• UW is asking for input on allowing firearms on campus following the governor’s directive earlier this year. Currently, guns aren’t allowed in university buildings without permission.

 

By Madelyn Beck, WyoFile.com

Students at the University of Wyoming may eventually be able to discreetly pack heat as leaders consider allowing concealed carry on campus. 

The university on Friday invited “students, faculty, staff and the public” to provide feedback on the idea via an online form or at the Sept. 26 trustee meeting. 

Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed legislation this year that would’ve required that concealed carry be allowed at most facilities overseen by the state, including grade schools and the university, reasoning it violated the state constitution’s guaranteed separation of powers. 

“If enacted, House Enrolled Act No. 49 would require every one of our unique state facilities, such as the University of Wyoming, Wyoming State Hospital, or the Wyoming Boys School, to receive legislative approval to restrict carrying firearms, or even to set policies as practical as proper weapon storage,” he said. 

However, in his veto letter to the secretary of state, Gordon also wrote, “This is not a veto of the notion of repealing gun free zones, it is a request to approach this topic more transparently.”

“With the authority already in place to address this issue at a local level, I call on school districts, community colleges, and the University to take up these difficult conversations again and establish policies that allow for the safe carry of concealed weapons within their facilities,” he wrote. “It is one thing to have had the conversation – as four school districts in the state have done – to allow for trained employees to carry on campus or others who have decided on hiring additional school safety officers; and yet another to avoid the topic altogether.”

This directive spawned the conversation now being led by UW, according to a school press release. 

The announcement comes on the heels of a separate public meeting that examined the possibility of concealed carry at the Wyoming Capitol and attached extension facilities. That meeting, also headed by Gordon, didn’t attract much in-person participation, but the public can still comment through an online form. 

Further discussions about allowing concealed carry at the Capitol are planned for the Joint Judiciary Meeting on Sept. 19, which will be streamed virtually.

The legality of the university’s gun rules has come up for debate before. In 2018, a man brought a gun onto campus to purposefully challenge the school’s restrictions on gun possession. He ultimately lost his case, with a state judge concluding UW can craft its own regulations to prohibit guns on campus, the Associated Press reported in 2020.

To participate in the UW Board of Trustees meeting on Sept. 26, the UW press release urged commenters to arrive early, put their name on a sign-in sheet and know that comments are limited to three minutes per person, subject to the chairman’s discretion. That’ll be at the Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center in Laramie.

WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.