GOP Lawmaker Pushes for Concealed Carry at Utah Jazz Games

Utah state Rep. Candice Pierucci (R) is pushing a bill to allow concealed carry at Utah Jazz and Mammoth home games in Salt Lake City’s Delta Center.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Pierucci also wants concealed carry to be allowed during other events at the Delta Center as well.

She said, “We’re a Second Amendment state and we have a really robust concealed carry permit… The idea would be that if you’re going to accept state dollars, we should at least have a discussion on if you’re going to prohibit someone’s Second Amendment rights while you’re there.”

Pierucci’s legislation, House Bill 452, “Prohibits a private entity that receives a certain amount of public funds from restricting a concealed carry permit holder from carrying a concealed firearm on property owned, leased, or operated by the entity in certain circumstances.”

HB452 defines “entity that receives public funds” as “any private organization, business, or venue that receives $1,000,000 or more in public funds through an appropriation, grant, contract, or other authorized expenditure.”

Pierucci indicated part of the impetus for HB 452 was a constituent who was not allowed to bring a gun to games.

She said, “They had tried to go in and, I think, given the safety climate, they would have felt better with their family had they been able to pack along their concealed [firearm] while walking around downtown.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.