No Gun Lockups at the Games

Josey1

No Gun Lockups at the Games BY JUDY FAHYSTHE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Gun-rights activists have dropped their efforts to provide a kind of "coat check" for state-licensed weapons outside Olympic Games venues. Ever since the activists struck a deal with state lawmakers nearly three years ago, they have expected guarded storage lockers for Utah's 41,800 concealed-weapons permit holders outside Olympics areas where weapons have been banned. But a lack of support from government security officials and from the Salt Lake Organizing Committee has prompted the advocates to abandon those expectations. "They have not been very friendly to us at all," said Winton Clark Aposhian, leader of a concealed-weapons instructors group that planned to pay for and staff the secure storage. He called the final regulations "unfair and inconsistent," and said they went far beyond what gun-rights advocates expected when they forged the original compromise. Dangerous weapons were outlawed from the 10 competition sites, nine blocks of downtown Salt Lake City in the secure Olympic Square area, and a handful of other Olympic sites as part of a 1999 deal between lawmakers and powerful gun-rights groups. SLOC spokeswoman Nancy Volmer confirmed last week that Olympic spectators, participants and volunteers are being encouraged to leave behind their concealed weapons, perhaps at home or in their cars. "We are not having lockboxes," she said. Volunteers have been informed of the no-guns policy through their SLOC handbooks. Ticket holders will find "weapons" listed under "prohibited items" in the spectator guide, which notes parenthetically the prohibition also covers "one licensed to carry a concealed firearm." "We are giving people plenty of advance notice [about the weapons ban] so they will plan accordingly," said Tammy Palmer, spokeswoman for the Olympics Public Safety Command, the umbrella group for Games security. Republican Sen. Mike Waddoups, the Taylorsville lawmaker who helped forge the Olympic-venue exception to Utah's concealed-weapons law, said he was surprised that security officials had not arranged for lockboxes for concealed-weapon permit holders. "I don't know that they can do that," he said. Waddoups helped rewrite Utah's concealed-weapons law in 1995 to ensure permits are widely available to those who are over 21; have no history of mental illness, family violence or felonies; and complete a cursory test about the law and handling firearms. The use of lockboxes was tested in August at the Utah Republican convention in Sandy. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff paid for gun storage lockers out of campaign funds after security staff for Vice President Dick Cheney refused to allow guns inside the convention hall where Cheney was scheduled to speak. Charles Hardy, spokesman for the Utah Shooting Sports Council, complained that SLOC "simply wanted to ban guns" and disregard Utah's concern for law-abiding citizens who have obtained permits. "This is where the devil is in the details," said Hardy, whose group has long been an influential force in Utah politics. The 1999 deal said lockboxes "may" be provided, suggesting they are optional. Hardy and Aposhian say their negotiators made a mistake by not insisting there "shall" be a place to check firearms outside the metal detectors used to screen Olympic-venue visitors. Not only are gun-rights activists unhappy about the lack of lockboxes, but they question whether Olympic security can possibly guarantee their personal safety at the venues. fahys@sltrib.com http://www.sltrib.com/12262001/utah/utah.htm

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