Governor Mark Gordon is leading an effort to allow Wyoming residents to carry weapons in more places.
Despite his contentious veto of a sweeping gun-free zone ban last month, the governor is now promoting efforts to allow concealed carry in more areas including parts of the Capitol.
“I think it’s probably on everybody’s mind here that we should be able to reform and revise these rules to make them much more attuned to Wyoming’s desire to make sure that we have concealed carry,” he said Wednesday during a State Building Commission meeting in Cheyenne.
But WyoFile reports the governor’s comments came with a caveat regarding the state’s insurance costs and security needs. He said the process could go forward but in a “deliberate way.”
The process of deciding which buildings could consider allowing concealed carry will be decided by the State Building Commission, which includes Wyoming’s top five elected officials: the governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer and superintendent of public instruction.
Some facilities under the commission’s purview include the State Hospital, Life Resources Center, Girls’ School, and Boys’ School, according to commission spokesperson Travis Hoff. Still, he noted, the group doesn’t oversee day-to-day operations at those facilities.
As for the Capitol, most of the building — including the top two floors — falls under the jurisdiction of the legislative branch during the session. That means the commission and executive branch wouldn’t be able to set rules there during that time.
Next steps involve writing and compiling necessary documents, getting Gordon’s sign-off on those documents, and uploading the rules to the Wyoming Secretary of State’s rules system to open a 45-day public comment period.
Beyond that, Gordon talked about scheduling more public meetings focused on the effort to eliminate certain gun-free zones in state facilities.
Meeting schedules can be found here.
