Loaded guns in Utah cars?

Utahns should be able to carry loaded guns in their cars — even if they don't have a concealed weapons permit, a state senator said Tuesday.

Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Lehi, said he is drafting a bill that would give gun owners the same access to weapons in their cars that they have in their homes.

"It's called the 'home-castle' principle," Madsen said. "If you're in your car, the same right you have in your home extends to your car. It's pretty simple."

Current law allows guns to be carried in vehicles only if they are unloaded and secured, Madsen said, unless the owner has a concealed weapons permit.

His intent, the senator said, is to "enable individuals to carry a means of protection in a situation where danger may present itself." Someone who needs that protection, he said, shouldn't have to fumble with a gun case and loading ammunition.

His bill, SB175, is still being written. It was introduced Friday under the title "weapons amendments."

Madsen said the idea for the bill came from a fellow lawmaker whom he declined to identify. It made sense to him, Madsen said, because he lived in Washington, D.C., for 15 years and saw the city become "the carjacking capital of the world."

His proposal came as a surprise to Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, who said it "caught me flatfooted." It had looked as if at least the Senate might not have to deal with any gun-related legislation this session.

Sen. Karen Hale, D-Salt Lake, a member of a group working to keep guns out of schools and churches, said she wasn't aware any guns bills were being drafted. Hale said the concept does raise some concerns.

"Would there be children sitting in the car? That would be a huge concern," she said. "I think it is a concern when we have road rage. I'm not sure we want to add that element to that rage."

Gary Sackett, a local attorney and board member of the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah, said the bill "sounds like a perfectly dreadful idea. . . . It's one thing to protect a man's or a woman's castle. It's quite another to have a rolling arsenal on the freeways where tempers flare and sometimes better judgment does not prevail."

But Elwood Powell, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, said the bill is a good idea. "Everybody needs an opportunity to defend themselves and certainly if you haven't got that option, that leaves you vulnerable to car hijacking."

Powell said neither road rage nor having children in the car presented a problem.

He said he was aware of only one recent incident of road rage. As for having children in a car with a loaded gun, he said many are already around guns at home. "It's a family matter to teach children the proper handling of firearms and safe respect for them," Powell said.

The National Rifle Association is expected to help get the bill passed.

"The NRA is supportive of allowing law-abiding citizens to keep firearms in their cars for personal protection," said Kelly Hobbs, an NRA spokeswoman based in Virginia. "We haven't seen the language yet, but we expect to be very active in the Utah Legislature."

Madsen said he expected his bill will win support in both the Senate and the House, although he has not yet rounded up co-sponsors. But he said he also expects it will be controversial. "I'm sure the gun haters will be up in arms, pardon the pun," he said.

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