Oklahoma’s hate and gun laws have significant gaps that allow people to keep and access guns, including assault weapons, after they have been convicted of violent hate crimes.
Access to Guns for People Convicted of Hate Crimes in Oklahoma
| Violence with Severe Bodily Injury | Violence with Bodily Injury | Other Crimes Involving Intentional Use of Force | Threats with Deadly Weapons | Other Credible Threats to Physical Safety | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Law | Very limited or no access | Significant access | Significant access | Some access | Significant access |
| State Law | Very limited or no access | Significant access | Significant access | Some access | Significant access |
Oklahoma’s hate crime statute generally makes it a misdemeanor (called “malicious harassment”) to commit specified conduct—including assault, battery, and credible threats of assault or battery—maliciously and with specific intent to intimidate or harass another person because of their race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, or disability.1 (Ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity are not included as protected categories). Under this law, first time malicious harassment offenses are misdemeanors punishable by up to one year in prison, although repeat convictions for this same offense may instead be charged as felonies.2
Oklahoma law generally prohibits people from accessing guns if they have been convicted of a felony.3 But Oklahoma generally does not prohibit people convicted of violent misdemeanors from accessing guns for any period of time, and does not make misdemeanors punishable by a term long enough to trigger federal firearm restrictions either.4 As a result, hate crime offenders in Oklahoma are generally prohibited from accessing guns, under state and federal law, only if they have been convicted of a felony.
Oklahoma generally classifies violent hate crimes as firearm-prohibiting felonies if they involve infliction or attempted infliction of serious bodily harm or death,5 assault or battery with a dangerous weapon, or shooting at a person with intent to injure or kill.6
However, people convicted of violent hate-motivated misdemeanors in Oklahoma generally remain eligible to access guns under both state and federal law, including those convicted of injuring a victim in a hate crime assault and battery,7 threatening to violently inflict serious bodily harm or death,8 brandishing firearms,9 and stalking.10
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- Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 850(A)-(C). State and local law enforcement are also required to submit monthly reports detailing the incidence and disposition of hate crimes to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 850(F).[↩]
- Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 850(D)-(E).[↩]
- Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 1283. State law defines crimes as felonies if they may be punishable by imprisonment in the state penitentiary (or death), even if an individual defendant’s punishment does not involve imprisonment in the penitentiary. Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 5; Braly v. Wingard, 326 P.2d 775, 775 (Okla. 1958); United States v. Maxwell,492 Fed. Appx 860, 868 (10th Cir. 2012).[↩]
- Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 10. Federal law generally prohibits people from accessing firearms if they have been convicted of a felony punishable by over one year in prison, or a state law misdemeanor punishable by more than two years. 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(1); 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(20)(B).[↩]
- Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 1378(A) and (C). See also Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 646 (aggravated assault involving “great bodily injury”). [↩]
- Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, §§ 645 – 647; 652 – 53.[↩]
- Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 850(A).[↩]
- Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, §§ 1378(B); 644(A) and (B); 1172(A)(2), (A)(3).[↩]
- Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 1279.[↩]
- Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 1173(A).[↩]