2026 Gun Bills updated Saturday, 7 March at 7:54 AM

2026 Session is OVER!

It was a good session with 7 wins for gun owners and no losses.

USSC supported 7 GOOD bills which passed.
USSC opposed 7 BAD bills which were all defeated
One GOOD bill did not pass.
USSC was NEUTRAL on 4 bills, and 2 passed and 2 did not pass.

YOUR texts, phone calls and emails to legislators really made a difference protecting and advancing gun rights every year. THANK YOU!

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, as well as current status and any pending changes.

1- Bill foolishly advocates dangerous act of putting trigger locks on a LOADED firearm.
2- Lines 48-51 offer an "affirmative defense" if the owner followed their "safe storage" demands, instead of forcing proof that their actions did NOT comply with the requirements.
Although well intentioned, this is batter addressed by existing "negligence" statutes.
1/23/26- House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee defeated the bill 2-9-0.
3/3/2026- FAILED TO PASS HOUSE- BILL IS DEAD FOR THIS SESSION.

Absurd! Creates "an infraction for a minor, after receiving a previous documented warning from a
law enforcement officer, to possess an altered toy, look-alike, or imitation firearm that
has the appearance of an actual firearm"
1/23/26 Awaiting action by House Public Utilities and Energy Committee.
1/26 Held by committee, and may or may not be considered again later this session.
3/2/2026- Returned to Rules Committee without action.
3/3/2026- FAILED TO PASS HOUSE- BILL IS DEAD FOR THIS SESSION..

Modifies open and concealed carry provisions for both Concealed Weapon Permit holder and non-permit holders 21 and older, as well as people who can legally possess a firearm aged 18-21.
1/26/26 1st Substitute has been drafted.
2/2/2026- 2nd Substitute adopted.
2/6/2026- Passed House Public Utilities and Energy Committee 8-1-3.
2/18/2026- 3rd Substitute adopted, and passed by full House 67-0-8.
2/26/2026- Passed Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee 3-1-3
2/26/2026- Awaiting action by full Senate.
3/6/2026- Senate amended and passed 18-5-6, House concurred 58-8-9.
Awaiting action by Governor Cox.

Makes a restricted person of anyone found not guilty by reason of insanity for any criminal offense, not just felonies and anyone found mentally incompetent to
stand trial for any criminal offense, not just felonies.
1/20/26- Awaiting action by House Judiciary Committee. Not considered at 1/22 meeting.
1/23/26- Referred to House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice committee.
1/28/2026-House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee passed 7-1-3.
2/6/2026- Passed House 49-19-9
2/27/2026- Passed Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee 4-0-3
3/6/2026- Not passed by Senate.

Original version was horrible and prejudiced against lawful self defense. 1st Substitute summarized below is much improved.
USSC OPPOSES THIS AS INFRINGING ON BOTH GUN RIGHTS UNDER THE 2nd AMENDMENT, AND 5th Amendment protections against self incrimination. It does nothing to improve the existing pretrial justification hearing which is working well.

Requires reporting the use of deadly force to 911 or law enforcement within 24 hours in order to receive a pretrial justification hearing, which automatically provides a defendant with a prima facie claim of justification at a pretrial justification hearing. Reported use of deadly force grants automatic finding of "justified" unless the state proves otherwise at the hearing. Even if found not justified at the hearing, issue can be raised at trial, where again the state must prove that it was NOT justified. But, the reporting requirement adds excuses to not justify a finding of self defense. This is just a bad bill.

2/11/202 scheduled for Hearing by House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee, but was NOT CONSIDERED, although all other agenda items passed easily. Maybe they ran out of time, or the sponsor did not have the votes and delayed it to allow time to round up support. USSC view is that delay is better than passing with a favorable recommendation, so the bill lives to hopefully die another day, and hopefully the committee will bring it up and defeat it outright rather than return to Rules where i might be called out when no one it paying attention. NOT CONSIDERED at meetings on 2/13 or 2/17.

3/3/2026- FAILED TO PASS HOUSE- BILL IS DEAD FOR THIS SESSION.

Makes it illegal for anyone EVEN WITH A CONCEALED CARRY PERMIT having a gun visible at a daycare or K-12 school even though they can legally carry concealed.
"Goldilocks gun control," where nothing is ever "just right." They used to argue that concealed carry was scary but open carry was okay.
Just say NO!" to this incremental infringement.
1/20/26- Two substitute bill has been drafted, but neither is any better than the original.
1/28/2026- 1st Substitute adopted, but still in Rules committee.
1/30/2026- 2nd Substitute adopted, but still in Rules committee.
2/12/2026 House Public Utilities and Energy Committee "held" the bill in committee 7-0-5, which usually means it is dead for the session.
3/2/2026- Returned to Rules Committee without action. Likely dead for this session.
3/3/2026- FAILED TO PASS HOUSE- BILL IS DEAD FOR THIS SESSION.

