Sally Kern Caught With Loaded Gun at Capitol

An Oklahoma lawmaker who gained national notoriety with an antigay rant was stopped from entering the state capitol Wednesday when she was found to have a loaded handgun in her purse, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said.

Patrol spokeswoman Chris West said Republican representative Sally Kern was not charged because there did not appear to be any ''malicious intent'' behind her actions.

West said officers are allowed to ''use their brains'' when determining if an arrest should be made in such instances.

West also confirmed a second incident in which Kern made it into the building with a gun in June.

Kern complained earlier this year of receiving death threats after an audio clip was posted on YouTube in which she calls homosexuality a bigger threat to the U.S. than terrorism.

Guns and knives are prohibited in the capitol, and those who enter must pass through an airport-style security checkpoint, including a metal detector and an X-ray machine. It is a misdemeanor to bring a weapon inside.

Kern told the Associated Press Wednesday that both incidents were simple mistakes.

The first time, the weapon got through the security checkpoint, she said.

''I got all the way up to my office before I realized I had it, so I reported it,'' she said.

On Wednesday, she said she forgot to take the .380 caliber semiautomatic handgun out of her purse after she stopped to talk to a colleague.

''It was an honest mistake from being out of my routine, you know,'' she said.

Kern said she had a permit for the gun and had carried it long before the YouTube controversy. (Ron Jenkins, AP)

Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

Name: Tynkyr Belle
Date posted: 2008-07-25 9:14 PM
Hometown: San Francisco, CA

Comment:

It sure would be a shame if she were to shoot herself with her weapon. Anyone stupid enough to carry it when they don't know they're carrying it is also stupid enough to shoot themselves. I'm going to pray to Our Lord, Most Holy Jeebus in His Merciful Wrathfulness to protect her from herself and to exhort Him to NOT let her shoot herself in the foot, or her spleen, or her kidney or her ovaries or her liver, heart or lungs or that squishy organ inside her head where most people have brains. I realize, however, that I am a dirty, filthy homosexual and that Holy Jeebus HATES our kind, so he's not apt to let my prayers come true. Darn it all for poor Ms. Kern.

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