1     
FIREARM AND DANGEROUS WEAPONS AMENDMENTS

2     
2015 GENERAL SESSION

3     
STATE OF UTAH

4     
Chief Sponsor: Brian M. Greene

5     
Senate Sponsor: Alvin B. Jackson

6     

7     LONG TITLE
8     General Description:
9          This bill amends provisions relating to concealed weapons.
10     Highlighted Provisions:
11          This bill:
12          ▸     redefines a concealed dangerous weapon to include only concealed firearms;
13          ▸     amends provisions related to the penalties for carrying a concealed firearm; and
14          ▸     makes technical changes.
15     Money Appropriated in this Bill:
16          None
17     Other Special Clauses:
18          None
19     Utah Code Sections Affected:
20     AMENDS:
21          53-5a-104, as enacted by Laws of Utah 2014, Chapter 431
22          76-10-501, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2014, Chapter 428
23          76-10-504, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2013, Chapter 301
24     

25     Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
26          Section 1. Section 53-5a-104 is amended to read:
27          53-5a-104. Firearm transfer certification.

28          (1) As used in this section:
29          (a) "Certification" means the participation and assent of the chief law enforcement
30     officer necessary under federal law for the approval of the application to transfer or make a
31     firearm.
32          (b) "Chief law enforcement officer" means any official the Bureau of Alcohol,
33     Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or any successor agency, identifies by regulation or
34     otherwise as eligible to provide any required certification for the making or transfer of a
35     firearm.
36          (c) "Firearm" [has the same meaning as provided] means the same as that term is
37     defined in the National Firearms Act, [6] 26 U.S.C. Sec. 5845(a).
38          (2) A chief law enforcement officer may not make a certification under this section that
39     the chief law enforcement officer knows to be untrue. The chief law enforcement officer may
40     not refuse to provide certification based on a generalized objection to private persons or entities
41     making, possessing, or receiving firearms or any certain type of firearm, the possession of
42     which is not prohibited by law.
43          (3) Upon receiving a federal firearm transfer form a chief law enforcement officer or
44     the chief law enforcement officer's designee shall provide certification if the applicant:
45          (a) is not prohibited by law from receiving or possessing the firearm; or
46          (b) is not the subject of a proceeding that could result in the applicant being prohibited
47     by law from receiving or possessing the firearm.
48          (4) The chief law enforcement officer, the chief law enforcement officer's designee, or
49     official signing the federal transfer form shall:
50          (a) return the federal transfer form to the applicant within 15 calendar days; or
51          (b) if the applicant is denied, provide to the applicant the reasons for denial in writing
52     within 15 calendar days.
53          (5) Chief law enforcement officers and their employees who act in good faith when
54     acting within the scope of their duties are immune from liability arising from any act or
55     omission in making a certification as required by this section. Any action taken against a chief
56     law enforcement officer or an employee shall be in accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 7,
57     Governmental Immunity Act of Utah.
58          Section 2. Section 76-10-501 is amended to read:

59          76-10-501. Definitions.
60          As used in this part:
61          (1) (a) "Antique firearm" means:
62          (i) any firearm, including any firearm with a matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or
63     similar type of ignition system, manufactured in or before 1898; or
64          (ii) a firearm that is a replica of any firearm described in this Subsection (1)(a), if the
65     replica:
66          (A) is not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed
67     ammunition; or
68          (B) uses rimfire or centerfire fixed ammunition which is:
69          (I) no longer manufactured in the United States; and
70          (II) is not readily available in ordinary channels of commercial trade; or
71          (iii) (A) that is a muzzle loading rifle, shotgun, or pistol; and
72          (B) is designed to use black powder, or a black powder substitute, and cannot use fixed
73     ammunition.
74          (b) "Antique firearm" does not include:
75          (i) a weapon that incorporates a firearm frame or receiver;
76          (ii) a firearm that is converted into a muzzle loading weapon; or
77          (iii) a muzzle loading weapon that can be readily converted to fire fixed ammunition by
78     replacing the:
79          (A) barrel;
80          (B) bolt;
81          (C) breechblock; or
82          (D) any combination of Subsection (1)(b)(iii)(A), (B), or (C).
83          (2) "Bureau" means the Bureau of Criminal Identification created in Section 53-10-201
84     within the Department of Public Safety.
85          (3) [(a)] "Concealed [dangerous weapon"] firearm" means a [dangerous weapon]
86     firearm that is:
87          [(i)] (a) covered, hidden, or secreted in a manner that the public would not be aware of
88     its presence; and
89          [(ii)] (b) readily accessible for immediate use.

90          [(b) A dangerous weapon is not a concealed dangerous weapon if it is a firearm which
91     is unloaded and is securely encased.]
92          (4) "Criminal history background check" means a criminal background check
93     conducted by a licensed firearms dealer on every purchaser of a handgun, except a Federal
94     Firearms Licensee, through the bureau or the local law enforcement agency where the firearms
95     dealer conducts business.
96          (5) "Curio or relic firearm" means a firearm that:
97          (a) is of special interest to a collector because of a quality that is not associated with
98     firearms intended for:
99          (i) sporting use;
100          (ii) use as an offensive weapon; or
101          (iii) use as a defensive weapon;
102          (b) (i) was manufactured at least 50 years before the current date; and
103          (ii) is not a replica of a firearm described in Subsection (5)(b)(i);
104          (c) is certified by the curator of a municipal, state, or federal museum that exhibits
105     firearms to be a curio or relic of museum interest;
106          (d) derives a substantial part of its monetary value:
107          (i) from the fact that the firearm is:
108          (A) novel;
109          (B) rare; or
110          (C) bizarre; or
111          (ii) because of the firearm's association with an historical:
112          (A) figure;
113          (B) period; or
114          (C) event; and
115          (e) has been designated as a curio or relic firearm by the director of the United States
116     Treasury Department Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms under 27 C.F.R. Sec. 478.11.
117          (6) (a) "Dangerous weapon" means:
118          (i) a firearm; or
119          (ii) an object that in the manner of its use or intended use is capable of causing death or
120     serious bodily injury.

