Rule OKs Weapons In Capitol ,UT

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Rule OKs Weapons In Capitol Saturday, January 5, 2002 BY DAN HARRIE THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Visitors to the state Capitol soon will be required to pass through metal detectors at times when security officials declare a state of heightened alert. But the domed building is by no means a weapon-free zone. An emergency rule approved Friday by the Capitol Preservation Board spells out that anyone with a valid concealed-weapon permit may pack heat in the state's most prominent government building. The new regulation -- without saying it in so many words -- also permits citizens to enter the Capitol with a gun strapped on their hip, or in an openly visible manner, so long as there is no round in the chamber. "Restricted persons" with past felony or domestic-violence convictions or those who have been adjudicated mentally ill are barred from owning or carrying guns. Agree or disagree with the policy, says Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, "the law is the law." The state's top lawyer brought to the meeting his target from a recent trip to the shooting range. He scored a 148 out of 150 possible, with most of his shots clustered in the human silhouette's "kill zone." A frequent champion of gun rights, Shurtleff recently issued a formal legal opinion finding a number of state agencies violated the law by ignoring the state's sweeping concealed-carry law, which allows license-holders to travel armed everywhere but in narrowly defined "secure areas," such as courts, airports, jails and mental-health facilities. His opinion prompted Gov. Mike Leavitt to scrap a ban on state employees packing on the job. That rule change was just made effective Friday. Members of the Capitol Preservation Board -- including Lt. Gov. Olene Walker, Senate President Al Mansell and House Speaker Marty Stephens -- unanimously approved the proposed emergency rule so that newly purchased metal detectors can be utilized as necessary during the upcoming legislative session, Winter Olympics and scheduled display of the Declaration of Independ- ence. Capitol Security Chief Lt. Jim Keith said he has no plan to automatically screen visitors when lawmakers begin holding presession hearings next week. Portable metal detectors will be deployed only when an alert is triggered by a threat or other indication of unusual risk. People will be allowed to freely enter and leave the building under a normal security level one status. Metal detectors may be used and bags searched under a security level two, and all visitors will undergo metal-detector screening and bag searches during a level three. While the law prevents law enforcement from denying entry to people with valid concealed-weapons permits or legal, openly displayed guns, officers may be assigned to follow suspicious persons, said David Hart, executive director of the Capitol Preservation Board. Hart said he was surprised to learn of the state's "open-carry" law, and hopes it is not abused. "I thought we left Wild West behind," he said. House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake City, said he wasn't "completely comfortable" with the Capitol policy on licensed concealed weapons and other legal weapons, but voted for the new rule, saying it simply reflected current state law. Board action in adopting the rule pleased gun-rights activist Clark Aposhian of the Utah Self-Defense Instructors Net- work. "We don't have any problem with that whatsoever," Apo- shian said. "It sounds reason- able." But Maura Carabello, of the Utah Violence Prevention Center, pans the rule and state gun laws she calls "lax." "They've just given them a free ticket into a restricted area -- the Capitol, the people's house," said Carabello. "They're getting special treatment and they're getting special access." http://www.sltrib.com/01052002/utah/164858.htm