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New to Utah

SmithZ71

Newbie
Joined
Dec 13, 2015
Messages
1
Location
Utah
Hello,

I recently moved here from Florida about 2 months ago and I have a CCP from Florida. I hear Utah is an open carry state and I wanted to educate myself on the laws and regulations. Where can I go to get all the laws and regulations for open/conceal carry here in Utah? What other info should I know also?

Thanks

Lee
 

Grapeshot

Legendary Warrior
Joined
May 21, 2006
Messages
35,317
Location
Valhalla
Welcome aboard OCDO SmithZ71.

State specific information requested - moved thread to the Utah sub-forum.
 

utbagpiper

Banned
Joined
Jul 5, 2006
Messages
4,061
Location
Utah
Hello,

I recently moved here from Florida about 2 months ago and I have a CCP from Florida. I hear Utah is an open carry state and I wanted to educate myself on the laws and regulations. Where can I go to get all the laws and regulations for open/conceal carry here in Utah? What other info should I know also?

Thanks

Lee

Lee,

Welcome to Utah.

Utah has a great website that lists all of our statutes, constitution, and during legislative sessions bills. It can be found at <http://http://le.utah.gov/>.

The bulk of our gun (and other weapons) laws can be found at 76-10-5. You will notice that 76-10-500 is our State Preemption law (known in code as "Uniform Law"). This and a couple of other sections that echo this language mean that we have gloriously few local regulations.

Cities (not counties, only cities) can ban discharge. State law bans shooting toward occupied structures, within a certain distance of such structures, across roads, and other such safety based rules. The State Forester can close lands to shooting during fire emergencies. And then we have some 67% of our land that is federal (BLM, Forest Service, National Park Service, Military, etc), plus a few Indian Reservations.

76-10-523.5 lists the very small number of areas that can be secure areas under State law. (In addition to these, you need to know that State courts are not secure areas as they do not provide storage, but instead rely on contempt-of-court powers to ban guns. This means a violation would be a contempt-of-court rather than a felony.)

In addition to the above, per 76-10-530 it is an infraction to carry a firearm into a House of Worship (interior only, parking lots are not covered) or a private residence where notice has been given that guns are not welcome. These are not "secure facilities" and do not have to provide storage. For Houses of Worship, "notice" can be given in one or more of several different ways including personal communication, signage, notices in announcements, or via the BCI website


On the subject of open carry, as you read through the sections of 76-10-5 above you'll realize that Utah law bans the possession of "(Utah) loaded" guns in on public streets. It also bans carrying concealed weapons. It also bans carrying a gun on "school property" (pre-school through college, but only the property itself, no 1000 foot exclusion zone). A permit to carry issued by Utah or by anywhere else in the nation exempts a person from these laws.

So, (generally speaking) without a permit, you can open carry a semi-auto openly so long there is no round in the chamber (full magazine ok) as long as you avoid the fairly short list of off limits locations. With a permit, you can carry in those same locations (plus on school property and into school buildings) with the firearm fully loaded.

Remember, however, that under the federal GFSZ law, you can only legally carry a gun with 1000 feet (as the crow flies) of a school (or onto school property, or into a school building) if you have a permit issued by the State in which the school is located (or a few other exceptions not notable here). For this, and other reasons, I highly suggest you take a Utah Permit class at your earliest convenience. The classes cover primarily the legal issues of carrying and use of a firearm. Most instructors are pretty good about OC as well as CC and I'm happy to provide recommendations via PM if you'd like. But even an instructor who isn't great on OC should be solid on the CC laws, and our OC laws are identical, once you have a permit. Your out-of-State permit is good for all purposes of Utah State laws regarding carrying of a gun, but isn't valid for the federal GFSZ.

I also recommend joining the Utah Shooting Sports Council and signing up for GPUtah!'s (Gun Owners of Utah) email alerts.

Notably, with the exception of Houses of Worship and Private Residences, violation of private "No Gun" policies is not a violation of law except to the extent that a person refuses to leave when asked in which case you might be looking at trespass. If you work private sector, your boss can fire you for violating the workplace gun ban, but absent something actually criminal, you haven't violated the law for ignoring his policy. Ditto for the fairly rare "No Gun" policy at retail businesses or the ubiquitous "This is a place of healing, no guns please" signs on the area hospitals and clinics.

There is no legal requirement to keep the gun un-noticeable while concealed carrying, there is no crime for "printing." So you can OC, or CC, or casually conceal and switch back and forth throughout the day as you see fit, if you can legally conceal carry (ie if you have a valid permit).

There is no ban on carrying into bars, or even while imbibing. It is illegal to be in possession of a gun while "intoxicated". (Generally taken to be the same level as DUI, 0.08% BAC.)

There is no duty to inform, but if you have a Utah Permit, that will come up on an officer's in car terminal when he runs your driver license (not plates, just your DL, so far as I know).

Over 10% of Utah adults have a current Utah permit to carry. Open Carry is generally well accepted by both citizens and the police. Exceptions are rare and we'd like to hear about them.

From time to time you'll find a "no gun" sign at a city park or other government property that isn't actually a secure area. We'd like to hear about those so we can remind various local government entities that they need to remove or modify such signs to comply with State law.

Get registered with the political party of your choice, and plan to attend your party's neighborhood caucus meetings this coming March (I think it is March).

Again, Welcome to Utah

(None of the above is legal advice and all other appropriate internet disclaimers.)

Charles Hardy
Public Policy Director
GOUtah!
 
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