OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum is planning to visit an Oklahoma City gun range and an evangelical university in Tulsa during a campaign trip through the Sooner State.

The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania plans to visit the H&H Gun Range in Oklahoma City on Thursday and then speak at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa.

Both events are open to the public, and Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Matt Pinnell says the selection of a gun range and a Christian university show that Santorum "knows Oklahoma's electorate very well."

Pinnell added that the state party's involvement in the event is not an endorsement of Santorum and that invitations have been extended to all the GOP presidential candidates. Mitt Romney and Herman Cain previously visited Oklahoma for party-sponsored events.