[Mangoman]

Utah is the ONLY state where you can carry a gun---loaded or unloaded---open carry or concealed---on a college campus---no questions asked. The news reports are full of Utah college campus massacres. *Sarcasm* That state's concealed-carry permit is highly sought after and people fly there from all over the USA to get one---51,000 people last year alone. Utah is on the cutting edge of gun laws and many other states want to follow it's lead.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...s-critics.html

Welcome to Gun Land: Utah concealed firearm permits attract gun lovers, critics

Published: Sunday, March 27, 2011 12:04 a.m. MDT By Lois M. Collins

and Kelly McConkie Henriod

and Kassi Cox, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — Tony Sabatino is pondering the donuts and drinks as he stands in the hotel meeting room, a little bleary-eyed from a cross country flight and a drive through all the snow that accumulated overnight. He'll fly home to New York less than 24 hours after starting this first-ever trip to Utah, his sole goal to attend this five-hour class.

Tired or not, though, he's attentive as he learns to teach the class that will provide his East Coast neighbors a popular prize: A Utah concealed firearm permit.

There is perhaps no easier place in the United States to get a gun, or a permit to carry one around, than the Beehive State, a place that seems to love guns as much as its pioneer heritage.

Utah is the first and only state to choose an official gun to go with its state flower and flag and bird — the Browning M1911 semiautomatic pistol — courtesy of the most recent legislative session (it's a nod to the fact that gun maker John Browning was born here not long after Mormon pioneers settled the area). Utah's concealed firearm permit is a favorite with gun enthusiasts all over the United States. A whopping three-fourths of those who applied for one last year, more than 51,000 people, came from outside the state.

Guns trade hands freely here, as well. In 2010, firearms dealers ran more than 127,000 background checks of Utah gun buyers, but that's likely a fraction of the guns sold in the state. No one knows how many guns are sold among friends or passed to a new owner in a parking lot in a private deal. There's talk of a flourishing black market, since private sales aren't monitored and the law doesn't require a background check for those, something licensed dealers must get. Sources suggest the big taboos — selling guns to minors, to criminals, to those who live in another state — occur often enough to be worrisome, but they are mostly uncounted and unchecked.

[Nikitka]

Daily Beast: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-a...ona/full/full/

Well, with the 18th most permissive gun laws in the country, Utah managed to rank as the 29th mostly deadly state in terms of gun deaths per capita, according to most recent CDC numbers. More permissive gun laws should pull them way up the chart.

For the record, Arizona has recently held the crown for the most permissive gun laws in the country, and that corresponds with ranking as the #2 mostly deadly state in gun deaths per capita. Go, Arizona.

California has the least permissive gun laws in the country and ranks 40th for gun deaths per capita. Other states with most restrictive guns laws, Hawaii, Massachusetts and New Jersey, also rank in the high 40's to 50th in terms of their rankings for guns deaths.

Congrats, Utah. We're expecting big things from you.