Utah gun owners may soon be doling out more cash to renew their concealed-carry permits. State officials claim the $15.75 fee isn’t high enough and lawmakers concurred, voting on Wednesday to move a measure forward that would increase the renewal fee to match the original application fee. That amount was raised in July from $37 to $57.
Sen. Daniel Thatcher introduced the proposal—which would also apply to driver’s licenses—as a means to cover the costs of issuance. “We are doing more work with the same amount of money or less,” Joseph Brown of the Department of Public Safety told Deseret News.
But the NRA’s Brian Judy vehemently disagrees. He argues that the cost of the background check could be done away with altogether by using the free National Instant Criminal Background Check System. "We were told that the renewal fee is adequate,” Judy was quoted as saying. “Why is that now being proposed to be increased?"
