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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Senate gave initial approval Tuesday to a controversial bill that would allow people to carry concealed guns without a permit.
"This law simply makes it legal to cover up the gun that is currently legal to carry openly," said Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, the Senate sponsor of HB76. "This is something that strengthens the right to carry a firearm."
The Senate voted 19-6 in favor of the measure in a preliminary vote. It would need to pass once more before it could be sent to the governor for consideration.
Utah Parents Against Gun Violence asked Gov. Gary Herbert on Monday to veto the bill, should it pass. The governor's office responded by saying as a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, Herbert is satisfied that current Utah gun laws are sufficient.
The so-called "constitutional carrry" bill allows someone to pack a gun under a coat or other attire without a state-issued concealed weapons permit. Permits are obtained by paying a fee, taking a class and passing a background check. The House amended the original bill to require that weapons concealed without a permit be unloaded, which means, under Utah law, they do not have a round in the chamber.
House sponsor Rep. John Mathis, R-Vernal, said he proposed the bill initially because a hunter was harassed by authorities for putting on a raincoat while carrying a gun.
Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, was the only Republican to vote against the bill. He said gun owners should get as much training as they can. If the right to own a gun were absolute, prison inmates should be able to carry weapons, he said.
"I'm content with our current law," he said. "I don't think that's intruding in our lives. I call that common sense."
A duck hunter, skeet shooter and concealed weapons permit holder, Sen. Karen Mayne, D-Salt Lake City, said she underwent training to learn how to handle guns.
"When you have a driver's license, you can do harm if you're not skilled at that," she said.
Guns, she said, are deadly. "And if you pick up something that's deadly, you better be skilled at it or leave it alone."
Sen. Pat Jones, D-Holladay, said women feel differently about guns than men, and the women in her district want to see gun laws remain the same.
"I have a baseball bat by my bed, not a gun," she said. "I think that's more efficient, frankly."
Sen. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City, said his largely rural district favors gun rights. "This is an incremental step forward," he said of the bill, adding that it's "well-meaning."
Christensen says many regulated actions are not constitutional rights, but gun ownership is. When someone picks up a weapon, that person has a responsibility to act appropriately with it, he said.
"People are afraid of firearms," he said. "They don't understand them."
Another controversial gun measure, HB114, didn't make the Senate's prioritized list of House bills to consider as the legislative session nears closure Thursday. That bill attempts to assert Utah's right to bar enforcement of federal gun laws in the state.
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