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Gun-free zone discussion returns to legislature

Representative Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, listens to a speaker during the morning session of the 68th Wyoming Legislature January 17, 2025 in the House Chambers. Photo by Michael Smith

 

By Joseph Beaudet
The Sheridan Press
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

SHERIDAN — Another year brings another effort in the Wyoming Legislature to prohibit gun-free zones in the state.

Bills to repeal some or most of Wyoming’s gun-free zones have been a relative mainstay over the last decade; bills were filed each year from 2014 to 2017, 2019 to 2021, 2023 and 2024. Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, has been the bill’s primary sponsor in 2023 and 2024 and again this year.

Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed the bill following the 2024 budget session because, he wrote in his veto letter, it would have eroded local control over firearm regulations.

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.

“We don’t want the student section at University of Wyoming on gameday to be encouraged to bring their concealed weapon to that game,” Haroldson said. “Alcohol is involved, judgement’s impaired. We don’t want to be foolish in that.”

The number of public commenters during the House Judiciary Committee’s meeting Friday opposed to the bill far outnumbered those who spoke in favor of it.

People who spoke in favor of the bill said gun-free zones present more danger than safety.

“Gun-free zones are killing zones,” Gun Owners of America National Director Mark Jones told the committee. “Law-abiding citizens like me are disarmed. Criminals don’t obey signs.”

Jones, a former Republican candidate for Wyoming House District 40, referenced a Crime Prevention Research Center study that indicated 94% of mass shootings between 1950 and June 2019 had occurred in a gun-free zone. There is no indication whether the study is peer-reviewed.

Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie, referenced a June 2024 peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet, a medical journal, that indicated 28% of the 150 mass shootings from 2014 to 2020 had occurred in a gun-free zone.

Sheridan County School District 2 Trustee Shelta Rambur said she’s aware of about 20 district employees who she feels could effectively protect students with concealed carry and sufficient training.

“This bill is going to allow the opportunity to people to protect our precious children,” Rambur said.

 

Voices of the opposition

Public commenters who spoke in opposition to the bill focused largely on the presence of firearms in schools.

Chaitan and Annika Murthy, 13- and 9-year-old Wyomingites, said they wouldn’t feel safer with firearms in their schools; Chaitan Murthy said he believed it could lead to more school shootings.

“I’m asking you to please vote no on this bill,” Chaitan Murthy said. “The reason I don’t want this (bill) to pass is because schools would not be safe. There are already many school shootings across the country, even when guns aren’t allowed in schools.”

Mia Chandler, a junior and student council executive officer in Dubois, said her school has been a gun-free zone since the 1990s. Its status as a gun-free zone, she said, has helped students focus more on learning.

“(Our school is) a place where we feel safe and protected by the local police, county sheriffs and our trusted school resource officer — someone we all recognize, someone who has created a trust like no other, someone we trust with our lives,” Chandler said.

Others opposed mentioned the bill’s impact on local control, echoing Gordon’s veto letter sentiments.

Several people attending the meeting via Zoom were unable to share their thoughts on the bill, due to time constraints.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Art Washut, R-Casper, closed public comment as the committee’s meeting time wound down Friday and said the committee would work the bill during its Jan. 20 meeting.

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