Oklahoma’s Catholic bishops and the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.
“We are grateful for Gov. Fallin’s support of religious liberty in Oklahoma,” said the Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley, Archbishop of Oklahoma City, and the Most Rev. David Konderla, Bishop of Tulsa. “The new law will bring more adoption services to the state and allow crucial faith-based agencies to continue their decades-long tradition of caring for Oklahoma’s most vulnerable children.
“Since the law does not change the process for placing foster children or ban any family from adopting, we hope and pray this action will increase the number of children matched with loving families.”
Ten Commandments displays
The governor signed HB 2177 without comment. It would allow for the display of the Ten Commandments along with other historical documents on public property.
House Bill 2177 came after a 2015 Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that said a privately funded Ten Commandments monument on the Capitol grounds was religious and had to be removed. The ACLU of Oklahoma brought the successful legal challenge.
The following year, voters rejected State Question 790, which would have allowed the Ten Commandments monument to be displayed at the Capitol.
Rep. John Bennett, R-Sallisaw, and Sen. Joseph Silk, R-Broken Bow, are the authors of the measure, which requires the state attorney general to defend legal challenges to such displays.
Related: What Gov. Fallin signed Friday night