I've often thought it would be perfect for Ren-Faire attendees with carry permits.
(The first flint-locks didn't show up until 25 years after the current reinactment date of most current Ren-Faires, so you don't want to use one of them.)
Posted on 05/20/2004 6:31:04 PM PDT by Mulder
Gun-rights activists want Utah to dump its concealed-weapons licensing system and make it legal for any adult with a clean criminal record to pack heat in most public places.
"Personally, I think you could do away with the whole permit process and you wouldn't change the environment," National Rifle Association spokesman Brian Judy told lawmakers Wednesday.
"Law-abiding citizens, whether they have a permit or not, are going to be law-abiding citizens . . . [and] criminals are going to ignore the law," Judy said during a meeting of the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee.
A spokesman for Gun Owners of Utah agreed with the push to do away with training and other requirements for obtaining a concealed-carry permit. The Utah Shooting Sports Council and the Utah Self-Defense Instructors Network said they have no formal position on the proposal yet.
But the NRA, which was instrumental in Alaska's decision last year to change its law and allow residents to carry concealed firearms without a permit, carries a lot of weight in the conservative Utah Legislature.
"You have a special interest group that [legislators] bow to," said Marla Kennedy, executive director of the Utah Gun Violence Prevention Center. "And they couldn't be more out of touch with the public."
Public opinion polls have shown a majority of Utahns favor banning guns in public schools, but lawmakers have enacted legislation to give concealed-carry permit holders the right to take weapons into schools and other government and public places.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, is the mastermind of most of Utah's gun legislation in the past eight years, including the 1995 legislation that liberalized the concealed-carry permit standards.
Waddoups said in an interview after the committee hearing that the chance of the state scrapping the permit system in the next legislative session "is almost nil."
"I don't think the public is ready for that type of situation. I think I could go there as long as we had a good background [screening] procedure in place like we do now, but I don't think the public is ready. . . . There needs to be more education before the public would tolerate that."
Judy, who was active in the lobbying effort leading up to Alaska's change of law in June last year, said the success of liberalized concealed-carry laws around the country shows it is time to "reframe the debate" over guns. Instead of paying attention to a handful of gun-control advocates and editorial writers, he said, "the Legislature should look at what they can do to ease the burden" on citizens who want to defend themselves.
Scott Engen, representing Gun Owners of Utah, raised some hackles among lawmakers when he said, "By and large, operating a firearm is not much more complicated than operating a stapler."
Sen. Paula Julander, D-Salt Lake City, protested: "I just have to respectfully disagree with the stapler and the gun analogy. The consequences of [misusing] the two are in no way similar."
Engen said he was talking about the mechanical operation of the devices, not safety issues resulting from misuse.
If you were besieging a tower, and a woman at the top threw a giant, large print, hardcover Bible at you, then it could kill you.
Member since 2004-5-19.
Welcome to Free Republic, disruptor!
But, the harm done by a gun makes it necessary for people to register them.
Didn't I just today hear a soldier recently returned from Iraq tell us that they allow one AK47 per household and/or a pistol? And that "just about every Iraqi citizen has an AK-47"?
Who has the freedom in this circumstance?
Great point! The University of Utah is quite liberal in many aspects. Among other things, they forbid weapons on campus. Which is in violation of state law. They've been fighting about this for years. And a few of the professors there are just panicked because some of their students might, gasp!, have a concealed gun on their person, and how can they teach in such an intimidating atmosphere.
Note: The U of U is a very good university. Just a few wackos up there who are loud and dominate the airwaves.
What a bunch of losers.
/john
PING!
And his crime was moving into a white area of Detroit in the 1920's.
Yup. They're so... so... so... so deadly!
If they allow this sort of deadly legislation to pass, the streets of Utah will run red with the blood of innocent women and children, just as it has in every other venue where irresponsible right-wing radicals have managed to bribe their way to passage.
Won't anyone learn from the tragic lessons of Vermont and Alaska?
Oh, wait. Oops... Dammit!
[LMAO!]
Alaska went Vermont-style CCW last year.
One house of the New Hamphshire legislature voted to do so this year.
Colorado had a bill this year also to do it (I *think* it made it out of committee but was voted down by the legislature).
Hopefully Utah will get this passed this year.
It looks like now that most states are "shall-issue", the next step is to convert those states to "no permit required".
I've often thought it would be perfect for Ren-Faire attendees with carry permits.
(The first flint-locks didn't show up until 25 years after the current reinactment date of most current Ren-Faires, so you don't want to use one of them.)
Which of the following is responsible for more deaths:
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