So I have a friend who lives in Utah and wants a concealed carry permit. Unfortunately, he still drives on a Wyoming drivers license and doesn’t want to give it up. And because of this, he thought he couldn’t get a concealed carry permit, which is a reasonable assumption if you look at the FAQs on Utah’s Department of Public Safety website, which details what documents must accompany an application for a concealed carry permit:
Given this state of affairs, my friend decided to try to get a permit in Wyoming, but there he ran into the residency requirement. Thus, unless he surrendered his Wyoming driver’ license or until he moved back to Wyoming, he couldn’t have a concealed carry permit. Or so he thought.
I was explaining this conundrum to my gun-wise son the other day, and he replied, “people from out of state get Utah permits all the time. It’s one of the most reciprocated CCPs in the country.”
At the time, I had only read Wyoming’s law, and I thought it was pretty clear that you needed to be a resident to get a permit there, and I assumed it was the same in Utah, but I decided to check the law in both states to see if I had missed something. Turns out I had.
Wyoming’s concealed carry law does require applicants to be a resident, but the law is not so clear as I had thought. It says, in the relevant part, that “The attorney general through the division shall issue a permit to any person who [among other things]:
Is a resident of the United States and has been a resident of Wyoming for not less than six (6) months prior to filing the application. The Wyoming residency requirements of this paragraph do not apply to any person who holds a valid permit authorizing him to carry a concealed firearm authorized and issued by a governmental agency or entity in another state that recognizes Wyoming permits and is a valid statewide permit; (WS §6-8-104 (b)(i)) (emphasis added)
To me, the bolded part appears to say that a non-resident with a valid permit issued in another state can apply for a Wyoming permit. Apparently, I’m wrong, at least according to the people at the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation. According to them, the bolded part means that if someone moves to Wyoming to become a resident and already has a valid permit from their former state, they don’t have to wait six months to apply for a Wyoming permit. Bottom line: you need to be a resident of Wyoming to get a Wyoming permit. My friend was out of luck.
But Utah proved to be a surprise. Though the Department of Public Safety’s website does in fact say applicants need to provide a photocopy of their driver’s license, that is incorrect. In fact, if you click the “download application” link at the bottom of the FAQ, you’ll discover that the actual application says you can provide either a copy of your driver’s license OR a copy of your state-issued ID with your application for a concealed carry permit:
For what it’s worth, I confirmed what I’ve written above with the relevant agencies in both Wyoming and Utah.
My friend was happy to hear the news.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, my son was correct. Utah will issue permits to out-of-state persons for an additional fee.
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