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Utah open carry laws and regulations

8K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  J_dazzle23 
#1 ·
So I recently bought my first handgun and am still waiting on my cfp but I want to carry it dang it! Haha I am aware that Utah is an unlicensed open carry OK state but I want to make sure I am familiar and aware of all the laws and regulations/expectations surrounding OC.

If I'm stopped by LEO, someone told me they're not allowed to ask me questions unless given probable cause, etc but I'm not hiding anything nor combative when it comes to LE, so I have no plan to be anything but cooperative if stopped but what else should I do/expect/etc?

Anything else I should know or keep in mind when OC?

Thanks in advance all!
 
#2 ·
A couple of things to keep in mind when OCing in Utah sans permit.

0-Most (but not all) Utah gun laws are found in URS (Utah Revised Statutes) 76-10-5. Get to know them. Nobody on the internet goes to jail if you break the law based on inaccurate advice.

1-School zones are off limits. Under Utah law this includes K-12, all post secondary schools, and preschools. Preschools only include the building or room actually used for the school. K-12 and post secondary includes the grounds. Be aware of what may be included as part of a college's "grounds" (think university of Utah hospitals, or BYU property).

2-Under federal law, the gun free school zone extends 1000' out from the edge of school property whether you can actually traverse those 1000' or not. While rarely enforced, it is very difficult to move about our urban areas or even through the main drag of small towns without crossing through the 1000' federal GFSZ.

3-Without a permit, your gun may not be "loaded" on a "public street." I'm not aware that anyone has successfully won a case arguing that sidewalks or inside a mall are not covered by this code. Keep the chamber empty until your permit arrives. A full magazine is permissible and may be in the gun so long as the chamber is empty.

4-If you are going to carry a gun, be sure you are very well versed in the laws regarding its usage.

Others here can provide you additional advice on interacting with the police. The younger you are, or less conservatively you dress/appear, the more likely you are to be approached. Comportment matters.

Welcome and best of luck.

Charles
 
#3 ·
LEO are often referred to as OEO: "Opinion Enforcement Officers" by members of this board. Unfortunately, many LEO are not intimately aware of all of the details of the Federal and Utah firearm laws, rules, and regulations. In addition, many will attempt to enforce their "opinion" of what you should be doing vice what you are legally allowed to do.

You should be fully versed on the definition of Utah loaded and how it relates to your firearm.

You should be carrying fully open and never partially concealed.

You MUST know what areas are "prohibited"/restricted and/or if there are any restricted areas near where you plan on carrying during the normal course of your day.

A person with a permit to carry a concealed firearm may not carry a concealed firearm in the following locations:

(1) any secure area prescribed in Section 76-10-523.5 in which firearms are prohibited and notice of the prohibition posted;

(2) in any airport secure area as provided in Section 76-10-529; or

(3) in any house of worship or in any private residence where dangerous weapons are prohibited as provided in Section 76-10-530.

(4) Add "school zones" until you have your permit.

You MUST understand what a "prohibited" person(s) is and if there are any that you may encounter during the normal course of your open carry day(s).

Visit http://www.opencarry.org/.

Open carry with a buddy who is very well versed in the laws.
 
#7 ·
Whether one Is polite or not is ones own choice and no law mandates this. However one may catch more flies with honey than with vinegar!
Now not suggesting one pick a fight but some of those OEO's may act as if you did pick a fight for knowing what the law requires of you and the limits placed upon the LEO's per the US and Utah Constitutions and laws and your choise to only respond as Constitution and Law requires one to do!
Please understand I read your "polite" as "compliant with all the demands and requests made upon you by these so called OEO's"
 
#8 ·
J_dazzle23 said:
Look like a thug if you like. I'd advise against it, but no laws specifying a dress code. Only .....social mores :)
Well, I don't look like a thug anyhow haha

JoeSparky said:
Whether one Is polite or not is ones own choice and no law mandates this. However one may catch more flies with honey than with vinegar!
Now not suggesting one pick a fight but some of those OEO's may act as if you did pick a fight for knowing what the law requires of you and the limits placed upon the LEO's per the US and Utah Constitutions and laws and your choise to only respond as Constitution and Law requires one to do!
Please understand I read your "polite" as "compliant with all the demands and requests made upon you by these so called OEO's"
I'm polite with LEO as a standard anyhow, as I mentioned, not doing anything wrong, no reason to be a jerk. If they want to stop me they can, now that I'm familiar with the do's and dont's, as long as I follow them there shouldn't be an issue, and if there is it'll be dealt with politely and cooperatively, as it should be.

