Senate committee advances weakend loaded weapons bill

Utah residents would be allowed to keep a loaded firearm at home without a concealed weapons permit under a bill endorsed by a Senate committee Tuesday.

Currently, keeping a loaded gun in a home without such a permit is a misdemeanor violation of state law.

The bill by Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Lehi, is a watered-down version of an earlier bill that would have allowed anyone 18 and older to carry a loaded weapon in their vehicle without having a concealed weapons permit. In Utah, only those 21 and older can obtain a concealed weapons permit.

But after that original bill faced stiff opposition from law enforcement and numerous senators, Madsen agreed to take that provision out. However, the bill does eliminate what Madsen and numerous gun groups have said is a confusing contradiction that allows a gun in a vehicle to be stored in a secured case on the front seat of a car but not a locked glove compartment. Storing a weapon in a vehicle's console or glove compartment would be legal without a concealed weapons permit under Madsen's bill.

SB24 passed in the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee 8-0 and now heads to the full Senate for debate.