Utah Lawmakers Put Facts Over Fearmongering in Response to ‘No Kings’ Shooting

While police in Salt Lake City continue to investigate the circumstances that lead to the shooting death of Arthur Ah Loo at a “No Kings” protest in the city on June 14th, one local media outlet seems to be using the tragedy to push for more gun control laws. 

A new story by the Salt Lake Tribune centers around the lack of news from the statehouse in response to the shooting. 

The shooting, as Utah defense attorney Steve Burton put it in the days after the shooting, is a “bizarre” one — and it has raised questions about what kind of legislative response, if any, state lawmakers might have.

As of Tuesday, the answer appeared to be none.

In a statement shared Tuesday with The Salt Lake Tribune, Aundrea Peterson, the deputy chief of staff for the Utah Senate, said the thoughts of the Republican caucus “remain with all those affected by this tragic situation” and noted that the investigation into the shooting remains ongoing.

“It’s essential to have a clear and complete understanding of the situation to ensure that any potential actions or responses are informed and appropriate,” Peterson said. “We appreciate and trust that [Salt Lake City Police] Chief [Brian] Redd is conducting a thorough investigation and working to gather all the facts.” 

While the Salt Lake Tribune news report doesn’t directly call for the legislature to adopt any specific gun control policy, it definitely offers up a suggestion. 

Sven Karabegovic, a spokesperson for House Democrats, said the caucus had met to discuss the shooting and other recent events, including the assassination of a Democratic lawmaker in Minnesota, immediately after the protest last month, but did not currently have a caucuswide response on the topic of Utah’s constitutional carry. The spokesperson added that bill proposals were up to individual lawmakers.

Currently, 26 states across the U.S. have laws on the books banning long guns — like rifles and shotguns — at state capitols and/or at public demonstrations, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun violence prevention group. Asked whether the caucus had considered proposing something similar in Utah, Karabegovic said, “Since there are no public bill files open on this subject, there is nobody currently publicly considering banning long guns.”

This is editorializing masquerading as straight journalism. I’m fine if the reporter or the editorial board has thoughts about what lawmakers should do in response, but it should be laid out in the opinion section of the Tribune instead. 

I’m sure, by the way, that a few of the 14 Democrats in the state House will offer up some anti-gun legislation next session, even if they don’t directly tie it to the shooting at the No Kings protest. Gun control bills are introduced every year in Utah, but the vast majority of the time they don’t even make it out of committee. 

As for the policy suggested by the paper, would that really have made a difference? Ah Loo was killed by a “safety volunteer” at the protest, who supposedly saw Gamboa and his openly carried rifle as an imminent threat. If Gamboa wasn’t able to legally carry an AR-15 at the protest, he might have chosen to carry a handgun, either openly or concealed, and the “safety volunteer” might very well have responded the same way. 

In fact, one of Ah Loo’s friends believes it’s the “peacekeeper” (whose identify has not been released by police) who needs to be charged. 

After reviewing video to determine the peacekeeper’s location and Ah Loo’s, FOX 13 and [Ah Loo’s friend Richard] Wolfgramm used a measuring wheel to walk the distance.

After walking from spot to spot, the counter on the wheel displayed… 162 feet.

“Now that we’ve walked the distance,” Wolfgramm said, “and we’ve seen the angle from where he discharged his firearm, it just baffles me that someone like that was here in the role of a peacekeeper.” 

Video appears to show Gamboa’s barrel was aimed down when the peacekeeper fired at him, and it’s legal in Utah to carry a rifle in public. 

Wolfgramm said 50501 needs to be “held responsible” for having armed personnel who decided to shoot.

“And definitely the peacekeeper needs to be charged with something,” Wolfgramm said, “because that was really gross negligence on his part.”

The big question is whether the individual who shot Ah Loo while aiming for Gamboa had a reasonable belief that Gamboa posed a threat to the lives of those around him. If he was merely displaying the rifle by carrying it with the barrel pointed at the ground, I’d say the answer is “no”. The sight of someone legally carrying a gun isn’t justification to shoot them, and based on the reporting we’ve seen to date, that appears to be all that Gamboa was doing. 

Ah Loo’s death is a tragedy, and it may very well rise to the level of a crime, but it should not be used as justification to restrict the rights of Utahns to keep and bear arms. We can debate whether or not it’s wise to openly carry a rifle at a heated and politically charged protest, but turning it into criminal activity is definitely the wrong move to make.