Salt Lake City, Utah

From Salt Lake City’s KSL.com of December 6, 2006

Concealed Weapon Keeps Man Safe in Attempted Carjacking

A Salt Lake City man says his gun saved his life today when a man threatened to take his car. It's a story that adds fuel to the debate over Utah's concealed weapons law.

The suspect in this case has not been caught-yet. It's probably fair to say he'll think twice before ever threatening to steal someone's car again.

Even when running errands, just like he was doing this morning, Mike Taylor is on guard.

Mike Taylor, Concealed Weapon Carrier: "The police have their hands full with everything and I don't think they could be every place at once."

So Taylor was ready when, he says, a man threatened to steal his car.

Mike Taylor: "Finally he told me he was going to kill me and take my car for himself. At that point I felt like he was going to kill me and I feared for my life so I drew my firearm and called police."

He never fired a shot. Clark Aposhian, Bureau of Criminal Identification Chairman says that is what usually happens.

Clark Aposhian, Chairman BCI Board: "We have not seen any type of pattern of abuse or escalation of these types of robberies. We haven't seen blood in the street that a lot of my adversaries or detractors would talk about."

Maura Carabello, with the Gun Violence Prevention Center, believes Utah's permit laws are lax.

Maura Carabello, Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah: "They could injure themselves, often not well equipped psychologically; they often don't know how to shoot or handle a weapon with proficiency."

She says what happened to Taylor is the best possible outcome, but not always the norm.

Maura Carabello: "My reaction in general, though, is we are lucky. We are lucky the permit holder is safe."

Taylor says he has carried the permit for six years; he didn't think he'd need to use it this morning.