Why would Wyoming allow concealed guns at the Capitol, but restrict cameras?

Wyoming’s elected officials are trying to simultaneously get more guns and fewer cameras in the State Capitol.

I know that the pen is mightier than the sword, but can we please discard this absurd notion that photojournalists’ Nikons are dangerous, but election deniers’ Glocks are perfectly safe in the halls of government?

Let’s start with the controversial gun possession issue. Far-right lawmakers opposing any gun restrictions, including gun-free zones, have long tried to allow weapons inside the Capitol.

But this new proposal was advanced by the Capitol Building Commission, i.e. the governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer and state superintendent of public instruction.

The commission voted unanimously in favor of a plan to allow concealed firearms in many areas of the Capitol and attached facilities, including the extension that connects to the Herschler Building. There will be a 45-day public comment period and other requirements before any rules and regulations actually change.

What concerns me, however, is how blithely the state’s top five elected officials ignored the public feedback they’ve already received. Eighty-seven percent of the 130 respondents to a State Construction Department online survey opposed changing the existing gun-free policy.

One state employee expressed feeling “uncomfortable and fearful of coworkers, public visitors and anyone other than security personnel carrying firearms at my place of work.” 

Other respondents believed firearms shouldn’t be allowed where heated debate takes place. That’s a great description of the Legislature, where cooler heads often do not prevail.

At least 23 states allow some form of legal firearms possession at statehouses, though the rules vary greatly. My chief objection to Wyoming joining that list is the likelihood of guns being used — deliberately or not — to intimidate others and silence voices.

The Legislature makes its own rules for how business is conducted in its areas of the Capitol during the session. Lawmakers will have plenty more to say about concealed weapons after the commission finalizes its own plan. In the meantime, they’re busying themselves with new rules concerning media access. 

Last month, the Select Committee on Legislative Facilities, Technology and Process advanced a proposal to keep photo and video journalists from using the hallways adjacent to the Senate and House floors.

What are legislators who support this policy — which will be decided by the Legislative Management Council on Nov. 11 — afraid of? And would the public lose if it’s implemented?

The answer to both questions is transparency. Some lawmakers think it’s better to do their work out of the spotlight than to allow media representatives to show the public how legislators work and interact. 

There’s no question that restricting photographers to the third-floor gallery above the action in the House and Senate will result in far less interesting and informative images of what’s happening on the floor. Because older white males dominate both chambers, still photos and video images will typically show a sea of pale bald heads.

As the possessor of such a head, I guarantee you that’s a sight no one really needs or wants to see.

The much higher quality of images that can be obtained by taking photos at eye-level isn’t a sufficient reason alone to allow professionals to show their readers/viewers how legislators conduct themselves in the “People’s House.” 

But the old adage about a picture being worth a thousand words is often true. My days as a Wyoming Tribune Eagle photographer at the Capitol were long ago, and I enjoyed the chance to depict what was going on behind the scenes in ways I couldn’t always capture with my pen.

The best result I ever had was a series of photos during an emotionally exhausting late-night session when the Legislature killed a bill to create a medical school at the University of Wyoming. It stretched past midnight, and my final photo was of a legislator looking at his sleepy young daughter valiantly trying to stay awake on a couch off the House floor.

That image was only captured because of the access the media had in the chamber’s corridors. It captured the human element of the legislative process on a stressful, historic day.

The excuses being used to restrict press access are lame. Legislative Services Office Director Matt Obrecht told the committee “with the amount of traffic in those hallways … it’s just not a place for photographers.” In reality, the hallways are relatively quiet, with photographers respecting both the work spaces of each other and lawmakers.

Rep. Dan Zwonitzer (R-Cheyene), part of the 4-2 majority that sent the plan to the Management Council, claimed because everything being said at the microphones are captured by audio and video, “You don’t need that same [hallway] access because it is much more transparent.”

Yes, video and audio technology improved. But everything the public sees and hears is controlled by the Legislature, not independent observers. That’s a lot of power given to the government to decide how what’s happening is presented to voters. 

I share the concerns of Darcie Hoffland, executive director of the Wyoming Press Association. “It has been the role of the fourth estate to report on the work being done for the people of Wyoming by their legislators,” she wrote in an email to WyoFile. “To limit or revoke access sets a dangerous precedent not only for the Wyoming Legislature itself, but for local government agencies to follow suit.”

Times have indeed changed, to the detriment of legislative transparency. Until 2013, credentialed Wyoming journalists could work at tables on the Senate and House floors. They received memos and proposed amendments at the same time lawmakers did, so they could track bills as they were debated. If reporters had questions, they had easy access to legislative leaders’ offices off the hallways. It improved the quality, accuracy and comprehensiveness of news outlets’ coverage.

Legislative leaders justified removing the press tables 11 years ago by claiming more space was needed for staff. I don’t disagree that quarters were tight, but I don’t think the only viable solution was to boot the working press to the gallery.

During the Capitol’s renovation, officials closed the third floor media office shared by newspapers, radio, TV, WyoFile and wire service reporters. One of the things that made it a great working environment was that every legislator and lobbyist knew where to go to deliver their take on the daily grind of the session. The media plays a vital role in watching what transpires at the Capitol and informing the public.

Now the press room is in the basement, in the corridor between the Capitol and Herschler Building. After more than 40 years covering the Legislature, I know there are always lawmakers who would be overjoyed to boot the media right out the door.

But the Capitol isn’t just home to legislators, or people who want to pack heat while roaming the halls. The Management Council should reject the proposal to keep photojournalists from the space where they have the best opportunity to document what our lawmakers are doing.