Panel to scrutinize nonresident concealed-carry

A legislative committee agreed Tuesday to take another look at how the state handles requests for concealed-weapons permits from outside Utah, including foreign countries.

The state Department of Public Safety already stopped issuing permits to non-U.S. residents earlier this year, citing difficulties in conducting the required criminal background checks on foreign applicants.

At Tuesday's Administrative Rules Review Committee meeting, department officials questioned whether permits should be issued to anyone living outside Utah, even U.S. residents.

Committee members decided they want to put forward a bill in the 2008 Legislature that will address those and other issues related to Utah's popular permit program. But they stopped short of making any decisions Tuesday about how the bill should be drafted.

Some members questioned why the state has ever issued permits allowing foreigners to carry concealed weapons while in the United States. "That just boggles my mind that's happened," said Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Salt Lake.

Others, including Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Lehi, said there may be times when the state should issue permits to, for example, foreign residents who are temporarily working in Utah and feel the need to carry concealed firearms for self-protection.

Madsen also said Utah should help residents of other states exercise their Second Amendment right to bear arms. "I think that is a good thing," Madsen said, backing what he called "the principle of allowing Utah to offer a service."

Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety Ed Phillips told the committee that Utah has been holding its own residents to a higher standard than outside applicants because there's not enough information available about applicants living outside the state.

When it comes to non-U.S. residents, the problem is the initial criminal background check that's required for a permit. Even Canadians — to whom about 800 of the 1,000 or so foreign permits have been issued — cannot provide information on some crimes such as juvenile offenses, Phillips said.

With applicants from states other than Utah, background checks aren't the problem — it's keeping track of crimes committed after a permit is issued that could cause it to be suspended or revoked, Phillips said.

After leaving the meeting, Phillips said that it wasn't clear how the problems could be fixed. Requests for permits by non-U.S. residents "need to be addressed, but not on a wholesale basis," he said.

But there's just no way the state can keep track of U.S. permit-holders who live outside Utah, he said. "We can't. We just simply can't," Phillips said. "It just creates a real inequity of what we're requiring from a Utah resident."

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