A bill that backers claim will protect Wyoming gun owners from federal overreach got pushback from several top law enforcement officers, who said it could ruin their ability to cooperate with federal agencies.
House Bill 130, the Second Amendment Protection Act, aims to bar Wyoming law enforcement agencies from enforcing any federal gun regulations that violate residents’ Second Amendment rights.
A mirror bill set to go before the Wyoming Senate, Senate File 101, would do the same.
Law enforcement commanders told the House Appropriations Committee on Friday that the bill as written goes far beyond its stated intention.
They said it would wreck their officers’ ability to cooperate with federal agencies on drug cases, immigration enforcement and the like.
Sheridan Police Chief Travis Koltiska said the bill could provide loopholes that would have stalled justice against the person who illegally provided firearms to a man who shot and killed one of his officers two years ago.
The committee voted to forward HB 130 to the House floor.
Protecting Rights
HB 130 is crafted to narrowly focus keeping Wyoming officers out of federal “task force” operations to seize firearms, ammunition or gun accessories, Aaron Dorr, policy advisor for Wyoming Gun Owners, told the committee.
The Biden administration “tried to force” Wyoming law enforcement agencies to enforce unconstitutional regulations, such as a pistol brace ban, he said.
Mark Jones of Buffalo, a national director for Gun Owners of America, also argued that the bill’s focus is narrow.
“It stops at participation in federal firearms activities,” he said.
“This is important to close all the loopholes in Wyoming in Terms of Second Amendment rights protection,” he added.
A Way To Escape Justice?
Koltiska told lawmakers that if HB 130 had been in effect two years ago, it would have upended a federally led investigation that resulted in the conviction of a woman who illegally provided firearms to a man who killed one of his officers.
Eileen Marie Hurley was charged, prosecuted and convicted on a felony of unlawfully providing firearms to a convicted felon. That was her son, William Lowery, who shot and killed Sheridan Police Sgt. Nevada Krinkee on Feb. 13, 2024.
The slaying led to a standoff, with Lowery holed up in a Sheridan house. On Feb. 14, 2024, Lowery fled the home and was shot to death by a Casper Police Department Officer.
Testifying via Zoom, Koltiska noted that Friday was the two-year anniversary of Krinkee’s death.
He said that Hurley’s conviction was vital to his department’s healing process.
Under the measures proposed by HB 130, “the person who knowingly armed the killer may never have been held accountable,” he said.
“Holding accountable the person who placed the gun into the killer’s hands was not a small matter to us or anyone in my community. It was essential to justice, to healing and to public safety,” Koltiska added.
Other Concerns
The Wyoming Highway Patrol (WHP) has about a dozen troopers assigned to a task force to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), WHP Lt. Colonel Karl Germain told the committee.
HB 130 would undermine such cooperation, he said. For instance, it could have stopped troopers from assisting at the scene when protestors allegedly blocked ICE vehicles at a Rock Springs motel in January.
“Should this law pass, I would hesitate to send troopers to help in those types of situations,” because it might not be clear ahead of time if firearms violations are also involved, he said.
“That (the task force agreement) allows our troopers to enforce immigration and custom laws in the state of Wyoming and apprehend people that are here illegally if they fall within that jurisdiction,” Germain added.
Albany County Sheriff Aaron Appelhans said that his deputies sometimes assist federal agencies with cases that might, for instance, start out as drug investigations, but then turn out to also involve firearms violations.
“This really doesn’t help law enforcement in any way shape or form in the quick decisions that we have to make in terms of enforcing the law, especially enforcing gun laws,” he said.
Moreover, HB 130 likely violates the federal supremacy clause and would be struck down in federal circuit court, as a similar statute in Missouri was, Appelhans said.
Frustration
A Second Amendment protection act for Wyoming has been in the works for about five years, said committee member Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland.
A similar bill passed both chambers of the Legislature by a huge margin during the 2025 session, but was vetoed by Gov. Mark Gordon, he said.
There should have been time to iron out any problems and come to terms with law enforcement’s concerns before HB 130 came before the committee, Haroldson said.
“I think it’s been five years this bill has been playing around in this House. And I’m going to be really blunt. I’m frustrated. I’m frustrated that we’re five years in and we haven’t gotten it figured out in the realm beforehand,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
