Starting Tuesday, Wyomingites will be allowed to carry guns into state government buildings, with some exceptions including courthouses and law enforcement facilities.
On June 17, the Wyoming State Building Commission — composed of the governor, treasurer, state auditor, secretary of state and superintendent of public education — adopted rules allowing concealed carry in most state government buildings in preparation for a new law that takes effect Tuesday repealing “gun-free” zones in government buildings.
The new rules mark a major expansion of where citizens can carry firearms as they conduct business with their government. That expansion comes at the behest of the Legislature and over the objections of Gov. Mark Gordon, who sought to implement concealed carry into Wyoming’s state buildings through a rule-making process overseen by the building commission. But lawmakers passed their repeal bill with a veto-proof majority this year. Gordon nixed a previous version in 2024.
The Legislature’s drive to open state government buildings to armed citizens coincides with concerns about increased political violence in America. Earlier this month, a man assassinated a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband and nearly killed another lawmaker and his partner. That violence came on the heels of an arson attack on Pennsylvania’s governor, and months after a campaign season in which two people tried to assassinate President Donald Trump.
Lawmakers who pushed for the concealed carry bill, which passed the Senate with a 25-6 vote and the House with a 50-10 vote, believe allowing citizens to go armed and defend themselves is the antidote to such violence. Opponents fear more guns in more places will lead to more deaths and injuries, both accidental and deliberate.
This winter, public areas of the Wyoming State Capitol were opened to concealed carry. You do not need a permit to concealed carry a lawfully purchased firearm in the Equality State.
Separately, the Wyoming Department of Administration and Information issued a new policy allowing state employees to concealed carry but required them to store firearms in a locked box when it is not on their person.
That policy does not require employees to have taken gun safety or active shooter courses, though it says they are “strongly encouraged” to do so.
Exceptions to the new rules include the Wyoming Judiciary, where bailiffs go armed but members of the public are forbidden to carry weapons into courtrooms. The public is also not allowed to carry firearms into facilities primarily used by law enforcement, including jails, prisons and agency offices like those of the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.
Concealed carry will also remain prohibited in treatment facilities operated by the health department and field offices of the Wyoming Department of Family Services. Those exceptions were all included in the Legislature’s repeal bill.
Around the state, Wyoming school boards have struggled to write new policies to conform with the law, which also forced the allowance of concealed carry in public schools. That response on a local level has highlighted the political differences between counties, WyoFile reported in collaboration with news outlets around the state.
The process for state government has been more subdued. The State Building Commission’s emergency meeting to adopt the new rules featured only one public commenter, who brought to officials a concern about a piece of wording in the law he thought violated legislative intent. The Wyoming Public Employee Association, which represents state workers across different agencies, didn’t take a position, Executive Director Betty Jo Beardsley told WyoFile.
Her members fall on both sides of the debate about whether gun-free zones are safer or targets for people who want to do harm, she said.
The emergency rules may only last until July 9, Wyoming State Building Commission Secretary Suzanne Norton told WyoFile in an interview Wednesday. On that day, the five elected officials are scheduled to meet again and are likely to adopt permanent rules that echo the emergency rules going into effect Tuesday.
Though lawmakers had given the executive branch 30 days to implement rules after the law went into effect, Norton said officials wanted to have rules in place when the law took effect.
Posted signs of a “no” symbol over the silhouette of a handgun will indicate those buildings or spaces within buildings where concealed carry is prohibited, Norton said.
Correction: This article has been updated to correct Wyoming State Building Commission Secretary Suzanne Norton’s name. -Ed.
The question I have, is while conceal carry is obviously allowed, is open carry allowed as well?
What possible good is there in allowing this especially when public officials are threatened and recently gravely harmed and shot dead. As if there are not enough shootings that we need to do this in federal buildings. So disappointing and sad.