I know I'm new to this (handgun stuff) but we as gun owners should strive to be as cooperative as we can to help people see the fact that gun owners are not the criminals. If there was no bad perception of gun owners, we wouldn't have to worry about ignorant people calling the police, so being combative and "standing up for and defending your rights " to an officer who's simply doing his job by responding to a call from a moron is kinda working against the grain. Whereas complying and having the stop go smoothly (assuming that's how it goes thanks to bring polite and cooperative) would help work towards the ultimate goal of not getting stopped, right?

If the police keep getting calls from idiots for polite and respectable people open carrying and keep having great encounters, the hope is that some day, those encounters will be stopped altogether. It's up to us to help it get there IMO.
 
#9 ·
Just remember, law enforcement has their fair share of jerks, idiots, [Edited by mod. -Don] and power mongers, so it doesn't matter whether you are polite and cooperative in those cases where the OEO only wants to assert his/her opinion and get you to disarm yourself in compliance with their opinion.

Know the law!!! The time for arguing the law is in court, NOT in or during a confrontation with an OEO.
 
#10 ·
dewittdj said:
Just remember, law enforcement has their fair share of jerks, idiots, [Edited by mod. -Don] and power mongers, so it doesn't matter whether you are polite and cooperative in those cases where the OEO only wants to assert his/her opinion and get you to disarm yourself in compliance with their opinion.

Know the law!!! The time for arguing the law is in court, NOT in or during a confrontation with an OEO.
100% agreed
 
#11 ·
Also, if you save the fight for the courtroom, if the LEO was in the wrong, generally that will do more to fix the problem of an uneducated or power trip officer getting corrected. Had that happen once with me. One winter I got blown off I-15 by a fast moving minivan. It passed close enough that the displaced air pushed my hotrodded rwd Nissan on all seasons sideways on the ice and I ran out of road surface before I could get it gathered up again. Mowed down a reflector post and got stuck in the snow. About 10 min later a trooper stopped and told the nice guy that stopped and was getting ready to try pulling me back onto the road that we had to have a towtruck do the job for safety reasons. Wrecker shows up, l pay $45 popped the car back on the road. I was annoyed, I didn't have much money and only neede a little tug. But what really pissed me off was the officer then wrote me out a speeding ticket. He asked how fast I had been going and what happened. I explained the situation and told him I had been going 45-50 mph because my car was slipping so much. He wrote me up for driving too fast for conditions. I disagreed, but took the ticket. Went to court and the judge not only threw it out for being an illegal ticket (officer did not see the infraction, hard to go slower than full stop) but he publically slapped down the cop for it and included a message for him to take back to his superiors not to allow that to happen again.

I had to pay for my tow, but the citation was tossed. Now if I had been written up for damage, I did kill a reflector post after all, it would have been different. Errors have to be pointed out if we want to get them fixed.
 
#12 ·
dewittdj said:
Just remember, law enforcement has their fair share of jerks, idiots, [Edited by mod. -Don] and power mongers, so it doesn't matter whether you are polite and cooperative in those cases where the OEO only wants to assert his/her opinion and get you to disarm yourself in compliance with their opinion.

Know the law!!! The time for arguing the law is in court, NOT in or during a confrontation with an OEO.
The number of OEOs is really quite low here in Utah. There may be a city or department or two with a burr under their saddle, but by and large, we no longer have many issues with cops getting things wrong with OCers here. Just check out this forum and OCDO Utah sections to see how very little activity there is regarding bad encounters with cops here in Utah.

