Gun Laws & Legislation

Democratic Candidate Says Shooting Match Should Show Who Best Supports Second Amendment

(Photo by Matt Mills McKnight/Getty Images)

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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An Oklahoma House Democratic candidate has turned Second Amendment Rights against his Republican opponent by challenging him to a shooting competition.

As Tulsa World reports, “pro-life, pro-Second Amendment” Democrat Tom Stites wonders if Republican Jim Olsen “is a real gun guy.”

Stites apparently is a real gun guy. He’s a member of the NRA, a permit to carry a concealed weapon and claims to be a marksman. He says he’s not going to get cornered over the gun issue, saying Olsen “is just using the Second Amendment for politics” in a news release.

“I’m sick and tired of being told as a conservative Democrat I can’t be pro-life or pro-Second Amendment,” Stites states. “I think that if you talk guns, you had better be ready to back it up. So let’s go shoot it out on targets and see who wins.”

But Olsen isn’t jumping at the opportunity.

“We are not running to be the sniper of Sequoyah County, but we are running for state representative,” Olsen told Tulsa World. “I may not hit a bull’s-eye every time with a gun, but when it comes to defending our Second Amendment rights, I am always dead center and that is why the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association has endorsed me.”

Stites says local police, gun store owners and NRA members could act as judges in the contest and he’s even offered his farm as the location for the potential event.

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