More guns in the hands of more law-abiding citizens will only result in less crime, says Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, who tried Thursday to persuade colleagues to loosen Utah's concealed-weapons laws by eliminating all requirements that applicants take a firearms class or pass a test.

"Passage of this legislation will encourage more permit holders, and more permit holders will help crime go down," Jenkins said.

More than 40,000 Utahns now hold concealed-weapons permits, and the law requires them to take a course to determine they are familiar with loading and unloading their weapons, as well as gun safety and Utah's deadly force laws. They are not required to fire their weapons.

But Jenkins, sponsor of SB121, wants to eliminate the classroom instruction, pointing to an audit by the Legislative Auditor General's Office that showed some classroom instruction was ineffective, if not downright useless.

Jenkins' bill would allow Utahns without criminal records or mental illness to simply apply with the Department of Public Safety for a concealed-weapon permit. At that time they would be given a pamphlet or an Internet site where they could learn more about Utah's concealed-weapons law.

Members of the Senate Transportation and Public Safety Committee were vocally uncomfortable with the change to Utah law, suggesting the instruction requirements should be improved but questioning the wisdom of discarding them altogether.

"I am very concerned we are going to start issuing concealed-carry permits on a carte blanche basis," said Sen. Bill Hickman, R-St. George, who described himself as a gun rights advocate. "I am concerned about not having someone go to the effort of going to a class."

However, the bill has the backing of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, the Utah Gun Owners Alliance, Gun Owners of Utah and the National Rifle Association, all powerful voices on Utah's Capitol Hill.

"The current requirement presents an unnecessary burden," said Charles Hardy with Gun Owners of Utah, noting that with 40,000 permit holders "you have to look long and deep to find any problems. This is not New York City. This is Utah."

Elwood Powell with the Utah Shooting Sports Council said the classroom instruction, which costs applicants a fee, discriminates against low-income Utahns least able to afford it and who live in neighborhoods where concealed weapons could help them the most.

Responsible citizens, he said, would undertake training on their own, "but it should not be mandated," Powell said.

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Advocates on both sides of the issue were lined up to testify when time expired Thursday, prompting the committee to schedule another hearing Monday on the bill.

Not on the agenda is whether applicants should know how to use a gun before getting a concealed-weapon permit. But some members of the committee think maybe it should be.

"There should be some measurement of proficiency," Hickman said. "They ought to at least know how to handle a gun. They should know which end the bullet comes out."


E-MAIL: spang@desnews.com

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