When it comes to banning gun-free zones in Wyoming, it’s one thing to pass a ban into law, and another for state agencies, schools and towns to implement it.
Across Wyoming, they’re now scrambling to make rules to allow for permitted concealed carry of firearms in public buildings in order to comply with a new law passed during this year’s legislative session that bans gun-free zones in Wyoming.
Although presented with draft rules for the Capitol grounds in Cheyenne at the beginning of the State Building Commission meeting held on Wednesday, the commission opted to delay approving the rules so they can be studied at length, despite State Auditor Kristi Racines and Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder wanting to push them forward.
“I think these are not ready for prime time,” Gov. Mark Gordon said of the rules.
Instead of moving forward with making the rules official, the commission showed more interest in hosting an informal comment period and special meetings later down the road for them. Secretary of State Chuck Gray pointed out that Wednesday’s discussion on the rules was significant because state law forbids rules from being changed after they go out for public comment.
Gray also questioned a subcommittee charged with drafting the rules why it attempted to “roll in unrelated stuff” in with them, such as guidelines for allowing people to demonstrate outside the Capitol, which he did not see as appropriate to be included.
“I’m just getting really nervous, we’re adding a lot of stuff on different topics,” he said.
Gray also questioned why the term “open carry” needs to be defined.
Suzanne Norton, the division administrator for construction management of the State Building Commission, said conforming these and other phrases to the language used by other federal and educational facilities seemed like a good idea.
Rules And Frustration
Frustration about the new law was the theme of the night at an Albany County School District No. 1 board of trustees forum held Wednesday in Laramie.
Nate Martin, a member of the board, said the overwhelming message his board received from the roughly 90 people in attendance was to fight back against the new law as much as possible.
“Keep our buildings safe despite what the Legislature imposed on us,” Martin said.
Some of the people who expressed this view were concealed carry permit holders themselves.
When it comes to enacting tough rules, Martin said his board will “do what we can within the very very limited scope of what the Legislature will allow.”
State Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, who sponsored the new law, said he isn’t too concerned about an entity making rules so strict that they actually infringe on the law because the law was written in a clear manner, anticipating this possible response.
“There’s always going to be that concern, but the law is pretty prescriptive in what you can and cannot do,” Haroldson said.
Martin believes the issue of carrying firearms on school campuses and other public spaces should have been left up to local entities to decide on, pointing out that a number of other states already took this approach. He found it insulting that lawmakers outside his community got to decide on laws for it.
“It leaves us scratching our head, trying to follow the law and respond to the people in our local community,” he said.
Also in Laramie, the University of Wyoming’s board of trustees voted unanimously last week to change its firearms policy to match the new state law.
The policy for carrying outside on campus will remain the same: concealed or open carry are both allowed, without a permit. But once somebody sets foot inside a building on the UW campus, they’ll be allowed to conceal carry firearms with a required permit. Open carry won’t be allowed inside.
Possible Confusion
On March 19, the governor already approved rules that allowed for concealed carry of firearms in certain areas of the Capitol for concealed carry permit holders, immediately making this activity legal on Capitol grounds before the new law goes into effect.
When the new law goes into effect on July 1, this will expand to all areas of the Capitol and for concealed carry permit holders and non-permit holders alike.
Racines, State Treasurer Curt Meier and Norton all pointed out that the rulemaking process for a new law doesn’t have to start until 30 days after it starts, but the rules for the new concealed carry law could go into effect as soon as July 19 because of them expediting the rulemaking process.
Any gap between the implementation of the law and corresponding state rules can be bridged with emergency rules.
“We are not behind (schedule), we are happy to just consider implementing the law, but the department wants to meet the rules, the statutes that every Legislature brings before us,” Norton said. “While the rulemaking process is in progress, it makes sense to incorporate simple changes.”
Racines expressed concern about passing emergency rules that differ greatly from the final rules and Haroldson worried during a Management Council meeting on Tuesday about the possibility of confusion about the rules already in effect for the Capitol. Gordon also lamented that the commission didn't do a good job avoiding confusion on this topic and stressed that an improved process must take place moving forward.
Whether good, bad or indifferent on the new law, Martin expressed concern when speaking to Cowboy State Daily that the public may not understand what it means and the limitations that still come with it.
“The difficulty that we face is the need to communicate information to the greater public about this is substantial,” Martin said. “People are going to think we allow guns in schools without limits and just carry. The parameters within the new law and within the school and how we enact the rules will lead to massive confusion.”
Another possible point of confusion about the new law is that although people can conceal carry without a permit in the Wyoming Capitol, they can’t do so in any of the state’s public schools. The new law also incorporates language from an existing law allowing teachers to be armed in school if their district allows.
Haroldson said the biggest point of confusion he’s seen about the new law is when it goes into effect, mentioning how people already told him they can't wait to take advantage of it in the Capitol.
“People don’t understand enacting laws, it isn’t just a free-for-all,” he said. “There are rules that need to be abided by.”
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
