2/10/25 Bill Review
HB0172 Repeal gun free zones and preemption amendments
CONSTITUTIONAL (approaching)
Bill has sponsor friendly amendments that now occur in HB0172 Engrossed Version
(Video of sponsor summarizing the bill and public comments for the House Judiciary Committee.)
United States Constitution
Amendment 2
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Wyoming State Constitution
Article 1, Section 24
The right of citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and of the state shall not be denied.
~
As can be seen above, our right to bear arms acknowledged in the WY Constitution is actually worded stronger than the 2nd Amendment in the U.S. Constitution – the WY Constitution specifies our right to defend both ourselves and the state.
Also note that our right to bear arms shall not be infringed nor denied. According to Black’s Law Dictionary:
Infringement:
A breaking into; a trespass or encroachment upon; a violation of a law, regulation, contract, or right. Used especially of invasions of the rights secured by patents, copyrights, and trademarks.
https://thelawdictionary.org/infringement/
Thus one can quickly deduce, if they hadn’t already, that our right to bear arms has already been infringed in the past – leading to our legislators, once again, attempting to restore these rights, piece by piece. Many people posit that the infringement of gun rights, via the creation of no-gun-zones, has led to soft targets in our communities – with public schools being the most vulnerable and sacred of all soft targets.
The intent of HB0172 is to limit the amount of soft targets in Wyoming. Furthermore, and proudly, HB0172 supports Wyoming county school boards who are already facilitating the ongoing training of teachers who choose to be trained and therefore armed in and for the schools they work at.
HB0172 allows concealed constitutional carry permit carriers in state owned/funded facilities, including public schools and any public colleges or the university. This is federally permissible with a state-issued concealed constitutional carry permit. The bill does not apply to:
- Any federal building.
- Anyone under the age of 21 years [§6-8-104 (b)(2)].
- Any event or facility where emotions can be high or potentially volatile, such as publicly held events that serve alcohol; mental health facilities; Dept of Family Services; Dept of Corrections.
- Any facilities where sufficient amounts of explosive materials would cause a safety issue.
Public comments opposing the bill focused primarily on complaints of wanting “local control”. Clearly these folks have no idea what they’re actually implying when they are arguing for local control against people exercising their Second Amendment rights. In our opinion, that is an insane concept that violates the intent of not just the Second Amendment, but the entire Bill of Rights altogether. Constitutional rights are not subject to local control and never have been. Judiciary Committee Chair, and former police chief, as well as co-sponsor of HB0172, Representative Art Washut (Natrona County) had some interesting observations on these aspects of HB0172 that we recommend WY citizens listen to here.
We at 307 Votes pray that HB0172 passes. We pray that the governor doesn’t try to veto this bill, and if he does, we pray that our legislature will have the 2/3 votes and time to override that veto. Ultimately we pray that all Wyoming students will be provided with the protection and security that they deserve in all Wyoming public schools and colleges.