Legislation – 2022 Bills

Utah's 2022 Legislative Session is OVER!

THANK YOU to all the USSC members and supporters, and other gun rights activists who showed up for hearings, sent emails or texts, or made calls this year.

14 gun-related bills were proposed for the 2022 Session. Five were fully drafted, and the three bad bills were all defeated, and both good bills were passed!

Thank you for taking action on every USSC ACTION ALERT!

BILL DETAILS- Click on the bill number in the first column for full text and status. This opens the official state page with full text of the bill.

Codifies into Utah law that Federal Firearms Licensed dealers MAY conduct background checks for "private sales." And, authorizes charging fees for the check. This is unnecessary, and is a danger that "may" is easily changed to "shall" and become the "universal background check" process needed as a vehicle for gun confiscation after creating data bases of all guns and gun owners. Common sense tells you that criminals buying or selling guns (or stealing them!) will not bother with either voluntary or mandatory background checks. Further, illegal attempts to purchase guns are almost never prosecuted so this is not something that will punish criminals, only impose additional burdens and costs on honest citizens.

This scheme will cost Utah gun buyers nearly $325,000 DOLLARS A YEAR! The official fiscal note predicts additional payments to the state of $75,000 per year from the $7.50 Brady fee on every background check. But, they DO NOT COUNT THE "transfer fee" dealers will charge to cover their time and work doing the background check for a private transactions where they are not making anything on the sale of the gun. Transfer fees run about $25.00 per gun, costing buyer another $250,000. Essentially a "poll tax" to exercise a Constitutional right!

OPPOSE THIS BILL!
AWAITING COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENT

The same old scheme to require every gun transfer between individuals go through a FFL dealer, at the dealer's place of business, with no limit on fees to be charged. The ONLY use for universal background checks is to force all gun owners into a government database for eventual confiscation.
Criminals who fail existing dealer background checks are hardly ever prosecuted, so don't fall for the "this will keep criminal from getting guns" lie. Criminals steal guns or buy them from drug dealers or other illegal sources.

This is a classic "gun control/registration" scheme, not anything about "gun safety" or fighting crime.

This scheme will cost Utah gun buyers nearly a MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR! The official fiscal note predicts additional payments to the state of $217,500 per year from the $7.50 Brady fee on every background check. But, they DO NOT COUNT THE "transfer fee" dealers will charge to cover their time and work doing the background check for a private transactions where they are not making anything on the sale of the gun. Transfer fees run about $25.00 per gun, costing buyer another $725,000. Essentially a "poll tax" to exercise a Constitutional right!

House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee voted against this with all 8 Republicans against this bad bill, and all three Democrats voting against gun rights 2/16/22.

Makes it clear that Salt Lake County's clever trick of having their venue managers impose a "universal background check" requirement on gun shows at the Mountain American Expo Center is a violation of state preemption law.
This adds enforcement provisions.

1/25- 1st Substitute adopted and passed by Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee on vote of 5-2-1.

2/11/22 House Judiciary committee adopted a 2nd Substitute version adding provisions allowing restrictions in "homeless shelters."

NOTE- Every single vote in FAVOR of this USSC supported bill was by a Republican, and every vote AGAINST was a Democrat.

Utah's 2022 Legislative Session is OVER!

THANK YOU to all the USSC members and supporters, and other gun rights activists who showed up for hearings, sent emails or texts, or made calls this year.

14 gun-related bills were proposed for the 2022 Session. Five were fully drafted, and the three bad bills were all defeated, and both good bills were passed!

Thank you for taking action on every USSC ACTION ALERT!

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