Defensive Display Becomes Law in Oklahoma

On May 14, 2025, Governor J. Kevin Stitt signed Oklahoma HB 2818 into law. This type of law is known as a Defensive Display law. it codifies and clarifies actions which are allowed during defense of self, others, and property while being armed. HB 2818 was passed by the House with a 73-16 vote on March 25, 2025. It passed the Senate 39-7 on May 8, 2025. The law took effect immediately. From oklegislature.gov:

 4. For purposes of this subsection, “defensive display of a
firearm” includes, but is not limited to:

a. verbally informing another person that the person possesses or has available a firearm or any other deadly weapon,

b. exposing or displaying a firearm or any other deadly weapon in a manner that a reasonable person would understand was meant to protect the person against the use or attempted use by another of unlawful physical or deadly force, or

c. placing the hand of the person on a firearm or any other deadly weapon while the firearm is contained in a pocket, purse, holster, sling scabbard, case or other means of containment or transport.

Texas has a defensive display law, Penal section 9.04, which was last amended in 1993. Arizona passed a defensive display bill in 2009. The Florida defensive display, HB89,  was signed into law in 2014.

Defensive display is a simple concept. If a person reasonably fears a potential opponent, defense display allows them to inform the potential adversary they are armed, both verbally, or by showing the potential adversary they have a weapon. Actually pointing the firearm at a potential adversary is usually reserved for circumstances which would allow the use of deadly force.

Some states have confusing statutes, which make it legally dangerous to let an opponent and possible attacker know a person is armed. Some are quite severe. In Arizona, before the defensive display law was passed in 2009, showing a firearm could be prosecuted as an aggravated assault, a felony. Prosecutorial abuse of this statute lead to the passage of the Arizona law.

As a practical matter, the display or reference to a firearm most commonly results in the aggressor stopping the aggression and leaving. These numbers are difficult to quantify, but appear to happen in about 90-95% of defensive uses of firearms. This is reasonable. Once an aggressor knows they are facing an armed opponent, who is aware of their intent, they stop the aggression. Criminals have often been recorded as saying they fear armed victims more than they fear police.

Professors James D. Wright and Peter Rossi surveyed 2,000 felons incarcerated in state prisons across the United States. Wright and Rossi reported that 34% of the felons said they personally had been “scared off, shot at, wounded, or captured by an armed victim”; 69% said that they knew at least one other criminal who had also; 34% said that when thinking about committing a crime they either “often” or “regularly” worried that they “[m]ight get shot at by the victim”; and 57% agreed with the statement, “Most criminals are more worried about meeting an armed victim than they are about running into the police.” (James D. Wright & Peter H. Rossi, Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms [1986]. See Guns and Public Health: Epidemic of Violence or Pandemic of Propaganda? by Don B. Kates, et. al. Originally published as 61 Tenn. L. Rev. 513-596 [1994]).

Making the most effective defensive use of firearms illegal is extremely dangerous for both suspects and victims. In states where the law is still ambiguous, prosecutors have enormous discretion.

Analysis: HB2818 is a welcome reform of defense law in Oklahoma. The law protects defenders, and makes the killing or wounding of suspect less likely. States which do not have a defensive display law would do well to consider adopting HB2818 as an good example.

©2025 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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