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- A Senate committee halted a Utah bill allowing 18-year-olds to carry loaded firearms in most public places.
- Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, opposed the bill, citing personal experiences with accidental gun discharges.
- Sponsor Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Syracuse, plans to revisit the bill, emphasizing the need for code clarity.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Senate committee put the brakes on a Utah bill allowing 18-year-olds to openly carry loaded weapons in the state, after one Republican senator recalled nearly being accidentally shot as a teenager.
The nearly 9,000-line bill would primarily recodify several sections of firearms code, according to its sponsor, House Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee, R-Syracuse, but it would also make several policy changes, including allowing 18- to 20-year-olds to carry loaded weapons in most public places in the state. Adults between those ages can already openly carry weapons in public, but not with a round in the chamber, a difference of only a second or so, Lisonbee has said.
But at issue for Senate Majority Assistant Whip Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, was another provision that would have allowed anyone to carry loaded firearms in a vehicle — something he has personal experience with.
"I had a firearm that discharged as a friend of mine got out of a truck — somebody that if I had known he was driving with a loaded firearm, I never would have been with him," McKell told reporters Thursday, recalling a hunting incident from when he was a teenager. "We were hunting deer. ... A deer jumped out, (the) firearm discharged — nearly took out a portion of my leg. Didn't hit me, thankfully, but I'm concerned."
HB133 failed in a 4-2 vote in the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee Wednesday, after McKell and Sen. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City, joined with both Democrats on the committee to oppose it.
Lisonbee disagreed with McKell's characterization of her bill, saying Utah law already allows adults to carry loaded weapons in their vehicles.
The state's criminal code allows Utahns to carry loaded guns in vehicles but states that "notwithstanding (previous sections) a person may not possess a loaded rifle, shotgun, or muzzle-loading rifle in a vehicle," making the offense a class B misdemeanor. HB133 doesn't make a distinction between handguns and rifles, simply stating: "An individual 18 years old or older may carry a firearm, that the individual may otherwise lawfully carry, in an open manner in a vehicle in which the individual is lawfully present."
But Lisonbee said her bill makes various other important changes to clarify a confusing section of code, and said a vote against HB133 is a vote for maintaining a level of confusion about firearm possession in the state.
"Notwithstanding the large amount of misinformation on HB133 in the public, this recodification is vital policy for public safety," she told KSL.com. "Law enforcement, the public, the courts and prosecutors should be able to understand Utah's dangerous weapons law. One thing I learned in running HB133 this year is just how confusing the code is in its current form."
She said she plans to reopen the bill file during the Legislature's first interim meetings in May, suggesting the proposal will be back on the table in future years.
Speaking to reporters, McKell called the vote on HB133 a "gut check on reality and common sense."
"I think it's bad policy," he said. "I took hunter safety. I've been around guns my entire life. I would never in a million years allow one of my kids to drive around with a loaded rifle or shotgun. I think common sense prevailed in the committee."
The legislative session ends March 7.
