Oklahoma GOPer Resigns After Pleading Guilty To Trying To Gouge Out Wife's Eyes, Kill Daughter

The party of 'family values' and 'law and order,' everyone.

Former Oklahoma state Rep. Ty Burns

Last week, Oklahoma state Rep. Ty Burns (R-Obviously), a former law enforcement officer, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence and assault charges related to having tried to gouge his wife’s eye out and succeeded in running his daughter’s car off the road. In what we are sure is a major disappointment for all of the law and order, family values Republicans in the state, as well as Burns himself, who continually voted to increase punishments and jail time for a variety of crimes like assault, shoplifting, or being an undocumented immigrant, he did not actually net any prison time. Rather, he received a one-year suspended sentence and is required to complete a 52-week “please don’t beat your wife and child” intervention program.

Oklahoma citizens, naturally, were not made aware of these charges until well after Rep. Burns was sentenced.

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According to court documents, the assault charges were filed in April of this year after Burns accused his wife of allowing their 16-year-old daughter to drink alcohol and subsequently chased a pick-up truck containing said daughter and her grandmother off the road, using his van to ram the truck into a ditch, while yelling “I'm going to make sure you go down. I'm going to kill you.”

While reporting the incident, Rep. Burns’s wife also filed charges related to another incident in November of 2024, in which he was upset by plans she had made over Thanksgiving and attempted to gouge out her eye with his own finger — succeeding in bursting a blood vessel in said eye.

The state’s attorney general, Gentner Drummond, also a Republican, said he saw “no justification” for felony charges.

“These are serious charges,” Drummond said in a statement. “While there is no excuse for domestic violence, I am encouraged that the representative has taken responsibility for his actions and will receive counseling under terms of his sentence. Domestic violence is tragically all too common in our state. It must stop.”

It sure is. In fact, the state ranks first in domestic violence for both men and women.

As columnist Christy Taylor pointed out in The Oklahoman, the state also consistently ranks fourth in women killed by their intimate partners, which is not surprising given that in 2023, a record 121 people were killed by their intimate partners in the state.

On Saturday, Rep. Burns resigned from the state House, effective October 1, after Governor Kevin Stitt suggested he do so.

Rep. Burns says that the incidents were the result of his not having gotten help for his PTSD, which he acquired while serving in the military.

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In his resignation letter, he wrote:

My entire adult life I have been in public service, whether it has been in military deployments, law enforcement in Pawnee County, our schools as a teacher and coach or the representative of the people of House District 35. It has been an honor and a privilege every step of the way.

It is in the best interest of the people I serve in House District 35 and, most importantly, my family, to step down from my position. I take full responsibility for my actions and am getting counseling with my family. Although not an excuse for my actions, I am receiving intensive treatment for issues from my military service that I have long ignored as a problem. I am confident this will make me a better husband and father.

That is lovely for him, but hopefully his wife and his daughter will be far, far away from him during this time and, ideally, afterwards.

It bears mentioning that Burns was one of 36 Republican state legislators who won his seat by default in 2020 without even being challenged. He won in 2024 the same way. As difficult as it is to run Democrats in these areas where it seems unlikely that they would win, the only way we’re ever going to get a foothold in is to at least try. And hey! Maybe a few of them can run on “Would never try to gouge my wife’s eye out or run my teenage daughter off the road.”

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