HB 132 Utah House · 2025 General Session

Firearm Storage Requirements

HB 132 amends Utah's law regarding parental responsibility for minors possessing dangerous weapons. It changes the offense from a parent or guardian *knowing* a minor has a dangerous weapon to *recklessly allowing* it, making this a class B misdemeanor. The bill does not create new firearm storage requirements but adjusts the legal standard for parental liability. It directly affects parents or guardians of minors who possess dangerous weapons (including firearms) in violation of existing law. The amendment takes effect May 7, 2025.

Bill status failed 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 21, 2025 Last action Mar 8, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Substitute #1 · 8 edits

MODERATE

This bill shifts focus from penalizing parents for failing to secure firearms that minors access, to penalizing parents for recklessly allowing minors to possess dangerous weapons. The original bill created a new offense for improper firearm storage leading to minor access, while the substitute bill amends an existing offense about parental knowledge of minor weapon possession.

Scope change

The bill's scope changed from creating a new statute about firearm storage safety to amending an existing statute about parental responsibility for minor weapon possession.

SCOPE

Removed creation of new offense 76-10-509.10 regarding failure to secure firearms resulting in minor access

REQUIREMENT

Changed focus from storage requirements (locked containers, trigger locks) to reckless allowance of possession

ENFORCEMENT

Changed penalty from class C misdemeanor to class B misdemeanor for the offense

Removed affirmative defense provision for parents who took reasonable precautions

Removed exemptions for unlawful entry, self-defense, and law enforcement reporting

ELIGIBILITY

Changed from requiring minor to use weapon in public or threaten others to simply possessing weapon in violation of existing law

DEFINITION

Removed specific definitions for 'locked container' and 'minor' that were in the original bill

Changed offense language to focus on 'recklessly allows' rather than specific storage failures

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Mar 5, 2025

Lower · Passed

House/ comm rpt/ sent to Rules/ amended

lower

Feb 14, 2025

Introduced

House Comm - Amendment Recommendation

lower

Jan 24, 2025

Committee

House/ to standing committee

lower

Jan 21, 2025

Introduced

House/ 1st reading (Introduced)

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors