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CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The Wyoming Senate on Monday voted to water down a bill that would have allowed people holding concealed carry permits to carry guns onto school grounds or into most public buildings across the state.
Although the Wyoming House already had approved the bill that would have granted statewide approval for concealed carry in schools and public buildings, the Senate by a split vote on Monday accepted a substitute bill that would leave it up to school boards and local governments to decide the issue on a local basis.
The bill needs two more readings in the Senate before a conference committee could consider any ultimate differences between it and the House version. The legislative session, meanwhile, is set to end late this week.
Sen. Hank Coe, R-Cody, is chairman of the Senate Education Committee, which had recommended the substitute bill. He said that if state lawmakers truly believe there's some imminent threat to the state's schools, they should take concrete action to address it, not merely, "hope by happenstance that allowing concealed carry will protect Wyoming children."
Senate President Phil Nicholas, R-Laramie said it's clear that Wyoming citizens have an undeniable right to bear their own arms and to protect themselves. However, he said securing a state concealed carry permit requires only minimal training.
"As much as you have a right to bear arms, people who send their children to school have every right to decide who they want to be their children's protectors," Nicholas said, adding they may want them protected by certified police officers.
Opponents of adopting the substitute bill said criminals are keenly aware that schools are gun-free zones, and that they commonly spend months plotting spree killings to take out the highest number of victims possible.
Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, said the reaction of most people who find themselves facing a killer who's shooting up a public place is to cower, hide or try to run away. But he said the best response is to try to fight back. And if a person has a gun, he said they should use it to try to stop the carnage, even if they're not the best marksman.
"We can't put enough policemen in our classrooms," Case said. He said the state can't afford enough school resource officers to achieve safety.
"Why do you think that mass shootings occur in gun-free zones? It's pretty obvious, isn't it," Case said.
Several neighboring states allow concealed carry on college campuses.
Concealed carry is allowed on the campuses of public colleges and universities in Colorado, Idaho and Utah. The non-partisan National Conference of State Legislatures states that Montana and South Dakota leave it up to each college or university to decide whether to allow concealed carry on campus.
Sen. Curt Meier, R-LaGrange, noted that Utah has allowed teachers in its elementary and high schools to carry concealed weapons for year. "There's been no blood in the streets," he said.
Meier pointed out that the 2012 shooting in Aurora, Colo., a gunman killed 12 victims and wounded scores of others.
"Potentially, where you get the benefit of this is not when you go in and you're going to have an altercation with a madman," Meier said of the concealed carry approach. "Where you get the benefit of this is the madman knows he could have an altercation, and doesn't show up in the first place."
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