Utah Gun Issues

This story covers the latest skirmish between legislators in Utah who seem to think that we don't have enough guns being carried, and judges who don't want them anywhere near their courtrooms. The legislature passed a law requiring lockboxes to be installed in all the state courthouses to allow people carrying handguns to store them on the site when going to court. The judges don't want them even in the buildings. So they have now declared courthouses to be secure areas, not just the court rooms and foyers near them. They make a good point: It is not a good idea for someone whose life has just been turned upside down by losing his family to walk out the courtroom and be able to pick up a gun.

The legislators argue in terms of the poor guy having to leave his gun home and be unprotected between there and the courthouse and back again. Gee, I didn't know I was in so much danger. Now I agree that we have a right to carry guns for self-protection, but this is hardly the wild frontier. I know people who go their entire lives without carrying a piece and never even get shot at. In fact, I kind of wonder about the stability and self-control of someone who feels naked without his .45 mag.

There is also an issue between the legislators and the President of the University of Utah, which has a policy prohibiting firearms on campus. The academics argue that guns are antithetical to the atmosphere of learning and discussion which should prevail on campus. I would remind them that rape is too, and they have a policy against that, but it still happens.

The real problem in all of this is that we really have no good way to know who can or cannot be trusted to handle guns responsibly. Most people are fine most of the time, but in times of great stress, anger or fear, we don't all react predictably. Perhaps we need to require more than an FBI background check and a perfunctory gun safety session before we entrust people with concealed carry permits. I would like to have more people carrying. I really would. I think it would result in a safer society, even though there might be more dead criminals, but I know enough yahoos who think they are Wyatt Earp to be completely comfortable with the present rules.