This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

A cadre of pistol-packing Utah legislators made a show of checking their sidearms before entering Hill Air Force Base and an oil refinery the other day. As political theater, which this surely was, it tended more toward farce than high drama.

The lawmakers were part of a bus tour of Davis County by the Legislature. When the bus reached the oil refinery parking lot, the four filed out and met up with Clark Aposhian, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association. They turned their pieces over to him so that he could store them safely while they toured the plant, a secure facility on private property that does not welcome firearms carried by visitors, even those with concealed-carry permits.

They had made similar arrangements outside Hill.

Their point may have been that people with concealed-carry permits traveling on mass transit might find themselves in a bind if they show up somewhere with a gun and are not welcome to carry it on the property. Without a safe place to store a weapon, they would have to forgo entering the premises.

True enough. But if the legislators had the foresight to arrange for someone to store their firearms for them, they also could have had the foresight simply not to bring a firearm.

This they chose not to do. One, Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Lehi, said that he did not want to be without protection all day. Another, Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, said, memorably, "I would sooner leave home without my pants than my gun."

We won't argue with Wimmer. He is a sworn police officer and should be armed wherever he goes.

But we suspect that Madsen and the other members of this posse, Rep. Curt Oda, R-Clearfield, and Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, were making a larger statement about their right to bear arms and their intention to exercise that right, regardless of inconvenience.

Trouble is, few constitutional rights are absolute, especially when they clash with others. In the case of private property, even the pro-gun Legislature has been reluctant to challenge the right of private employers to ban guns on their premises, and the courts have upheld that right, extending it in one case to a leased parking lot.

We don't believe that last week's little drama is a convincing argument to change that.

Few constitutional rights are absolute, especially when they clash with others.