"I see here Mr. Watkins, that Comics, Books, Games And More has been moving a lot of copies of Marvel's New Universe titles from your so-called 'quarter bin.' We're gonna need the contact info for all those buyers…"

Publisher's Weekly is reporting on a potential change in pawn shop legislation in Utah that's going to affect used bookstores. It's called the Pawnshop and Secondhand Merchandise Transmission Information Act.

The law – "requiring them (pawn shops) to very actively – and expensively – register all their transactions with a central state database" - used to exempt used bookstores, but that could be changing unless people get on the ball and join the fight against it.

And just how do you have to register these transactions? It's a requirement that ranges "from obtaining ID and fingerprints to cataloging every item purchased and transmitting the information to the state every 24 hours."

Somehow the law is designed to reduce theft at the pawn shop level.

Don't used bookstores – the few that are left – have enough problems without having to report the sale of every old Terry Pratchett novel to some kind of state-controlled database?

I'm no lawyer, but I'm happy to speculate wildly like a hysteric.

Since comic book stores also sell used books (like graphic novels, squarebound trades, manga) and could easily be classified as such under the revised law, this change has the potential to affect them as well. And don't they have enough problems too without getting dragged into this sort of paperwork quagmire?

So, in the spirit of the internet, I gotta ask: WTF Utah?

Ken Sanders from Ken Sanders Rare Books has more on the impending change at his blog and also has contact info for what Utah residents can do to fight back.

[Artwork: Back issue bins, pulled from Comic Vine]