121          (b) The following factors are used in determining whether any object, other than a
122     firearm, is a dangerous weapon:
123          (i) the location and circumstances in which the object was used or possessed;
124          (ii) the primary purpose for which the object was made;
125          (iii) the character of the wound, if any, produced by the object's unlawful use;
126          (iv) the manner in which the object was unlawfully used;
127          (v) whether the manner in which the object is used or possessed constitutes a potential
128     imminent threat to public safety; and
129          (vi) the lawful purposes for which the object may be used.
130          (c) "Dangerous weapon" does not include an explosive, chemical, or incendiary device
131     as defined by Section 76-10-306.
132          (7) "Dealer" means a person who is:
133          (a) licensed under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 923; and
134          (b) engaged in the business of selling, leasing, or otherwise transferring a handgun,
135     whether the person is a retail or wholesale dealer, pawnbroker, or otherwise.
136          (8) "Enter" means intrusion of the entire body.
137          (9) "Federal Firearms Licensee" means a person who:
138          (a) holds a valid Federal Firearms License issued under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 923; and
139          (b) is engaged in the activities authorized by the specific category of license held.
140          (10) (a) "Firearm" means a pistol, revolver, shotgun, short barreled shotgun, rifle or
141     short barreled rifle, or a device that could be used as a dangerous weapon from which is
142     expelled a projectile by action of an explosive.
143          (b) As used in Sections 76-10-526 and 76-10-527, "firearm" does not include an
144     antique firearm.
145          (11) "Firearms transaction record form" means a form created by the bureau to be
146     completed by a person purchasing, selling, or transferring a handgun from a dealer in the state.
147          (12) "Fully automatic weapon" means a firearm which fires, is designed to fire, or can
148     be readily restored to fire, automatically more than one shot without manual reloading by a
149     single function of the trigger.
150          (13) (a) "Handgun" means a pistol, revolver, or other firearm of any description, loaded
151     or unloaded, from which a shot, bullet, or other missile can be discharged, the length of which,

152     not including any revolving, detachable, or magazine breech, does not exceed 12 inches.
153          (b) As used in Sections 76-10-520, 76-10-521, and 76-10-522, "handgun" and "pistol
154     or revolver" do not include an antique firearm.
155          (14) "House of worship" means a church, temple, synagogue, mosque, or other
156     building set apart primarily for the purpose of worship in which religious services are held and
157     the main body of which is kept for that use and not put to any other use inconsistent with its
158     primary purpose.
159          (15) "Prohibited area" means a place where it is unlawful to discharge a firearm.
160          (16) "Readily accessible for immediate use" means that a firearm or other dangerous
161     weapon is carried on the person or within such close proximity and in such a manner that it can
162     be retrieved and used as readily as if carried on the person.
163          (17) "Residence" means an improvement to real property used or occupied as a primary
164     or secondary residence.
165          (18) "Securely encased" means not readily accessible for immediate use, such as held
166     in a gun rack, or in a closed case or container, whether or not locked, or in a trunk or other
167     storage area of a motor vehicle, not including a glove box or console box.
168          (19) "Short barreled shotgun" or "short barreled rifle" means a shotgun having a barrel
169     or barrels of fewer than 18 inches in length, or in the case of a rifle, having a barrel or barrels
170     of fewer than 16 inches in length, or a dangerous weapon made from a rifle or shotgun by
171     alteration, modification, or otherwise, if the weapon as modified has an overall length of fewer
172     than 26 inches.
173          (20) "State entity" means a department, commission, board, council, agency,
174     institution, officer, corporation, fund, division, office, committee, authority, laboratory, library,
175     unit, bureau, panel, or other administrative unit of the state.
176          (21) "Violent felony" has the same meaning as defined in Section 76-3-203.5.
177          Section 3. Section 76-10-504 is amended to read:
178          76-10-504. Carrying concealed firearm -- Penalties.
179          (1) Except as provided in Section 76-10-503 and in Subsections (2), (3), and (4), a
180     person who carries a concealed [dangerous weapon] firearm, as defined in Section 76-10-501,
181     including an unloaded firearm on his or her person or one that is readily accessible for
182     immediate use which is not securely encased, as defined in this part, in or on a place other than

183     the person's residence, property, a vehicle in the person's lawful possession, or a vehicle, with
184     the consent of the individual who is lawfully in possession of the vehicle, or business under the
185     person's control is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.
186          (2) A person who carries a concealed [dangerous weapon which] firearm that is a
187     loaded firearm in violation of Subsection (1) is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
188          (3) A person who carries concealed an unlawfully possessed short barreled shotgun or
189     a short barreled rifle is guilty of a second degree felony.
190          (4) If the concealed firearm is used in the commission of a violent felony as defined in
191     Section 76-3-203.5, and the person is a party to the offense, the person is guilty of a second
192     degree felony.
193          (5) Nothing in Subsection (1) or (2) [shall prohibit] prohibits a person engaged in the
194     lawful taking of protected or unprotected wildlife as defined in Title 23, Wildlife Resources
195     Code of Utah, from carrying a [concealed weapon or a] concealed firearm as long as the taking
196     of wildlife does not occur:
197          (a) within the limits of a municipality in violation of that municipality's ordinances; or
198          (b) upon the highways of the state as defined in Section 41-6a-102.






Legislative Review Note
     as of 1-23-15 9:39 AM


Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel