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February 5, 2025
NSSF PROFILE Q&A: U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.)
Editor’s Note: We are pleased to post the latest of our occasional Q&A features with an elected official who supports hunting and the shooting sports. NSSF thanks U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) for speaking with us about his staunch support for the Second Amendment and the importance of the firearm and ammunition industry to his constituents in the Sooner State. Sen. Mullin is serving to fill the final four years of retired former Sen. James Inhofe’s unexpired term, after serving for 10 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, and is currently seated on the Senate Armed Services Committee; the Appropriations Committee; the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee; and the Indian Affairs Committee. We thank Sen. Mullin for speaking with us.
*The following answers were transcribed from an audio conversation.
1) Who introduced you to hunting and shooting sports, and why are hunting and the shooting sports important to you in your job representing the people of Oklahoma?
I’d assume my dad. There’s not a memory of my life without hunting being a part of it. I grew up on a farm, grew up hunting with my dad all the time. I joke all the time, the first beef steak that I had wasn’t until I was 18, I was a senior in high school. We always ate venison, so elk or deer. Hunting was always a part of our lives, that’s like asking me when I was first introduced to a gun. I was raised with them. There’s zero memory of me not being around them. My first gun that I had was a peep sight .22. You had to pull the back of it. I couldn’t pull it half the time because my hands were so cold. Hunting, fishing, it’s like my kids – it’s always been a part of their lives too.
2) What was your most recent shooting sports/hunting experience?
I went duck hunting a few weeks ago with my boys. I haven’t been a really big duck hunter. There was a phase in my 20s there where I hunted ducks a lot with my brother, Greg. Then I kinda got out of it because my wife didn’t like it because I have this thing where if you kill you have to eat it. So I’ve let it fall to the wayside. Now my boys are all into it. They took one of my enclosed trailers, and they got all their decoys, and all their waders, it’s just decked out. They were hunting every weekend, so this year I actually went hunting with them quite a bit. And the last time was a few weeks ago. We went out to western Oklahoma and froze. I think we got three birds. Disappointing hunt, but it was wonderful being with my boys. It’s kinda different too because my boys are older, so this time they were taking me hunting. It was kinda neat, I didn’t do anything. I showed up. I didn’t put up a decoy, I didn’t put up a blind, all I put on was Carhartt coveralls and people laugh at me but I hunt with a Remington 870, I always have, and I sat down in the blind and that was it. They even had coffee for me there. It was kinda neat.
3) Describe your favorite shooting sports or hunting activity.
I love deer hunting. I used to bow hunt a lot. I kinda got out of that, being in this job it takes a lot more time deer hunting. I love deer hunting, love elk hunting. I think my favorite is probably elk. Something about hearing them bugle is just relaxing. I can be out there and not kill anything and just enjoy my time. In terms of shooting sports, I got one boy who really gets into shooting sports. Out at the ranch we have steel targets set up, a small range and stuff, and just shooting with him, even though now, I hate to admit it, he can outshoot me, but he’s also part of a shooting club at Oklahoma State and so I feel he’s kinda got an advantage over me. For some reason my eyes, I can’t see the sight like I use to, I hate to admit it. So I’m kinda switching from iron sights to a red dot because I can line them up better, but I think shooting activity, there’s nothing better than shooting with my boys, all of them. Anytime I get to shoot with any one of them it’s kind of a proud dad moment.
4) Which piece of pending legislation in Washington, D.C., related to conservation, hunting, the shooting sports and/or the firearm industry is particularly important to you and why?
I believe the passage of the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act is a real possibility this Congress now that Republicans have a trifecta. We need House Republicans to stick together on this one, and get it done. This bill has been around long enough, and President Trump has committed to signing it if it comes across his desk. There is no reason to subject lawful citizens to obtain carry permits on a state-by-state basis.
I was happy to serve as an original cosponsor to the No REGISTRY Rights Act. And I will soon reintroduce the Tribal Firearm Access Act, which will allow Tribal members to use Tribal government IDs to purchase a firearm from an FFL. I’m from Oklahoma, and I have my own Cherokee ID card. There is no reason why the ATF should prevent me from using this ID to lawfully purchase a firearm.
Also, I own many suppressors, and I look forward to serving as an original cosponsor to Senator Crapo’s Hearing Protection Act. Removing suppressors from regulation under the National Firearms Act (NFA) and making the purchasing process the same as it would be for a rifle or shotgun, is just common sense. Democrats have used the term “silencer” for decades as a cinematic fear tactic. People are waking up that this is a matter of health, not a hitman scene in a James Bond movie.
5) What do you see as the challenges and opportunities ahead in Congress for hunters, recreational shooting sports enthusiasts and supporters of the Second Amendment?
I think it’s education. I used to travel with some Democrat friends of mine and we would go to different schools and colleges and I haven’t done this in a few years, but a lot of the time I was the only Republican up there. The Second Amendment would always come up, and gun ownership, and why do people need to own guns and all of this. Regardless of where you live, the Second Amendment provides you [the right] to own a gun and I’m very bullish on that.
I think some of these laws that are in New York and even right here in Washington, D.C., I think every one of them should be challenged. Because I don’t think they’re Constitutional. Because we have a right to bear arms – there is no definition of limitations on that. When you start talking on the nuance of location, people fear things they don’t understand. If you live in Washington, D.C., you think the only people that have a gun are the thugs and gangbangers out there and shoot guns sideways. That’s not the facts. It is safety, but it also is a way of life. So, let’s just talk about way of life.
Hunting: a lot of the stuff in my freezer [are] things me or my boys killed. A lot of protein. When you start talking about security, when I was in Massachusetts one time, and the Second Amendment came up and some people said, ‘Well, I don’t understand why we need all these arms and stuff,’ I said, ‘How long does it take for an officer to respond to your house?’ One of the young men who brought the question up says, ‘Well it depends on how far he is on the beat,’ and I said, ‘What’s a beat?’ And he says, ‘Well walking that area. The only time you’ll have an officer walking around my area, is if the car’s broken down because we live way out in the middle of nowhere.’ So I said, ‘Would you say five minutes? Ten minutes?’ and he said, ‘Probably five minutes, maybe less than that.’ For us, it’s 30 minutes. So for 30 minutes without a way to defend ourselves, my wife and kids would be having to defend themselves with rocks and sticks when we know the bad guys will probably have guns. Forget about the way of life, just talk about safety itself. We live in the middle of nowhere. Just because you don’t understand it, doesn’t mean you should ban it.
People say we need to respect people’s differences. We also need to respect people’s understandings. If you don’t want to own a gun, no one requires you to own a gun. If you feel like it’s a safety deal to you and might do some harm, fine, don’t own a gun. For those of us that believe in it, then we should have the right to do it and the Second Amendment protects that. For some us, it’s the only way we do have safety around us, like my wife and my kids.
So, I think education, not from an aggravated point of like, ‘You’re an idiot,’ but from an education and understanding that we have differences, and that we need to embrace those differences, but that also we need to understand why you may not like them. Which is fine, you don’t understand them, you fear things you don’t understand, but for us and our kids, they were raised with them but we also know it’s a way of life and it’s also safety for us.
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