Oklahoma permit fees a tax on the law-abiding.

[Perd Hapley]

Or at least the bureaucrats think of them that way.

If these bills succeed [in making carry permits unecessary], state investigators will have to crunch the numbers again, but they said more cuts will trickle down to the small towns across our state where they help solve crimes.

“Our effectiveness as agents, as laboratory analysts will diminish greatly, because we’re not going to have the resources to get out there and do our job,” Brown said.

http://kfor.com/2016/04/21/osbi-agency-could-lose-millions-if-gun-legislation-passes/

So, to investigate crimes, they have to keep extracting money from people that are less likely to commit crime, and have already spent resources to make themselves less dependent on police protection. Boy, maybe they could just tax everyone equally, instead of making pistol-packers carry the load.

[RoadKingLarry]

Yeah, because the whole reason behind the Oklahoma Self Defense Act was to provide additional funding to the *expletive deleted*ing OSBI.

[wmenorr67]

Issue being the way the bill is written, if nothing changes, to carry concealed you will still need a permit.

[brimic]

Maybe there should be a surcharge every time a newspaper writer publishes an article to replace the lost funding to OSBI?

[Firethorn]

Was the $8M or whatever what they were spending on the permit system, or were they using the money to fund other things as well, using the permits as a profit generating system?

IE $20 for a permit, as per law, which costs about $20 to issue, track, and do the mandatory paperwork on is one thing.  But if they were charging $100 for a permit that cost $20 to handle, putting the $80 remaining to 'other work', then we have an issue.

Per the articles, it was the latter.  Perhaps that money should be replaced with general tax monies, as crime still needs to be solved.  But even those who want licenses should realize that a gun license fee that's drastically over what managing the licenses costs amounts to a poll tax - IE 'you are not eligible for self defense unless you earn at least $x'.