The good news? Hundreds of criminals -- men and women forbidden by law to carry concealed weapons -- are no longer packing in Utah.

The bad news? They were illegally armed for weeks, months, maybe longer, with the full knowledge of the state Bureau of Criminal Identification, while the agency focused its efforts on processing concealed weapon permit applications.

That's right. Incredibly, revocation and suspension proceedings, which should have been launched when disqualifying crimes were uncovered during daily checks of court records, were delayed so the short-handed bureau could concentrate on putting even more guns on our streets.

Why? Two reasons: 1) The BCI lacked the manpower -- read "money" -- to perform all of its designated tasks in a timely fashion.

2) The gun-loving state Legislature had mandated that weapons permits be processed expeditiously -- 60 days or less. Talk about your misplaced priorities.

Fortunately, the backlog has been addressed. The tally of permit revocations and suspensions increased from 167 in 2006 to 568 in 2007. And the number of permit denials, the result of criminal background checks at the time of application, has soared, from 133 in 2006 to 453 last year.

How? BCI's budget was bolstered in mid-2007, enabling the agency to hire sufficient staff to catch up. But, does BCI run the risk of falling behind, again, and putting the public at risk, again? Perhaps.

A big boost in the volume of permits issued -- it's easy and inexpensive to obtain a Utah permit compared with other states, resulting in an influx of out-of-state applicants -- has helped put the bureau on a firm financial footing. The agency has banked a $260,000 surplus.

But the popularity of Utah permits could come back to haunt BCI when the recent rash of permits begins to expire, and the holders seek renewal. While only 13,000 permits expire this year, that number will increase to 40,000 by 2012. And that poses a potential problem, one that could overwhelm workers, drain the agency's bank account, and delay revocations and suspensions once again.

Why? It costs $35 to acquire a permit, but only $10 to renew. But the tasks involve the same amount of work. In fact, a legislative audit conducted seven years ago determined that the $10 fee doesn't come close to covering the agency's cost.

The Legislature needs to head this problem off at the pass by raising renewal fees -- now.