It seems that in Utah, some localities are bent on violating Utah’s preemption laws when it comes to firearms regulation.
In the late 1990s, state lawmakers passed a statute declaring that the Legislature has sole authority to regulate guns in the state. Local jurisdictions could only regulate firearms to the extent that that power was specifically delegated to them by the state.
In terms of “gun-friendliness”, Utah is doing pretty well; it seems their big struggle is similar to the one that we have to deal with here in Indiana, where localities and counties try to get around Indiana’s strong preemption law and pass local gun bans. Marion County has been trying it forever, and so have the Chicago-Light politicians up in The Region.
Preemption laws are one of the most important laws that we have – if you have a state with strong preemption and pro-gun laws make sure that you stay on top of your state legislature to preserve those laws. Usually at least once a session here in Indiana, the state rep from Marion county will try to sneak some bill through, and it’s been squashed every year…so far.
Utah’s one of the few places that lets teachers carry in schools, from kindergarten all the way up to the state-funded universities. The State AG sued the University of Utah due to their illegal anti-CCW laws, and won.
I think the issue is, primarily, of Salt Lake City (the one liberal haven in this state) politicians attempting to do what feeeeeeeeeeels good, never realizing that it’s a huge imposition for a permit holder to deal with a different set of laws every time he moves from one jurisdiction into another.