"One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them."
-- Thomas Jefferson
Anti-gun Senator Scott McCoy, from Senate District 2, has written a bill, SB 227, which would raise the cost of concealed-weapon permits for most Utahns and for all non-Utah residents. SB 227 would raise the fee for non-resident applicants from its current level of $35 to a new level of $50. The renewal fee for non-residents would be raised from $10 to $40. Furthermore, the renewal fee for Utah residents would be raised from $10 to $20.
As a sop to residents, the bill would reduce the initial application fee for Utah residents from $35 to $25. However, this would, for most residents, be more than offset by the increased renewal fees. Any Utah resident planning to have a permit for more than 5 years would end up paying more under SB 227.
Sen. McCoy seems intent on reducing the number of non-Utah residents with concealed-weapon permits, and is running another bill (which we talked about in an earlier alert) that would completely eliminate non- resident permits. We’ll update you on that bill in a coming alert.
Note that the existing fee structure provides more than enough money to cover the cost of processing applications for both residents and non-residents. According to numbers published by the Utah Shooting Sports Council, the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI), which processes applications and issues permits, had a surplus of $216,814 in its permit-processing account at the end of 2008. In other words, they’ve taken in almost a quarter of a million dollars more from application and renewal fees under the current fee structure than it has cost them to process all applications and renewals.
SB 227 has been scheduled to be heard Friday morning, February 20, at 8:00 a.m. by the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee in Room 250 of the State Capitol. We were just now informed of this.
Please flip a coin. If it comes up "heads", please contact Sen. Lyle Hillyard tonight. If it comes up "tails", please contact Sen. Jon Greiner tonight. These are the two members of the committee whose votes, in our opinion, are up for grabs. If you can send a Fax to one of these senators tonight at the Capitol, it will be on his desk in the morning. If you get this alert before 5:00 p.m. today (Thursday), you can call the Senate switchboard immediately and leave a message for either senator, which will be on his desk or his computer in the morning. Alternatively, you can send e-mail tonight or you can all one of the senators at home before 9:00 this evening (be very brief and polite) and simply encourage him to oppose SB 227, the permit fee bill by Sen. McCoy. He’ll know which bill you’re talking about. You won’t need to go into any sort of explanation.
Utah State Senate
Senate switchboard: (801)538-1035
Senate Fax: (801)326-1475
e-mail for Sen. Lyle Hillyard: lhillyard@utahsenate.org
Home phone for Sen. Hillyard: (435)753-0043
e-mail for Sen. Jon Greiner: jgreiner@utahsenate.org
Home phone for Sen. Jon Greiner: (801) 621-0423
Date:
From:
To:
Dear Senator :
I encourage you to oppose SB 227, the bill designed to raise most fees associated with Utah concealed-weapon permits.
The current law regarding firearms in private cars is highly confusing in its definitions (particularly the definition of "concealed"), and can really only be understood by lawyers. Many decent gun owners have probably unknowingly violated this law at one time or another.
At the end of 2008, BCI had a surplus of more than $216,000 in its concealed-weapon permit-processing fund, based on revenue generated by permit-related fees. This was the amount left over after processing both resident and non-resident applications and renewals.
Although SB 227 slightly reduces the initial application fee for Utah residents, this reduction would be more than offset for most residents by the increase in renewal fees. The bill also dramatically increases application and renewal fees for non-residents, for which I see no need.
Thanks for taking time to consider my point of view on this issue.
Sincerely,
That concludes the GOUtah! Political and Legislative Alert #313 for 19 February 2009. We hope this information will be of assistance to you in defending your firearms rights.
Remember that getting this information is meaningless unless You Act On It Today. If you just read it and dump it in the trash, your gun rights, and the gun rights of future generations go in the trash with it. Get involved, get active and get vocal!
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