Strapped at the Cap’: Lawmakers and lobbyists take advantage of the Wyoming Capitol’s repealed gun-free zone

CHEYENNE—Mark Jones walked in through a side door of the Wyoming Capitol early Thursday morning. Entering, he noticed that the “no guns” signs once posted throughout the building were gone. 

“It feels so good,” said Jones, the national director of Gun Owners of America. He carried a concealed 10 mm Glock pistol for self defense. “If a 9 mm is good, a 10 mm is even better!” 

The 2026 budget session is the first time lawmakers and others are allowed to bring concealed firearms into the Capitol while the Legislature conducts its business. Some Capitol denizens are taking advantage. 

Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, a Republican pastor from Wheatland, sponsored the measure that now allows this. The Capitol isn’t the only place where concealed carry rules have changed — the new law applies to many of Wyoming’s state government buildings. Haroldson had run bills to repeal gun-free zones in Wyoming every year since becoming a lawmaker in 2021. “It’s fun to see that from beginning to end,” he said.  

Thursday morning, the Wheatland lawmaker sat before the House Revenue Committee and presented another gun bill (he sponsored four this year) to the panel. He wore camo pants and a Punisher skull with a dollop of neon yellow hair — an homage to Trump — pinned to his jacket. Asked if he carried a concealed firearm, the pastor said: “Absolutely.” (Actually, he has three guns that he “rotates” through. He declined to say what kind of guns they are.) 

Armed with a copy of his bill and a thick green book of Wyoming criminal statutes, Haroldson gave the committee his pitch, and without any amendments or debate, the bill passed with eight ayes, one excused.

The repealed gun-free zones were a long time coming. Efforts to pass a version of House Bill 172, the measure that became law, began more than a decade ago, but really accelerated starting in 2017. Then-Gov. Matt Mead vetoed the bill that year. Lawmakers then brought mirror versions of the bill in 2019. One died in committee, the other was “postponed indefinitely.” Lawmakers tried again in 2020 and 2021 — no luck. On and on. In 2024, the bill made it across the finish line again, but Gov. Mark Gordon struck it down with a veto. And then last year, finally, the bill cleared the Legislature, and that time, without his signature, Gordon let it become law. 

After Thursday’s committee meeting, Jones sat with Brian Gorsch, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, at a table in the Capitol extension. Gorsch, who lives in South Dakota, didn’t say if he was carrying. “Well, that’s the beautiful thing about it,” he said. “You’ll never know.” He crossed his arms and patted his biceps: “I’ve got my guns right here.” 

A Republican lawmaker from Rock Springs, Sen. John Kolb, who defended House Bill 172, was also guarded. “I’d be stupid to tell you,” he said, stopping before the Senate lobby. “The uncertainty is what protects people.” The more interesting question, Kolb added off the cuff, is who was carrying firearms in the Capitol before the gun-free zone was repealed. (He declined to elaborate.) 

Rep. Scott Heiner, a Green River Republican, standing beside two of his colleagues before a morning committee meeting on Friday, opened his suit jacket and then spun around to show that, indeed, there was no firearm hidden in the back of his belt. The other lawmakers, Reps. Chris Knapp and Reuben Tarver, looked on and chuckled. 

“For my part, I feel more safe and secure,” said Heiner, who supported House Bill 172. “I know some of my legislative friends carry.” 

Knapp usually doesn’t have a firearm. “But I think it’s great.” 

Tarver didn’t divulge. “Would I tell you if I was?” he said, eyebrows raised.  

Concealed guns in the Capitol don’t appear to have changed much as far as security. “You gotta remember that we’re in Wyoming, so this is pretty normal,” a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper posted at the Capitol Rotunda said. The trooper’s colleague recounted that he’d recently pulled over someone who had a firearm resting out in the car’s center console. “As of right now, we’ve had no issues with guns,” Capt. Benjamin Schlosser, who was stationed near the governor’s office, said. 

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House Bill 172 was a big win for ardent Second Amendment advocates. But clearly, their appetite for gun freedoms hasn’t been satiated. The Legislature has six gun bills to consider this year, despite it being a budget session. Two of them — both sponsored by Haroldson — would expand concealed carry even further. One of the pastor’s measures would lower the age for acquiring a concealed carry permit from 21 to 18. Another would allow people authorized to carry concealed weapons without a permit to do so on any public college or university campus.

On Friday, Sens. Wendy Schuler and Chris Rothfuss hurried from committee meetings to the first-floor elevator, late for the morning Senate floor session. Both had voted against House Bill 172. Rothfuss, a Laramie Democrat, isn’t sure he would “stand up and strongly oppose a gun bill at this point.” 

“I’m trying to keep it out of my mind,” he said in the elevator. “And I haven’t been shot yet.” 

“There are too many other more important things to think about,” Schuler, a Republican from Evanston, added. 

The elevator door opened. Before it stood Aaron Dorr, the Iowa-based lobbyist for Wyoming Gun Owners, wearing his customary black suit and looking at his phone. 

The organization, known for its aggressive lobbying tactics, “was involved from the beginning” of lawmakers’ efforts to repeal gun-free zones, Dorr said. Thursday afternoon, he stood in the gallery of the Senate as lawmakers voted on Senate File 101, “Second amendment protection act amendments,” sponsored by President Bo Biteman. The lobbyist was texting as he watched lawmakers conduct their business. 

Does Dorr have a concealed gun? “Absolutely!” he said, standing with his phone in his hands outside the Senate gallery after lawmakers voted to introduce Senate File 101. 

“Being a gun lobbyist, of course I’m taking advantage of it.” 

He carries a Glock 19.

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