Framing the measure as a hindrance to the Trump administration’s agenda, Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed controversial changes to a Wyoming gun law that aimed to further restrict enforcement of federal gun orders in Wyoming.
Gordon vetoed a similar measure last year. “It sincerely pains me to need to write this letter again this year,” the governor wrote Tuesday in his veto letter to Senate President Bo Biteman, who sponsored Senate File 101, the vetoed measure.
Biteman didn’t respond to an email and phone call requesting comment on the governor’s veto before publishing time.
Gordon lamented that the “litany of troubling language, problematic consequences, and irreconcilable issues” that he had pointed out in his veto message on the 2025 legislation “were completely ignored by the legislators advancing this newest iteration and still stand today.”
“If this bill became law it makes the job of locally elected sheriffs and trusted community law enforcement officers even more perilous,” the governor wrote.
Senate File 101, “Second amendment protection act amendments,” passed the House in a 40-21 vote on Thursday. The measure aims to add major changes to Wyoming’s Second Amendment Protection Act, a law that imposes restrictions on enforcing federal gun directives within Wyoming’s borders. Those alterations include adding a civil option for litigation, meaning anyone, and not just the state, could take legal action based on alleged violations of the law.
It would also impose a $50,000 civil penalty per violation on agencies, including agencies that hire officers who enforced federal firearms directives under previous federal employment. Those civil fines would add to existing criminal penalties for individual officers.
Wyoming law enforcement has strongly opposed SF 101, cautioning it would create legal ambiguity that could put officers and agencies at risk of litigation, while threatening federal partnerships and ultimately hampering efforts to address crime.
All 23 Wyoming sheriffs signed a letter to lawmakers voicing their opposition to the measure. The governor noted that disapproval in his veto letter. “Whether it is willful ignorance of their appeals or blind acceptance of the voices seeking to disparage them, I am sickened to see our local and state law enforcement treated this way in Wyoming,” Gordon wrote.
The governor described the legislation as a hindrance to the Trump administration’s enforcement initiatives on immigration, drug smuggling and human trafficking. In his veto message, Gordon linked a March 7 letter from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons, who argued that the measure would threaten Wyoming law enforcement “simply for cooperating with federal law enforcement on firearm investigations — even when those investigations target violent offenders, traffickers, or organized criminal networks.” Lyons also noted that many gun crimes are federal offenses that, in many cases, have no parallel enforcement statutes in Wyoming.
Those who supported SF 101, including Second Amendment advocacy groups like Wyoming Gun Owners and Gun Owners of America, describe the changes as a protection for citizens against a too-powerful federal government intent on confiscating people’s guns. They repeatedly pointed to carveouts in the bill that they said would allow Wyoming law enforcement officers to work with federal partners to address crime, even when firearms are potentially involved.
Opponents, however, argued those carveouts don’t address ambiguities in how the measure would be applied to various law enforcement situations that could require quick decisions.
Gordon didn’t mince his words in his veto letter. He described certain lobbyists who have supported SF 101 as “snake oil salesmen” promoting a “narrative that your Sheriffs — whom we elect — are somehow going to be deviously complicit with any federal agency’s effort to take your firearm.” He also pointed to the fact that it is an election year, “and as we do every election year, we always must have some outrageous bill just to see how committed candidates are.”
The governor suggested taking more time to work through potential loopholes in Wyoming’s existing law “in an open and cooperative process.”
Lawmakers will have a chance to try and override Gordon’s veto on Wednesday. They face a difficult hurdle — a veto override requires a two-thirds majority. The Senate voted down a twin measure to SF 101, House Bill 130, on its last vote in that chamber last week.
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Finally, The Gov made the right decision.
Like Donald Trump, Mark Gordon is NOT a champion of the 2nd Amendment or people’s natural human right to self defense.
Government never likes relinquishing powers and rights that it has successfully stripped away from the Citizenry.