Utah took a strong Second Amendment stand this spring, overturning a 30-year University of Utah policy that banned concealed weapons on campus. The university is fighting back, reports the Christian Science Monitor. “There are places where guns are not appropriate,” says spokeswoman Coralie Adler, who adds that the university will challenge the law in court.
Some 46 states have made it easier to obtain concealed-weapons permits. Now the states are trying to decide where are guns appropriate? States are working out deals with other states so their concealed-weapons permits will be valid elsewhere. Arizona looks set to allow permit holders with a gun to enter a business that sells alcohol – so long as they don’t drink.
More radical efforts have failed. Vermont has long been the only state with no gun laws, meaning that all residents can carry guns without a permit. When New Hampshire voted on a similar proposal several weeks ago, it was overwhelmingly defeated. That leaves Utah as the standard bearer for expanding the rights of gun owners; like nearly all the settlers of America’s westward expansion, Brigham Young’s Mormon pioneers came there armed, and they quickly set up the Nauvoo Legion – an unofficial frontier army.
Only about 3 percent of Utah adults hold concealed-weapons permits. Yet Utah has repeatedly affirmed their support, prodding private-property owners, churches, and even the Olympic governing body to open their doors to neighbors carrying guns.