One of the most contentious debates in Wyoming politics these days is gun-free zones and a larger conversation about how much gun control Wyoming should or shouldn’t have.
State Sen. Ed Cooper, R-Ten Sleep, has decided to enter the fray, introducing a bill for the upcoming session that he said would bridge a middle ground between people who do and don’t want a ban on gun-free zones in Wyoming.
Senate File 37 would establish an additional “enhanced” permit for people to legally conceal carry firearms in school zones. Cooper said his bill is simply an idea that’s worth a discussion.
The Legislature passed the gun-free zones bill by an overwhelming margin earlier this year before the legislation was vetoed by Gov. Mark Gordon.
Cooper supported that bill in committee, but voted against it when it was revived in the Senate because of the process that was used, not the merits of the proposal.
“I stand very strongly about repealing gun-free zones,” Cooper said. “I did last year, and I will again this year.”
What It Would Do
Cooper’s bill would allow people to conceal carry firearms in schools as long as they have an enhanced permit. Concealed carry is legal throughout Wyoming without a permit, except in gun-free zones, which includes public schools and the University of Wyoming campus.
To get an enhanced permit, an applicant would have to take a class from a certified instructor, which would have to be performed in-person and last no less than eight hours.
This instruction would include Wyoming law relating to firearms; the possession of firearms and the use of deadly force; the basic concepts of the safe and responsible use of handguns; self‑defense principles; and live fire training, including the firing of no less than 98 rounds by the applicant.
“This gives anybody that’s willing to spend hours understanding their responsibilities (that) they’ve got a full right to conceal carry in a school,” Cooper said. “As long as they’re willing to step up and take a little bit of training.”
Cooper also told Cowboy State Daily he was approached by multiple pro-gun constituents to bring his bill and would have not done so if they hadn’t reached out to him.
One of these constituents is a concealed carry supporter who’s the parent of a first grader and wants the right to have his gun at his child’s school, but who also doesn’t want a free-for-all.
The other constituent was a longtime gun dealer who he said advocated for an even more restrictive permitting process than what the bill offers.
“We want to make sure that we don’t encroach on anybody’s Second Amendment rights,” Cooper said.
In 2017, the Wyoming Legislature passed a law allowing school teachers and staff to be armed at school.
Cooper believes the fact that only a few school districts have taken advantage of this law shows there’s legitimate hesitation about bringing guns into schools in Wyoming.
“If more schools were armored, I might not have pushed this forward,” he said.
Most educators who testified on the gun-free zones bill last year spoke against eliminating them.
Beth Howard, the Wyoming legislative lead for gun safety group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, which opposed the gun-free zones bill, also expects her organization to oppose Cooper’s bill. Howard said local school districts should be allowed to decide who can and can’t carry firearms in their schools.
“I think if we’re going to move in this direction, we need to allow local control,” she said. “There shouldn’t be a mandate from the state.”
Cooper hopes his bill can strike a middle ground between those who want gun free zones banned and those who don’t. SF 37 would only apply to schools and as currently written, only K-12 institutions.
“Wholesale what we’re doing is making people know what they are responsible for and the consequences of concealed carry in a school zone,” he said. “That’s all we’re trying to do.”
Cooper said he would vote to support the gun-free zones bill again and isn’t necessarily going to put his neck out for his own bill, which he also has some issues with.
He’s also hopeful that his bill could be potentially incorporated into the gun-free zones bill, which he believes had some constitutional issues last year he hopes will be resolved moving forward.
“If we just open it up to gun-free zones, I could see it creating a lot of issues going forward,” Cooper said.
Opposition
Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, brought the gun-free zone ban earlier this year and told Cowboy State Daily he plans to bring it again this year after consulting with the University of Wyoming, the state’s community colleges and the governor’s office.
Under the bill, people carrying concealed weapons in Wyoming can carry their firearms in state buildings, public schools and universities, access Haroldson believes is a constitutional right. Buying a firearm in Wyoming already requires a background check and the taking of a firearms safety class.
Haroldson said Cooper’s bill amounts to “a solution in search of a problem.”
“At the end of the day, it adds a lot of fear surrounding the conversation while not adding any clarity,” he said.
Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, a vocal gun rights advocate, agreed, calling Cooper’s bill “a bad deal for the people of Wyoming”
“Anytime you start having these secondary requirements, there’s a chance it would lead to higher standards in the future,” he said. “How the government goes so will the private sector.”
Howard also expressed concern that Cooper’s bill will create confusion about where the enhanced permits will and won’t be allowed because Wyoming is a constitutional carry state, and also worries people with involuntary mental health will be able to qualify for the permit.
Bouchard believes that by creating more gun regulations, even if it’s for the purpose of creating new gun rights, it will lead to more Second Amendment restrictions in the future, which is why he believes passing it would be worse than continuing the status quo, which technically allows for the removal of gun-free zones if a state decides to go that route.
“It creates a higher bar for citizens to have to go through,” Bouchard said.
Cooper doesn’t agree.
“When we run into these more contentious topics, they need to be discussed, and this is an avenue to discuss it,” he said. “This bill is a vehicle to get us into further discussion about what we’re trying to do with repealing gun free zones.”
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
