Senate bill would force UW to allow guns into campus buildings
SF37 would establish a new “enhanced” concealed carry permit — and require UW, community colleges and schools to allow the holders of such a permit to carry on campus.
Proposed legislation filed in the Wyoming Senate would require the University of Wyoming to allow concealed carry firearms into campus buildings.
If passed, the legislation would override UW’s current “dangerous weapons” policy, which forbids firearms and other weapons in campus facilities.
Senate File 37 addresses “enhanced concealed carry in school zones.” The bulk of the bill establishes a new “enhanced” concealed carry permit, then clarifies that holders of such a permit may bring weapons into a number of educational settings, including university buildings.
During the last legislative session, state lawmakers brought and passed a bill outlawing gun-free zones at schools and institutions of higher education. Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed the bill, preventing it from becoming law.
But the near miss — and the governor’s veto letter — compelled university leaders to reexamine UW’s weapons policy.
In August, the university put forward a range of proposals — from making no change to its current policy to loosening the restrictions to eliminating the ban altogether. UW sought feedback from members of the campus community.
The community overwhelmingly supported making no change to the current policy. In a survey and across a variety of virtual and in-person forums, faculty, staff and students passionately defended UW’s prohibition on firearms within its buildings.
In November, the university’s trustees considered a proposal to allow concealed carry in most campus buildings. They decided, in a close vote, to reject the proposal and uphold the ban.
“We’ve heard overwhelmingly in our public comments, from faculty, staff and students, that this [proposal] doesn’t make them feel safer,” said UW Trustee Macey Moore.
At the same meeting, UW Trustees Chair Kermit Brown warned the campus community that state lawmakers were likely to override the university’s policy during the session that starts next week.
“You have to talk to your individual legislators, and you have to go to Cheyenne and make your wishes known,” Brown said. “We don’t know whether the legislature will accept it, or whether they’ll cast all this aside and do their own thing.”
Senate File 37 makes plain that lawmakers plan to override the campus ban, at least partially.
If passed, the bill would allow Wyoming residents to gain an “enhanced” concealed carry permit after completing an eight-hour handgun safety course. Applicants must also provide fingerprints and a driver’s license or other form of photo ID issued by the state.
The enhanced permit then confers certain benefits. Of particular interest to UW:
A person who possesses a valid enhanced concealed carry permit under this section may, in addition to all other locations authorized by law, carry a concealed weapon into: … [a]ny college or university facility.
The enhanced permit also allows permit-holders to carry in “[a]ny school, college or professional athletic event not related to firearms” and “[a]ny elementary or secondary school facility …” with limited caveats.
Under the proposed law, individuals will have to obtain the new “enhanced” permit to legally carry a concealed firearm into a University of Wyoming building. The normal concealed carry permits already available through the attorney general’s office are not, and would not be, sufficient.
Concealed carry is already allowed outside of UW facilities on campus grounds.
The “enhanced” permit would also broaden the number of other states in which a traveling Wyoming permit-holder could carry a concealed weapon.
Senate File 37 is sponsored by Ten Sleep Sen. Ed Cooper (SD-20). No Albany County lawmaker has co-sponsored the bill.
Other bills filed this year would eliminate sales tax on firearms and ammunition, limit the legal liability of individuals returning firearms after agreeing to hold them, and forbid credit card companies, banks or others from treating the purchase of firearms or ammo differently than other purchases.
The general session begins Tuesday.
Given the most likely outcome of more guns on campus is someone - or many people - getting shot, I suggest the legislature invest heavily in personal liability insurance.