Wyoming will resist any attempts to weaken Second Amendment rights, Gov. Mark Gordon said Thursday.
Gordon, speaking with reporters, said he was disappointed with the executive orders signed Thursday by President Joe Biden that the president said were aimed at slowing gun violence.
“I just want to say how disappointed I really am at the Biden administration and their actions today, because the Second Amendment is something that is absolutely fundamental to Wyoming,” he said. “There is no question the Second Amendment is a constitutional right and Wyoming will stand firm against any attempts to erode that right. We will protect our firearms at all costs.”
Biden’s six orders included one to tighten restrictions on “ghost guns,” weapons that can be built from parts purchased online and that do not carry serial numbers, and one to tighten restrictions on stabilizing braces used with handguns to improve their accuracy.
He also ordered the Justice Department to prepare model “red flag” legislation for states that may want to adopt such laws. “Red flag” legislation allows family members or law enforcement agencies to ask courts to temporarily ban people who may pose a threat to themselves or others from possessing firearms.
During his meeting with reporters, Gordon said Wyoming is a “Second Amendment state,” pointing as an example to legislation he signed Thursday that would prohibit financial institutions from discriminating against firearms businesses.
No bank in Wyoming has taken such a step, Gordon said, but some institutions in other states have refused to take firearms companies as customers.
“There have been some larger banks that have taken some extremist points of view when it comes to Second Amendment rights and we don’t appreciate that,” he said. “We just want to make it abundantly clear that Wyoming stands for Second Amendment rights.”
Earlier this week, Gordon signed into law a bill that would extend Wyoming’s privilege to carry a concealed weapon without a permit to any law-abiding American citizen.
