Three weeks after the deadly shooting of Arthur “Afa” Ah Loo at Salt Lake City’s “No Kings” protest, Utah lawmakers say they are not currently considering any changes to the state’s gun laws, which allow for both open and concealed carry without a permit.
Ah Loo was killed June 14 while peacefully protesting downtown. He was shot by a self-identified protest “peacekeeper,” who was not aiming at Ah Loo, but rather at 24-year-old Arturo Gamboa, who was carrying an AR-15-style assault rifle.
Protest organizers later said the “safety volunteer” believed Gamboa posed an “imminent threat” and “took action.” Gamboa, despite never having fired a shot, was held before being released the next week, and questions about his involvement and intentions surfaced after video of the shooting began circulating online.
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.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Friends and family at the makeshift memorial for Arthur Folasa Ah Loo near the spot where he was killed during a 'No Kings' march on State Street in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, June 18, 2025.
A spokesperson for House Republicans did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday, though Republican House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, made similar comments when asked about possible legislative responses to the shooting during a news conference last month.
“I don’t want to speak to what we will or what we won’t do,” Schultz told reporters at the time. “I can speak from my own perspective. Utah is a very proud Second Amendment state, and, you know, finding that balance is what we want to try to do, and I think we’ve done a good job with it.”
Schultz added that as lawmakers enter into the legislative session early next year, he was sure “some of those conversations will happen.”
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.”
He added, “[W]e continue to recognize that there is an ongoing problem with gun violence and toxic gun culture. No single policymaker in our state or our country is solely responsible for this — rather we are all responsible for these issues and it is our collective responsibility to step up, come to the table, and respond with commonsense legislation. We urge our colleagues to reflect on their rhetoric and consider the impact of their actions.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd, give a briefing just up the street from a shooting towards the end of the No Kings demonstration that had been peaceful until then, in downtown Salt Lake City on Saturday, June 14, 2025.
A spokesperson for Senate Democrats did not respond to a request for comment on any possible proposals members of that caucus may make in response to the shooting.
Karabegovic also noted that Rep. Jennifer Dailey-Provost and Sen. Jen Plumb, both Democrats who represent Salt Lake City, “are gathering stakeholders to address” the issues raised by the protest shooting.
In a joint statement after the shooting, Plumb and Daily-Provost expressed their “shared distress, dismay and sorrow about the act of violence at Saturday’s No Kings rally,” and called on all elected leaders to change “the horrific rhetoric and divisiveness that drives public discourse in our society today.”
“We remain steadfast in our commitment,” the lawmakers added, “to working with our communities, state and federal leaders to present and actively implement policies and initiatives that will get our state and nation back on track for a future that ensures respect, prosperity and security for every single person and family.”
Everytown for Gun Safety ranks Utah 36 out of 50 on its ranking of “gun law strength” across the United States.
“Utah lacks every foundational gun violence prevention law and has a high rate of gun suicide,” the organization wrote in its ranking. “An outsized portion of children and teens who die by gun violence in the state are dying by suicide.”
As Utah is a constitutional carry state, representatives for both the protest organizers and Gamboa have noted that neither party broke the law by carrying firearms at the protest.
The protest was organized by members of Utah 50501, part of a loosely connected coalition of “No Kings” rally organizers. The Utah 50501 organizers said in a statement after the shooting that the “safety volunteers” for the protest were chosen for their military, law enforcement or other de-escalation experience. The national 50501 group later cut ties with the Utah group.
Police questioned two safety volunteers after the shooting and released them the same day, while they held Gamboa on suspicion of murder. He was released June 20 after prosecutors said they could not determine whether to formally charge him.