With two swoops of a pen, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin managed to enrage liberals and conservatives on the same day. First off, the Republican signed a bill allowing faith-based groups to deny adoption placement to anyone who defies their beliefs, the Washington Post reports. Gay rights advocates say this will leave more children in limbo and let organizations funded partly by taxes to deny prospective parents. "Oklahoma has now joined a small group of states that have broken the cardinal rule of child welfare—that the needs of children should come first," says Rev. Stan J. Sloan, who heads an LGBTQ rights group. Another group says it will sue Oklahoma for apparently violating the separation of church and state.
Fallin also vetoed a bill that would have let Oklahomans carry a handgun in public without proper training, the AP reports. Law enforcement officials supported her, saying the law would have damaged public safety and softened background checks. But the NRA called it a broken campaign promise. "Make no mistake, this temporary setback will be rectified when Oklahoma residents elect a new and genuinely pro-Second Amendment governor," says an NRA official. Indeed, Fallin is in the final months of her second term and cannot run for a third. Yet she stood up for her veto: "I believe the firearms laws we currently have in place are effective, appropriate and minimal," she said. (More Oklahoma stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
