By Andrew Graham, WyoFile.com

Starting Tuesday, Wyomingites will be allowed to carry guns into state government buildings, with some exceptions including courthouses and law enforcement facilities.

On June 17, the Wyoming State Building Commission — composed of the governor, treasurer, state auditor, secretary of state and superintendent of public education — adopted rules allowing concealed carry in most state government buildings in preparation for a new law that takes effect Tuesday repealing “gun-free” zones in government buildings.

The new rules mark a major expansion of where citizens can carry firearms as they conduct business with their government. That expansion comes at the behest of the Legislature and over the objections of Gov. Mark Gordon, who sought to implement concealed carry into Wyoming’s state buildings through a rule-making process overseen by the building commission. But lawmakers passed their repeal bill with a veto-proof majority this year. Gordon nixed a previous version in 2024.

The Legislature’s drive to open state government buildings to armed citizens coincides with concerns about increased political violence in America. Earlier this month, a man assassinated a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband and nearly killed another lawmaker and his partner. That violence came on the heels of an arson attack on Pennsylvania’s governor, and months after a campaign season in which two people tried to assassinate President Donald Trump. 

Lawmakers who pushed for the concealed carry bill, which passed the Senate with a 25-6 vote and the House with a 50-10 vote, believe allowing citizens to go armed and defend themselves is the antidote to such violence. Opponents fear more guns in more places will lead to more deaths and injuries, both accidental and deliberate.

This winter, public areas of the Wyoming State Capitol were opened to concealed carry. You do not need a permit to concealed carry a lawfully purchased firearm in the Equality State.

Separately, the Wyoming Department of Administration and Information issued a new policy allowing state employees to concealed carry but required them to store firearms in a locked box when it is not on their person.

That policy does not require employees to have taken gun safety or active shooter courses, though it says they are “strongly encouraged” to do so. 

Exceptions to the new rules include the Wyoming Judiciary, where bailiffs go armed but members of the public are forbidden to carry weapons into courtrooms. The public is also not allowed to carry firearms into facilities primarily used by law enforcement, including jails, prisons and agency offices like those of the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation. 

Concealed carry will also remain prohibited in treatment facilities operated by the health department and field offices of the Wyoming Department of Family Services. Those exceptions were all included in the Legislature’s repeal bill. 

Around the state, Wyoming school boards have struggled to write new policies to conform with the law, which also forced the allowance of concealed carry in public schools. That response on a local level has highlighted the political differences between counties, WyoFile reported in collaboration with news outlets around the state.

The process for state government has been more subdued. The State Building Commission’s emergency meeting to adopt the new rules featured only one public commenter, who brought to officials a concern about a piece of wording in the law he thought violated legislative intent. The Wyoming Public Employee Association, which represents state workers across different agencies, didn’t take a position, Executive Director Betty Jo Beardsley told WyoFile.

Her members fall on both sides of the debate about whether gun-free zones are safer or targets for people who want to do harm, she said.

The emergency rules may only last until July 9, Wyoming State Building Commission Secretary Suzanne Nelson told WyoFile in an interview Wednesday. On that day, the five elected officials are scheduled to meet again and are likely to adopt permanent rules that echo the emergency rules going into effect Tuesday. 

Though lawmakers had given the executive branch 30 days to implement rules after the law went into effect, Nelson said officials wanted to have rules in place when the law took effect.  

Posted signs of a “no” symbol over the silhouette of a handgun will indicate those buildings or spaces within buildings where concealed carry is prohibited, Nelson said.

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