CHEYENNE—The Senate Judiciary Committee got about halfway through public testimony on a bill proposing to repeal gun-free zones Thursday, during which a majority of those to testify spoke in opposition to the bill.
House Bill 172, “Repeal gun free zones and preemption amendments,” would allow concealed carry in any schools, government buildings and meetings, as well as college and university sporting events that do not serve alcohol.
Proposals to repeal Wyoming’s gun free zones have been a mainstay in the Legislature. This year marks the 10th time in the last dozen, and the third consecutive year, that a similar bill has hit the Wyoming Legislature.
A similar measure was approved by both the House and Senate in 2024. The bill, though, took a winding road to Gov. Mark Gordon’s desk in 2024, having been killed in a Senate committee before former Sheridan Sen. Dave Kinskey resurrected the dead bill. Ultimately, Gordon vetoed the bill because he said it eroded local control.
An erosion of local control was at the heart of many concerns about the bill on Thursday.
“If you are against government overreach, please don’t reach into our community lives,” Barb Cook, a Laramie County School District 1 board member, said. Cook noted she was not speaking on behalf of the LCSD1 board.
While Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder believes HB 172 continues to advance Second Amendment protection discussions, school districts should be offered a choice on how to implement the proposed legislation.
“Either allow the concealed carry as it is in the bill or a choice to provide the legitimate security that’s needed to keep the individuals in that school protected,” Wyoming Department of Education Chief of Staff Dicky Shanor said. “That prevention and protection piece — if a school district can legitimately provide that, and makes the decision to provide that, [Degenfelder] believes they should be given that opportunity to choose either or.”
The bill would repeal a provision in Wyoming statute allowing local school boards to develop rules and regulations to determine whether to allow staff to possess a firearm on school property.
Six University of Wyoming students also urged the committee to vote against the bill.
They noted two reported suicides have occurred on campus this year, and an increased presence of firearms could increase that number. They also said having more firearms on campus and in dorm rooms would lead to a decreased sense of safety.
“This legislation fails to reckon with a very simple fact, which is that schools and our educational institutions are for students,” UW student Sophia Gomelsky. “These are our spaces and it is our right to feel safe in these spaces that were created for us.”
In November, the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees voted 6-5 against a proposal to allow concealed carry in certain areas of its campus.
UW Vice President of Governmental Affairs and Community Engagement Mike Smith said the university had done extensive work and solicited comments from students and faculty before the board killed the proposal.
“We invested months into the process of engaging our community, we conducted a survey of that campus community and interested stakeholders and we held two public forums with the help of the Wyoming Firearms Research Center at the college of law,” Smith said.
Mark Jones, a former Republican candidate for Wyoming House District 40 and current national hunter outreach director for Gun Owners of America, was critical of those testifying against the bill.
“Eighty-three percent of the Legislature voted for this bill last year. People who were elected by the people of Wyoming,” Jones said. “I hear a lot of talk today from unelected people about what should be.”
Jones added a desire to maintain Wyoming’s legacy of local control should not preclude Wyomingites from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
Having heard just less than one hour of public testimony, Chair Sen. Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, said the committee would accept an additional hour on HB 172 when it meets Tuesday before working on the bill.
HB 172’s primary sponsor Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, suggested two amendments for the committee to consider adding to the bill Tuesday. One would allow local governing entities to restrict concealed carry in an airport’s secured areas — which is the area around commercial airline terminals.
The other amendment Haroldson proposed would require an 18-year-old to present a GED diploma or high school diploma to obtain a concealed carry permit — which they can currently obtain with only a letter from their county’s sheriff.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is likely to approve HB 172 Tuesday and send it to the Senate floor for consideration. Four of its five members — Olsen, Sen. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo; Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs; and Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs — voted in favor of a bill to repeal gun-free zones during the Legislature’s 2024 general session. The committee’s fifth member, Sen. Gary Crum, R-Laramie, is a freshman lawmaker and has not previously cast a vote on similar proposals.
Start mandatory gun safety classes. Start in K and take it thru 12th grade
Most people can develop the capacity to physically control a firearm and with enough practice some may even become extremely adept at perforating paper targets; but the mental and emotional control that an individual is required to master in order to effectively defend themselves with or from deadly force is not a skill that most people are willing or able to acquire. I’m not saying that we should be naive or unprepared, but this notion that we will somehow all become safer from mentally unstable and violent individuals by simply increasing the saturation level of deadly weapons in the public sphere is ridiculous. Law enforcement and military folks don’t just serve and protect; they spend countless hours training to learn how to prevent the loss of life, and if there is absolutely no other option — to take a life— or to willingly sacrifice their own. They do not pretend to be heroes— They are heroes— and we do them a great disservice by playing these stupid political games, by assuming that we possess qualities that we do not, and by failing to support our friends and neighbors who are struggling with mental and emotional issues. Vote Hell No on HB 172!
The people this bill would effect the most…teachers and students, couldn’t come and testify as they were in school. Most school staff that I have spoken with, which is a large number, are advocates of keeping schools gun free zones. Many school staff have told me they would leave the profession if guns were allowed in schools. I wonder if those that advocate for repealing gun free zones have spoken to school staff?I wish our legislators would listen to their constituents. It is so sad!
When the wild west was becoming civilized some town had rules against guns in town. Salons, hotels, churches, watering holes, restaurants, generals stores, bars, etc, didn’t want to be shot up. The ladies of the night pushed the mayor and sheriff and other influential town people to enfore the “no guns” rules. You may not know but these solied doves built schools and brought in teachers. They built churches, hotels, and many other building in the town. They helped women with children who had no means of support. They were amazing women who went to church and helped settle the wild, wild west. Stop letting guns be in towns and especially government buildings and schools.
If this bill passes, a mandatory educational requirement needs to be written in. Required gun safety classes need to be added to the curriculum in our schools. I don’t have a problem with people carrying guns. My problem lies with uneducated people carrying guns.
This education needs to include gun safety; lawful use; and suicide issues. It should be at about the sixth grade.
Explain how this helps law enforcement determine who is the concealed carry holder of a a weapon and the person with a weapon bent on destroying lives?
Look at what just happened in Byron and you still want to put guns in schools . Some trained law enforcement individuals should not have a gun based on the way they treat the public .
PS The premise of the Bill is based on the junk science published by John Lott, which Mark Jones, a supposed scientist, supports.
Having laws that protect and use common sense is not government over reach. It is the recognition of the the inheirant danger and prevention of an obvious potential for harm, violence, and death.
Those who carry are a threat and intend to intimidate all present to exercise a right that should never override the rights of others to be safe and comfortable in their surroundings.