We need to start teaching firearm safety in kindergarten and continue to graduation. After all isn’t that the theory behind driver safety taught in school? Let’s try it. It likely will improve things as far as this gun violence goes
How in the world did we manage to get along without guns for all these years? We don’t need more firearms, what we need is for people to start being civil to each other again. We need our political leaders to stop pointing fingers, spewing divisive rhetoric, causing chaos and confusion. We need less video games that glorify violence. We need less social media. Seriously, read some of the back n forth comments on WyoFile’s facebook page, and you’ll know exactly where I’m coming from. Violence never resolved any issue, and shooting someone dead is not an “oops, do over” moment.
This article states that lawmakers who voted for concealed carry in public places believe this will be the anecdote to gun violence.
The reality is that probably less than one in a hundred will have any clue as to how to handle themselves in such a violent situation.
The rest of these wanna be Rambo’s and self aggrandizing hero’s will be messing their pants and shooting at shadows . What ever the tragedy would have been with just the original shooter will be magnified exponentially.
Anyone who trusts this mythical good guy with a gun is a moron. This is just simple math; the more guns in the fight: the more casualties in the aftermath.
I hate to burst your bubble, but a gun doesn’t make you a hero.
Dave Gustafson
Again, stupidity has run wild. I am a gun owner and I’ve owned guns all my life and hunted for a long time. More gun do not mean more safety. If they wanted to do this insane bill. they should’ve made the requirement for concealed carry to be more like the law in North Dakota. In order to get a concealed carry permit in North Dakota you must’ve taken a gun safety course, which is easy, but you then have to show proficiency with your dominant hand and some proficiency with your less dominant hand
The other problem is, although I am pretty accurate at the range, I have no idea how I’m going to react to a person carrying a gun with a gun. Am I going to get an adrenaline rush and miss, is my shot gonna go wide and hit somebody else in the office?
Also, I thought this law was going to say that the person had to get a concealed carry permit in order to conceal carry in the state building. I have a concealed carry permit, but it’s legal in Wyoming to conceal carry without a permit, but if you go down to other states the laws are not reciprocal.
More guns in more places do not necessarily equate to safety. More police officers, more school resource officers that are highly trained, more money into our education system, more money into teaching kids or people how to react in active shooter situation. Money into mental health.
The second amendment is great, but used inappropriately it is not.
I also have to mention that a lot of the violence that is being caused in this country right now is because of the split in the political parties and the Almighty Orange one. Remember when we used to love each other, or maybe just like each other. The orange ones administration thrives on hate. His approval rating is down to 41%, and I’m not sure why those 41% are following him.
Highly trained?
Stupidity reigns in Wyoming, not to mention in the leadership of the whole country. I shudder at the thought of insecure popgunners being allowed to carry concealed weapons in public buildings and other public places. Most of the ones I’ve met during my lifetime should not even possess firearms at all…
Everything is irrelevant when you worship an inanimate object. You do. You worship them. You got bought and sold by the gun industry. Hook line and sinker.
Having my co-workers and the general public “officially” being able to conceal carry does not make me, as a state employee, feel any safer, in fact, it’s quite the opposite. If only we could guarantee that “responsible” gun owners were always “responsible”. I’m more concerned about accidents. When there are no guns in the workplace there can can be no gun accidents. When there are guns in the workplace everyday, there is the possibility of a gun related accident to happen everyday.
I’ve never, in by 35 years of working for the state, been in a situation where I, or a co-worker needed a gun for any reason. If one was needed, I don’t know that I would trust any “good guy” with a gun to not escalate a situation, shoot the right person if it came to that, anymore that I would trust a bad guy with a gun.
It won’t be long, all the anti gun folks will start posting comments that are completely irrelevant.
Not necessarily an “anti-gun” person – just a state employee and this does not make me feel safer. But I’m sure my safety is irrelevant to you.
Your safety is or should be of concern of all of us if you work for me. But foremost it should be your highest responsibility. A lot of folks carry guns, most of the time you likely don’t even know it.