There are residents of Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia who seek out the Utah CCW license. Several reasons for this:

1. Utah has better reciprocity than any of these three states because it has a mandatory training requirement, and AL, MS, GA do not, some some states refuse reciprocity on that basis alone.

2. Utah issues CCW's to non-residents, and you can handle the entire process by mail, you don't have to go there to get one.

3. Utah is about half the cost of getting a FL non-resident license (Utah is less than $70 in fees), FL being one of the other states that issues to non-residents, and currently the Utah CCW is good for five years with renewals only $10 every five years instead ,of $120+ for the FL initial permit and each renewal..

If you want to explore Utah reciprocity and see if it offers any advantage you care about, go take a look http://publicsafety.utah.gov/bci/FAQother.html

Their whole permit process, etc. can be explored at http://publicsafety.utah.gov/bci/concealedfirearms.html

Utah has a simple training requirement, and the class takes about 5 hours, but their course is the only one that gets you the training check off for the Utah permit. It has to be taught by a Utah certified instructor.

All of that to say, that there will be a Utah CCW class on March 21st near Hattiesburg, MS (Purvis) and another one at the Heritage Rifle and Pistol Club near Birmingham on March 29th. These won't be the last ones this year, but if you want in on the AL class contact hrpwebmaster<at>earthlink.net and contact lotzofguns<at>hughes.net if you are interested in the MS class