Protects "a manufacturer, seller, or trade association" from harassing lawsuits over marketing and sales as are being pushed by anti-gun activists to drive up legal costs for firearms sellers. An excellent bill, which even requires plaintiff to pay legal costs of people if the case is dismissed.
1/26/26 House Public Utilities and Energy Committee adopted 1st Substitute and passed 10-0-2.
2/5/2026 Passed House 61-12-2.
2/17/2026- Approved by Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee 3-1-3.
2/20/2026- Passed by Senate 19-6-4
Awaiting action by Governor.

Requires a private entity that receives $1 million or more to provide secure storage for CWP weapons IF THEY DO NOT ALLOW CONCEALED CARRY WITH A PERMIT on their premises.
Allows the entity to verify the CWP is valid.

++ Claims this "violates private property rights" fail when they take $1 million public funding.
++ State spaces (except courts, prisons, airport, etc) are all open to CWP holders, including the state Capitol. Federal restrictions in Post Offices are likely to be repealed soon. ++ CWP holders have almost zero history of causing problems.
++ Disarming law abiding citizens at their destination makes them vulnerable targets not only there, but en route to or from the venue.
++ Forcing them to leave defense weapons in their car increases the risk of criminal stealing guns.
++ This bill only applies to CWP holders, and should be expanded to law abiding citizens exercising "permitless carry"

2/9/2026- Awaiting hearing by House Public Utilities and Energy Committee
3/2/2026- Returned to Rules without action. Likely dead for this session.
3/3/2026- FAILED TO PASS HOUSE- BILL IS DEAD FOR THIS SESSION.

Mandates annual reports by law enforcement agencies and CCJJ to the legislature on the Safe Harbor program.
It would be interesting to see the data, but USSC opposes adding another reporting requirement on Law Enforcement when the Legislature takes no action after receiving reports related to firearms purchase attempts by prohibited persons, and those reports are not even complete. This bill has a sunset provision so the reporting will only be for two years, not forever.

This adds administrative burden and staff busy work with no value added to safety or crime prevention.
1/27/26- Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee passed 3-0-4.
2/17/2026 Passed Senate 23-0-6.
2/23/2026- Passed by House 64-0-11.
Awaiting action by Governor Cox.

Amends pretrial justification hearing for use of force if the defendant harms someone other than someone they claim to be justified in using force. (i.e.- bystander).
This weakens protections in cases of legal self defense, making a current working process more complex.

2/18/2026- Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee "held" the bill, which usually means it is dead for this session, but not always.
2/20/2026- Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee passed 1st Substitute 4-1-4.
2/27/2026- Amended and then defeated by the full Senate 13-12-4.
DEAD FOR THIS SESSION.

Removes authority for Concealed Weapon Permit holders to carry anywhere on college campus, or to have firearms in their dorm room.
This is NOT a crime control bill, it is strictly an ill-advised ban on law abiding citizens, creating "unarmed victim zones" attractive to criminals. Permit holders are among the MOST law abiding citizens in the state, and decades of allowing CWP holder to carry on campus have had no problems. Sure, criminals still illegally have guns on campus and kill people, violating many laws in the process.
This is more foolish than shutting the pharmacy at the hospital because some students die of illegal drug overdoses.

This bill will probably be defeated. Note that a House committee voted 8-1-3 today to EXPAND legal campus carry to not just CWP holders but to people authorized to carry under Utah' "Permitless carry" law.
3/2/2026- Never assigned to a committee. Likely dead for this session.
3/3/2026- FAILED TO PASS SENATE- BILL IS DEAD FOR THIS SESSION.

2026 Gun Bills updated Saturday, 7 March at 7:54 AM

2026 Session is OVER!

It was a good session with 7 wins for gun owners and no losses.

USSC supported 7 GOOD bills which passed.
USSC opposed 7 BAD bills which were all defeated
One GOOD bill did not pass.
USSC was NEUTRAL on 4 bills, and 2 passed and 2 did not pass.

YOUR texts, phone calls and emails to legislators really made a difference protecting and advancing gun rights every year. THANK YOU!

Bill Number

Bill Title

Bill Sponsor

USSC Position

USSC Comments/ Status

2026 Gun Bills updated Saturday, 7 March at 7:54 AM

2026 Session is OVER!

It was a good session with 7 wins for gun owners and no losses.

USSC supported 7 GOOD bills which passed. USSC opposed 7 BAD bills which were all defeated One GOOD bill did not pass. USSC was NEUTRAL on 4 bills, and 2 passed and 2 did not pass.

YOUR texts, phone calls and emails to legislators really made a difference protecting and advancing gun rights every year. THANK YOU!

Bill Number

Bill Title

Bill Sponsor

USSC Position

USSC Comments/ Status

USSC supported 7 GOOD bills which passed.
USSC opposed 7 BAD bills which were all defeated
One GOOD bill did not pass.
USSC was NEUTRAL on 4 bills, and 2 passed and 2 did not pass.