EVANSTON (WNE) — A district court judge has issued another ruling in the lawsuit challenging Uinta County School District No. 1’s Rule CKA, which allows for approved staff to carry concealed firearms on district property.

Judge Steven K. Sharpe issued a ruling on Friday, April 17, granting a motion for summary judgment against the district on only one of the four counts originally contained in the suit led last fall.

Plaintiffs Tim and Katie Beppler, Tiffany Eskelson-Maestas and Nathan Prete led the suit asking for CKA to be ruled invalid on Aug. 26, 2019, the rst day of the current school year. That suit challenged CKA on four counts, including claims the rule was in violation of the enabling statute, W.S. 21-3- 132, passed by the Wyoming Legislature in 2017.

Sharpe ruled against the district and in favor of the plaintiffs on the count, which claimed CKA should be declared invalid because it violated the enabling statute that requires districts adopting rules regarding concealed carry to establish instructor qualifications and have them approved by law enforcement.

“At this time, Rule CKA has not been amended to include additional instructor qualifications,” he wrote. “Defendant failed to show the proposed amendments were adopted which would render Plaintiffs’ claims potentially moot.”

The district has been actively working on amending the rule to add instructor qualifications and had a WAPA-required public hearing on the matter scheduled for March 31. However, in light of the COVID-19 closures, that hearing has been postponed until an as yet unknown date.