Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — It’s an idea that’s in its infancy on Utah’s Capitol Hill, but it may gain traction if early interest from some lawmakers is an indicator: raising the cost of concealed weapons permits significantly for out-of-staters.
The discussion picked up steam in a Wednesday meeting of the Executive Offices and Criminal Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, which heard from Utah Department of Public Safety officials just how many applications for new and renewed permits come from out-of-state — possibly as much as 80 percent of the total.
Out-of-state residents pay $5 more for a permit than their Utah counterparts.
Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, questioned whether the difference should be greater.
“What about an extra $50, or an extra $500?” Dabakis said.
Numbers subsequently obtained by KSL from the state’s Bureau of Criminal Identification showed numbers of permit applications soaring in recent years, with the growth overwhelmingly fueled by out-of-state applicants.
The state fielded 165,200 new permit and renewed permit applications in the 2013 fiscal year, up from 86,298 the previous year. The difference amounted to a 91 percent increase in a year’s time.
BCI firearms supervisor Jason Chapman said roughly 75 percent of the new permit applications in both of those fiscal years came from out-of-staters, according to a state hand count.
The percentage hasn’t gone down in numbers from the latest fiscal year. Chapman said 79 percent of the 46,314 new permit applications between July 1 and Dec. 31 came from out-of-state applications. The percentage of the additional 18,006 renewals coming from out-of-state was unclear.
“It just doesn’t make a bit of sense,” Dabakis said in an interview Thursday afternoon.
Dabakis said the processing fee for the application is actually higher than the $5 difference in application costs between Utah residents and residents from other states.
“Why would we ever want to subsidize out-of-state people’s concealed weapons permits!” Dabakis said.
Dabakis said he wouldn’t submit legislation unless he believed it had the potential to pass. He said he planned, however, to ask other lawmakers about the idea to gauge interest.
He acknowledged some other lawmakers were adamantly opposed to any kind of tax increase.
“The issue is, if it’s a New Jersey taxpayer, is that considered a tax increase?” Dabakis quipped.
Dabakis may at least have some early bipartisan support for legislation raising the cost to out-of-state residents.
“I’m open to that discussion and I’d like to see where it goes,” said Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clinton. “Just like we do with out-of-state college tuition if you’re coming from out-of-state — we could maybe even use that amount to lower the cost for our state residents who are trying to get a permit.”
Ray said the state does not need to offer its permits to residents of other states, and the quantity of applicants puts a strain on state resources.
Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, chairs the Executive Offices and Criminal Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, and raised concerns about using fees as revenue generators. Still, he said the issue was one at least worth discussing.
Rep. Curtis Oda, R-Clearfield, voiced strong opposition to an increase in the fee during Wednesday’s hearing.
“If you want to raise taxes, raise taxes,” he said. “Don’t raise fees and then turn around and take that money and use it for programs it doesn’t belong to — that becomes an inadvertent tax.”
