Oklahoma generally prohibits people, including people who have handgun licenses, from carrying a firearm (whether or not the firearm is concealed) into:

• Any structure, building, or office space owned or leased by a city, town, county, state, or federal governmental authority for the purpose of conducting business with the public;
• Any courthouse, courtroom, prison, jail, detention facility or any facility used to process, hold, or house arrested persons, prisoners or persons alleged delinquent or adjudicated delinquent. (A separate state law additionally generally prohibits any person from bringing a gun into or having a gun in his or her possession in any jail or state penal institution or other place where prisoners are located);¹;
• Any elementary or secondary school, except where a policy has been adopted by the governing entity of a private school that authorizes valid handgun license holders to carry and possess a weapon on private school property or in any school bus or vehicle used by a private school;²
• Any publicly owned or operated sports arena or venue during a professional sporting event, unless allowed by the event holder;
• Any place where gambling is authorized by law, unless allowed by the property owner;
• Any property set aside by a state governmental authority, by a county, city, or town, or by a public trust with a county, city, or town as a beneficiary, for an event that is secured with minimum-security provisions, as specified, including security fences, controlled access points, and metal detectors. (If the event on this public property does not meet these minimum security requirements, people are instead authorized to carry concealed handguns or other firearms if authorized by the event permit holder);³and
• Any other place specifically prohibited by law.⁴

Open carry of handguns is prohibited in municipal zoos or parks that are owned, leased, operated, or managed by public trust or nonprofit entities, though state law generally expressly authorizes people to carry concealed handguns on these properties.⁵

Oklahoma law also generally prohibits people from carrying or possessing a firearm in any establishment where the sale of alcoholic beverages constitutes the primary purpose of the business, unless they are the owner or proprietor of the establishment or are an employee who has permission from the owner or proprietor to carry or possess a weapon in the scope and course of their employment.⁶ (Oklahoma amended this law in 2021, effective November 1, 2021, to repeal provisions that previously generally restricted people without valid handgun licenses from carrying firearms in any establishment where alcoholic beverages are consumed).⁷ The law passed in 2021 affirmatively states that it is lawful for a person to carry or possess firearms in any restaurant or other establishment licensed to dispense alcoholic beverages where the sale of alcoholic beverages does not constitute the primary purpose of the business, although states that this law shall not be interpreted to authorize any person in actual physical possession of a weapon to consume alcoholic beverages in such an establishment.⁸

State law generally expressly authorizes people to carry firearms, whether concealed or unconcealed, on the following properties:

• Any property set aside for the use of any vehicle, whether attended or unattended, by a city, town, county, state, or federal governmental authority;
• Any property set aside for the use or parking of any vehicle, whether attended or unattended, which is open to the public, or by any entity engaged in gambling authorized by law;
• Any property adjacent to a structure, building or office space in which concealed or unconcealed weapons are prohibited by state law;
• Any property designated by a city, town, county, or state governmental authority as a park, recreational area, wildlife refuge or wildlife management area, or fairgrounds; provided this provision does not authorize any entry by a person in possession of a firearm into any structure, building, office space or event where firearms are otherwise prohibited by state law’s location restrictions; and
• Any property set aside by a public or private elementary or secondary school for the use or parking of any vehicle, whether attended or unattended; provided, however, that the firearm must be stored and hidden from view in a locked motor vehicle when the motor vehicle is left unattended on school property.⁹

The state allows any private landowner, the landowner’s designated employee, or a lessee to possess a chamber-loaded firearm on the landowner’s property, provided that no person who has been convicted of a felony carries it.¹⁰

Oklahoma law precludes any person, property owner, tenant, employer, or business entity from establishing a policy or rule that would prohibit any person (except a person who has been convicted of a felony) from transporting and storing a firearm in a locked vehicle on any property set aside for a vehicle.¹¹ Otherwise, Oklahoma does not limit, restrict or prohibit in any manner the existing rights of any person, property owner, tenant, employer, or business entity to control the possession of weapons on any property owned or controlled by the person or business entity.¹²

Oklahoma has no statutes prohibiting firearms in the following places, although administrative regulations may apply:

• Parks;
• Hospitals;
• Places of worship; or
• Polling places.

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1. Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 57, § 21.[↩]
2. as provided by Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21 § 1277(C).[↩]
3. See 2021 OK HB 2645; Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21 § 1277(A)(7), (B)(6).[↩]
4. Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21 § 1277(A).[↩]
5. Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21 § 1277(E).[↩]
6. Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 1272.1(A).[↩]
7. See 2021 OK SB 646, Sec. 1.[↩]
8. Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 1272.1(B), (D).[↩]
9. Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21 § 1277(B).[↩]
10. Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 29, § 4-135(E).[↩]
11. Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 1290.22(B).[↩]
12. Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 1290.22(A) and (C).[↩]