Rural Oklahoma sheriffs are urging residents to arm themselves against potential attacks from "radical Islam."
In a letter posted to social media Monday, Sheriff Milton Anthony evoked a phrase from the Oath of Allegiance for new U.S. citizens and the Uniformed Services Oath of Office as he urged Carter County to exercise their Second Amendment rights and legally obtain a permit to carry a handgun.
“Times are changing and we live in a more violent world,” Anthony wrote. “It may come a time that you as citizens may be called upon to help defend the citizens of this country against all enemies foreign and domestic that want to do us harm or kill us.”
The sheriff says in the letter he's not trying to scare citizens, but, “ the attacks are real.”
Stephens County Sheriff Wayne McKinney posted a similar message on Facebook a week ago, and also referenced the 2013 death of Christopher Lane, an Australian baseball player shot to death while jogging in Duncan.
“Our county is small in numbers and I feel that we are unlikely to be targeted by these evil people,” McKinney wrote. “However, over the last few years the citizens of Stephens County has seen the evil committed by criminals in our communities.”
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