Laramie residents packed the room before their school board Wednesday, expressing staunch opposition to allowing the concealed carrying of firearms in local schools.
Members of the Albany County School District 1 Board of Trustees said they also hate the idea of allowing guns in schools, but under a new state law, there’s no choice.
“This decision was made beforehand (by the Wyoming Legislature), and we’re just here to clean up the mess,” trustee Nate Martin told the crowd.
He was referring to House Bill 172, which repeals Wyoming’s gun-free zones. It was passed by both chambers of the Legislature in February. Gov. Mark Gordon later allowed it to pass into law without signing it.
The law is set to take effect July 1.
The Albany County school board’s reaction to HB 172 mirrored that of some members of the University of Wyoming’s Board of Trustees.
They also said the Legislature left them with no choice but to allow concealed carry inside campus buildings, despite strong opposition from UW students, faculty and staff.
What If We Sell Booze At School?
HB 172 will allow people age 21 and older who hold concealed carry permits to take their concealed firearms onto public school grounds and into schools, as well as into other public places previously designated as gun-free zones.
The open carry of firearms, or possession of firearms by people who don’t hold concealed carry permits, will still be banned in public schools.
Off school grounds, Wyomingites still have the right to constitutional carry. Meaning, the open or concealed carrying of firearms is legal, with no permit required.
There will be some exceptions in schools. Those include firearms still being forbidden in school health services facilities, or in school laboratories or classrooms containing volatile materials.
That’s similar to exceptions on the UW campus.
UW will also continue to forbid firearms at sporting events where alcohol is served.
Some at the school board meeting half-jokingly suggested that the school district could effectively ban guns by serving alcohol at school events, which drew laughter from the crowd more than once.
‘Carried Out In A Body Bag’
The school board heard roughly an hour of testimony from parents and other locals gathered at the meeting. Everybody who spoke opposed allowing firearms in schools.
Some expressed misgivings over the increased risk of accidental shootings or suicides if troubled students somehow got hold of a firearm.
Others said they worried that guns in schools might ratchet up the danger of violence prompted by racism or anti-transgender sentiments.
Some Laramie High School students said that although one stated intent of the law is to make schools safer, it makes them feel more vulnerable.
Student Fey Smith said she worries about walking into school, but “being carried out in a body bag.”
Another student who identified himself as “Axel” drew hearty applause from the crowd when he called the new law “unequivocally and objectively stupid.”
Concerns Over Lack Of Training
Laramie residents Brent Roth and Ryan Aukerman said they have concealed carry permits but still don’t think schools are an appropriate place to carry guns.
Roth said obtaining his permit was relatively easy after going through law enforcement background checks. He said that it didn’t require any hands-on training with firearms.
Armed civilians without adequate training might make an emergency — such as an attempted mass shooting at a school — even worse, he said.
He and others suggested that the district try implementing some sort of screening process for people with concealed firearms entering the school, such as allowing them only into the front offices.
“We need to think outside the box a little bit,” he said. “There’s always a way around the rules.”
Aukerman, an orthopedic surgeon, said he’s treated gunshot wounds, which almost always resulted from negligence or a lack of proper training with firearms.
Allowing people to carry concealed firearms in schools, without also requiring them to go through extensive training, is a bad idea, he said.
“I take care of the people who get shot in this community. It’s never pretty and it’s never good,” Aukerman said. “And it’s always because of inexperience with firearms, unless it’s intentional.”
Who Will Pay For This?
Others said they were disappointed the Legislature mandated that schools allow concealed carry but didn’t offer any additional money to implement the policy change.
Safety measures such as metal detectors could be expensive, and the state should help pay for them, some people argued.
Trustees responded that they don’t expect any financial support from the state, and the district will have to craft its policy to comply with HB 172 over the next few school board meetings.
That’s put the trustees in a frustrating position, board member Kim Sorenson said.
After five years of serving on the board, “it was the first time a student came up to me and asked me, ‘Who does this legislation benefit?’ And I didn’t have an answer,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