That isn't to say that there won't be any encounters, nor that every encounter will be perfect. But truly bad encounters are getting fairly rare....or folks are just not reporting them nearly as much as they once did.

Just to level set, I don't think a cop asking for ID and then moving along in short order is a bad encounter. It generally isn't ideal as ideally probably no official contact was warranted at all.

A cop taking possession of a gun during a traffic stop isn't ideal, but isn't horrible (under current court rulings) if nothing else happens.

Charles
 
#13 ·
bagpiper said:
dewittdj said:
Just remember, law enforcement has their fair share of jerks, idiots, [Edited by mod. -Don] and power mongers, so it doesn't matter whether you are polite and cooperative in those cases where the OEO only wants to assert his/her opinion and get you to disarm yourself in compliance with their opinion.

Know the law!!! The time for arguing the law is in court, NOT in or during a confrontation with an OEO.
The number of OEOs is really quite low here in Utah. There may be a city or department or two with a burr under their saddle, but by and large, we no longer have many issues with cops getting things wrong with OCers here. Just check out this forum and OCDO Utah sections to see how very little activity there is regarding bad encounters with cops here in Utah.

That isn't to say that there won't be any encounters, nor that every encounter will be perfect. But truly bad encounters are getting fairly rare....or folks are just not reporting them nearly as much as they once did.

Just to level set, I don't think a cop asking for ID and then moving along in short order is a bad encounter. It generally isn't ideal as ideally probably no official contact was warranted at all.

A cop taking possession of a gun during a traffic stop isn't ideal, but isn't horrible (under current court rulings) if nothing else happens.

Charles
I agree with this, with exception to the bolded part.

An officer disarming you, in my opinion, IS horrible. Not in the sense that it's going to turn out with a dead body, etc, horrible, but disarming a legally carried firearm under the supposed "officer safety" B.S. is a perfect definition of an officer using force to push his opinion, not the law.

If this were to happen, it won't be the end of the world, but it certainly would be on video with me verbally objecting to the seizure but complying, then teaching the police department a very public and embarrassing lesson later on, through legal and professional means.

Luckily, like charles said, this seems to be quite a rare event here in utah. Most of the LEO'S that I have come across are not as quick to violate your rights as many other places in the country.
 
#14 ·
J_dazzle23 said:
I agree with this, with exception to the bolded part.

An officer disarming you, in my opinion, IS horrible. Not in the sense that it's going to turn out with a dead body, etc, horrible, but disarming a legally carried firearm under the supposed "officer safety" B.S. is a perfect definition of an officer using force to push his opinion, not the law.

If this were to happen, it won't be the end of the world, but it certainly would be on video with me verbally objecting to the seizure but complying, then teaching the police department a very public and embarrassing lesson later on, through legal and professional means.
I agree that disarming a law abiding citizen during a routine interaction like a traffic stop is offensive.

Unfortunately, under current court rulings, it is entirely legal. So there is not really any opportunity at this time to get any remedy should it happen.

We would be well served by some legislation limiting when a peaceable, law abiding citizen can be disarmed "for officer safety" or otherwise. But lacking such legislation or a fairly major reversal of the courts, no recourse at this point.

That said, Utah cops do not automatically disarm every gun carrier they interact with. A cop took possession of my gun during a routine traffic stop on a rural road about 5 years ago. He then told me I wasn't supposed to have it loaded in the car, but wasn't going to cite me for that. I returned the favor :D and brought him up to speed on gun laws regarding car carry with or without a permit. (I still got the speeding ticket.)

About that same time a couple of officers in Sandy were concerned about me OCing at the Independence Day celebration. Ultimately I spent a few minutes in the "mobile command post" educating their sergeant and lieutenant as to carry laws. I was never disarmed at all during this latter interaction.

Bottom line, as you observed, truly bad interactions with cops in Utah over legally OCing are the rare exception.

Charles
 
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