Wendell Franklin was appointed Tulsa’s chief of police in 2020. Tulsa ranks No. 8 on U.S. News & World Report’s “Top 25 Most Dangerous Places in the U.S.”
Chief Franklin was interviewed by KWGS and was asked what he thinks a proper response might be:
Max Bryan for KWGS:
So to begin, after the Saint Francis shooting, you said you would leave gun laws up to the state legislature, but by the end of that month, you had told media outlets that permitless carry was causing problems in Tulsa, and you reiterated that point after the mass shooting at Allen Outlet Mall in Texas last month.
So my first question is what led you to decide to speak out?
Wendell Franklin:
Well, because I don’t think that we’re moving the needle on anything….
We’ve recognized that we have some issues that need to be addressed, and we are operating as though everything is normal, and I don’t think everything is normal.
Bryan:
So you’ve also criticized a lack of regulation of untraceable ghost guns and straw purchasing. Recently you indicated you would support regulating the purchasing of high-powered weapons like AR-15s. Is there anything you can add to that list today?
Franklin:
Ultimately, I’m a Second Amendment guy. I own guns of course. But I’m okay giving up some of that freedom, right?
We had to give up some of that freedom after 9/11. I’m okay with waiting three days, five days, or whatever to get my firearm if I go out and purchase another firearm.
So I’m okay with a pause to allow for weapons to be purchased and allow the government … to look at the background and do a thorough check before that gun goes to someone.
All of which is prohibited by the Second Amendment, which says that “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
And “infringe” is defined by The Britannica Dictionary as “to do something that does not obey or follow (a rule, law, etc.)” or “to wrongly limit or restrict (something, such as another person’s rights)”
Chief Franklin took an oath back in 2020 to uphold the Constitution of the United States. But he considers the Second Amendment to that Constitution “tricky”?
Bryan:
In December you told me the Second Amendment was tricky. How do you balance challenges … changes that you believe will prevent crime with lawmakers … who believe the Second Amendment means expanding firearm access?
Franklin:
Ultimately, law enforcement, we are the experts. We’re the subject matter experts at protecting America, right?…
I think that’s where we are today. We are going to have to give up some things. And I think there are some things that we can give up for a safer community.
This is how freedom is lost: inch by inch, offered by unschooled “experts” proposing “plausible” solutions to difficult problems.
Franklin knows how those freedoms are lost. 9/11 “totally transformed America,” he said. “The federal government took over all airline security.” Seatbelt laws? He told Bryan: “We mandated that everyone start wearing a seatbelt … [now] you feel uncomfortable not wearing that seatbelt.”
Happily, Oklahoma is a state committed to supporting the Second Amendment, with some of the fewest incursions and limitations on the exercise of gun rights.
