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Utah Judges Want Guns Out of Court
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Utah Judges Want Guns Out of Court
By C.G. WALLACE Associated Press Writer
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A panel of judges found a way to keep guns out of Utah courthouses, at least temporarily.
The 13-member Judicial Council has approved a 90-day suspension of a rule allowing judges to establish "secure areas" where lockers are required to stash visitors' guns while they are at courthouses.
Guns had been banned from courthouses, but a law passed this year was meant to allow Utah's 40,000 concealed weapons permit holders to check their guns inside the building.
The law said courthouses with a formally designated secure area must provide lockers for gun storage. The council, presided over by Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Christine Durham, got around the law by voting unanimously Tuesday to do away with the areas.
Tuesday's decision does not affect courthouse security.
"They're opting not to take advantage of this part of the law," said Richard Schwermer, assistant state court administrator.
County sheriffs, who protect courthouses, also opposed the gun locker law.
"Anytime you've got that degree of emotion in one place, it's probably not a good idea to have a lot of guns floating around," said Gary DeLand, executive director of the Utah Sheriffs' Association.
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is considering whether the state will challenge the suspension.
Utah isn't the only state to wrestle with a gun locker law. Tennessee lawmakers defeated a similar law requiring handgun lockers outside government buildings, said Joe Ramallo of The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
http://news.findlaw.com/ap/o/1110/5-29-2002/20020529100009_21.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By C.G. WALLACE Associated Press Writer
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A panel of judges found a way to keep guns out of Utah courthouses, at least temporarily.
The 13-member Judicial Council has approved a 90-day suspension of a rule allowing judges to establish "secure areas" where lockers are required to stash visitors' guns while they are at courthouses.
Guns had been banned from courthouses, but a law passed this year was meant to allow Utah's 40,000 concealed weapons permit holders to check their guns inside the building.
The law said courthouses with a formally designated secure area must provide lockers for gun storage. The council, presided over by Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Christine Durham, got around the law by voting unanimously Tuesday to do away with the areas.
Tuesday's decision does not affect courthouse security.
"They're opting not to take advantage of this part of the law," said Richard Schwermer, assistant state court administrator.
County sheriffs, who protect courthouses, also opposed the gun locker law.
"Anytime you've got that degree of emotion in one place, it's probably not a good idea to have a lot of guns floating around," said Gary DeLand, executive director of the Utah Sheriffs' Association.
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is considering whether the state will challenge the suspension.
Utah isn't the only state to wrestle with a gun locker law. Tennessee lawmakers defeated a similar law requiring handgun lockers outside government buildings, said Joe Ramallo of The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
http://news.findlaw.com/ap/o/1110/5-29-2002/20020529100009_21.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878