Utah Legislature: Gun manufacturing bill moves to House

SALT LAKE CITY — A proposal that would challenge the federal government's jurisdiction over firearms manufactured and sold in Utah found broad support from a legislative committee Monday and will move to the House floor.

The sponsor of SB11, Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, said the proposal, which incurred a note from legislative counsel warning it would likely be pre-empted by the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, is about challenging the status quo and undoing a federal incursion into state's rights.

The bill passed the Senate last week on a party-line vote.

Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, voiced full support for Dayton's bill and quoted the controversial, ultra-conservative former North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms in a statement about states' rights.

"We can't afford to barter our freedoms away like a slab of bologna, one slice at a time," Noel said.

Only Rep. Phil Riesen, D-Salt Lake, voted against the bill in Monday's meeting of the House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment standing committee.

— Arthur Raymond