It’s no secret: Utah firearms instructors are doing a land office business running out-of-state residents through the Beehive State’s permitting process. The no-shooting-required Utah concealed carry permit is a hit—especially in those states where getting a permit is a PITA. But it looks like the boom times are coming to an end: Utah is moving to join Arizona, Vermont, Alaska and Wyoming as states with “Constitutional Carry” (i.e. no concealed carry permit required). Utah’s roving band of firearms instructors are not well pleased at the threat to their livelihood. And they’re not afraid to admit it. Well, Jared A. Olschewski isn’t. Here’s his letter to the editor of sltrib.com . . .
I am a Utah concealed firearms permit instructor, a member of the National Rifle Association and a huge supporter of gun rights. But I am opposed to the current proposal to become a “constitutional carry” state, which means allowing Utahns to carry concealed weapons in Utah without having a permit.
There are no more restrictions placed on a person to obtain a concealed firearm permit than already exist to purchase a gun from a licensed dealer. The benefit of obtaining a permit is learning the law about when and where a person may carry and when it is justified to use force.
This protects the rights of our citizens by not placing them in a situation where they may act out of ignorance and lose their gun rights or their freedom. Government is to protect its citizens and their rights, and the current permit process does that.
By removing the requirement for a permit, we limit the ability of Utahns to carry outside of Utah. I need a permit to travel with a concealed gun, and Utah’s permit is recognized by 33 states.
Protect our citizens from inadvertently breaking the law, and allow us the freedom to travel with our guns.
Jared A. Olschewski
Brigham City
I have read several news stories out of Arizona quoting instructors who say that demand for their services has INCREASED since constitutional carry was enacted.
With hard work, I believe that unlicensed open carry states (26 states?) will all go to constitutional carry eventually. It was dead in the Colorado House until the sponsor did a little demo with woman and a replica gun. He had her holster the fake gun. He then told the committee that she was legal in the state without a permit. He then had her put on a coat and told the committee that she would now have to go to jail because she didn’t have a permit. That got him the votes he needed.
I’m glad to hear that my childhood home state is getting its head out of its ass. Open carry and vehicular carry has always been legal in Colorado, BUT there have been special exemtions for places like Denver. I attended the 1989 hearings on the imbecilic Denver ‘assault rifle’ ban, and I’ve watched from afar as all my old gun shops shooting spots have been closed down one by one.
As a teenager in the mid 1980s, I practiced ‘open carry’ with my shotgun in uptown Boulder; we walked from my friend’s house all the way to the reservoir during waterfowl season. Such innocent and perfectly legal exertions would probably get me prison time today.
Simple solution: keep the permits and pass constitutional carry, as has happened in AZ. If you need to carry out of state, then get a permit. But if you need to start carrying immediately then you should do so. And a responsible gun owner should have a basic understanding of laws pertaining to lethal force whether they carry or not.
FWIW… Minnesota does not have, and has no pending legislation, or proposed bills for constitutional carry.
Utah makes about $5 million a year from nonresident permit applications. I don’t think that Utah authorities will want to give up the money in a sour economy.
I have my AZ CCW and will renew to allow carrying out of state. Another benefit – it only takes 15 minutes to buy a new gun, instead of waiting some 3 hours at Cabela’s for the NICS backgroud screen to go through!
I just passed the Utah class last month, and they already approved my permit to carry. We had 40 people in the class at one hundred dollars each, so our instructor had a great four hours of work. I heard that they will still issue nonresident permits so that they won’t kill their golden goose.
Joe, are you a resident of Utah? How long did it take from application submission, to permit?
Hi Fred, I took the class at Mass Firearms School in Framingham MA. They take your fingerprints, photos and have you fill out the Utah application during class, and when you’re done you just need a stamp and a check for $65.25 or your credit card number on the app. and your ready to go in 30 states. It can take up to 60 days but they have been processing apps. at a record pace so check out this link. http://www.massfirearmsschool.com/
Oregon HB2790. Might not make it out of committee, but at least it’s in the hopper.
Careful, there – the SLTrib is part of the sue-the-pants-off-anyone-who-dares-quote-anything-we-put-online Righthaven crusade…
I have been certified as an Arkansas Concealed Carry Instructor for about nine years now.
I would be perfectly happy to trade my part-time CCW business for “constitutional carry” in this state.
I am impressed with the how well the Utah CFP is accepted by so many states. My plans were to obtain a Utah CFP. So I signed up at the UtahConcealedCarry.com forum to obtain some information and get a general feel what I needed to do as a nonresident to obtain a Utah CFP. The people on that form are so rude and such jerks that I have decided to obtain a CCW elsewhere. My buddy also signed up there at UtahConcealedCarry and they were nasty to him too. So what would be our next best option besides Utah. I travel a lot so location is irrelevant for my choice. Thanks in advance!
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