Kern says she didn't mean to take pistol into state Capitol
Kern says she didn't mean to take pistol into state Capitol

By John Greiner

Published: July 24, 2008

State Rep. Sally Kern says she's an "outdoors girl” who's done some shooting but didn't intend to bring her pistol into the state Capitol on Wednesday.

Kern, who made national headlines earlier this year when she said the homosexual agenda is the biggest threat facing this country, said she was in a hurry and didn't realize she had her pistol in her purse.

She got no farther than the Capitol security station with her pistol Wednesday.

"I was pulling up to park ... hurried out of my car.”

Kern, an Oklahoma City Republican, said she is "out of the habit of being at the Capitol” since the Legislature adjourned in May.

"I had a meeting at 10 a.m.,” she said.

Kern put her purse on the conveyor belt to be X-rayed by security equipment.

As it went through, one of the security people said, "Rep. Kern ... ,” and that was when she realized her pistol was in her purse, Kern said.

Capt. Chris West, Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman, said Kern was asked to secure her weapon outside the Capitol after troopers and other security guards discovered it in her purse. The patrol provides security at the Capitol.

"We didn't feel like that was a malicious act,” West said in explaining why Kern was allowed to take her pistol to her automobile.

The gun is a .380-caliber pistol. She has had a permit to carry a concealed weapon for nearly two years, she said.

This isn't the first time Kern brought her pistol into the Capitol.

Last month she came into the Capitol, went to her office at the House of Representatives and then realized she had her pistol in her purse.

"I self-reported it,” she said, explaining she went back to the security station, told security officers she inadvertently brought the gun into the Capitol and then took it to her car.

"It's what happens when you get in a hurry,” she said.