A bill that would scrap almost every “gun-free zone” in the state of Wyoming has passed both the House and Senate with overwhelming margins, but a handful of gun control activists are now directing their attention to Gov. Mark Gordon in the hopes of getting him to whip out his veto pen.
On Monday, a group of about 20 students from the University of Wyoming staged a “die-in” protest outside of Gordon’s office in the state capitol building, upset over the fact that the right to keep and bear arms may soon apply on their campus.
Staged as a “die-in” protest, students wore white T-shirts splattered with red paint and held signs that read “I’d rather not be a target,” “Books > Bullets” and “I don’t feel safe in school.”
House Bill 172, “Repeal gun free zones and preemption amendments,” passed on third reading Friday in the state Senate. On Monday, Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, and Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, signed the bill, which is now House Enrolled Act 24, heading to Gordon’s desk.
Students have repeatedly spoken at legislative committee meetings this session about their opposition to HB 172, which would affect the university, as well as Wyoming’s K-12 schools and other state-owned facilities. Still, students say they feel they’ve been largely ignored in the process.
“I was pretty disappointed to see [HB 172] pass with so little debate, with so little consideration for any amendments or the safeguards we’d been asking for,” Associated Students of the University of Wyoming Director of Community and Governmental Affairs Sophia Gomelsky told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle Monday afternoon.
“The fact that it flew through the House so fast is pretty representative of the fact that lawmakers are not listening,” she said.
Gomelsky’s wrong about the legislature not considering any amendments to HB 172. As we reported on Monday, the Senate not only considered but adopted a couple of amendments, including one that prohibits students over the age of 18 from carrying on K-12 campuses. And the fact that HB 172 wasn’t subject to much debate can probably be explained by the final vote for the bill: 50-10 in the House and 25-6 in the Senate.
The fact of the matter is that ensuring that folks can exercise their Second Amendment rights in as many settings as possible isn’t controversial in Wyoming, no matter how much heartburn it may generate on the university campus.
Though lawmakers were unreceptive to the anti-2A arguments from the college students, they’re hoping that the protest outside of Gordon’s office will spur him to veto HB 172… and there’s at least a chance that the governor will reject the bill.
Gordon vetoed a bill very similar to HB 172 in 2024, and many similar measures have failed to become state law over the years. Michael Pearlman, communications director for the governor’s office, told the WTE in an email Monday afternoon that Gordon had “thanked Sophia for exercising her First Amendment rights, and said he would take her comments into consideration.”
Gordon is still considering the bill and has until Thursday to act on it, Pearlman said.
Given the lopsided votes in favor of HB 172, the legislature could probably override a veto if Gordon ends up rejecting the bill, but it would be much better if the governor simply signed the bill into law. The repeal of “gun-free zones” hasn’t exactly drawn overwhelming opposition, but Wyoming gun owners can’t take anything for granted, and they too should be reaching out to Gordon’s office ahead of the Thursday deadline to act on HB 172 and urge him to strengthen and expand the Second Amendment’s protections across the state of Wyoming.
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