Gun rights bill passes Senate

by Carrie Haderlie

Wyoming Tribune Eagle

Via Wyoming News

Exchange

CHEYENNE — A large group of law enforcement officials and lawmakers gathered at the Capitol last Thursday morning to show support for a bill that would prohibit the enforcement of federal regulation of firearms by state officials.

Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs and the primary sponsor of Senate File 102, “Second Amendment Protection Act,” said he was humbled to stand with fellow members of the Legislature, gun owners, and Wyoming’s sheriffs and chiefs of police during a news conference about the proposed legislation.

“We all know Wyoming has the highest percentage of gun ownership in the nation,” Hicks said, continuing that if the federal government pursues actions that are “inconsistent with the values and infringe on our citizens’ Second Amendment rights, we intend to honor our 10th Amendment right” to preserve states’ rights, or residents’ right to gun ownership.

“We absolutely support the Second Amendment of the Constitution,” Rock Springs Police Chief Dwane Pacheco said. “And we will oppose … enforcing anything that infringes on the Second Amendment.”

He continued that his “brothers in blue, brown and green” support the bill.

Sheridan County Sheriff and Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police President Allen Thompson called the bill a collaborative effort that took months of work.

“It is great to see the approach to supporting and defending the Second Amendment,” Thompson said. “Your sheriffs and chiefs across the state work every day to uphold the Constitution, and to make sure we are protecting the rights of individuals all across the state. This is another way for us to show that we are here to support especially the Second Amendment.”

Advocates say the legislation would protect Wyomingites from an overreach of the federal government when it comes to the Second Amendment, while also allowing law enforcement to do their job enforcing laws.

“We want the law enforcement to be able to catch criminals, and we want law-abiding citizens in Wyoming to have their firearms,” said Mark Jones with Gun Owners of America.

But concerns surfaced this week over the impact the proposed legislation could have on domestic violence survivors. Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Public Policy Director Tara Muir asked the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday to think about the ramifications the bill could have on law enforcement’s ability to remove firearms when someone is convicted of domestic violence.

“We would be remiss if we did not remind the committee that the only people hurt when firearms are not confiscated pursuant to two specific federal laws are victims of domestic violence, and, of course, those contemplating suicide,” Muir said.

Two federal laws, she said, state that a defendant in a qualifying protection order, or someone convicted of a crime of domestic violence, shall not possess a firearm.

“Clearly, these are federal laws, and they have clearly been ruled constitutional, for now,” Muir said Tuesday.

Access to a gun in a domestic violence situation makes it five times more likely that a woman will be killed, Muir told the committee. Muir asked the committee to consider making clear in the legislation those two exceptions: That for those reasons, law enforcement in Wyoming could confiscate a firearm.

When asked about the issue during the press conference Thursday, Hicks said those concerns had been addressed by an amendment to the bill. Since Monday, lawmakers have added two provisions saying that “nothing in the act will prohibit either our state or our federal law enforcement from working together for enforcement regarding domestic violence or abuse,” Hicks said.

“We brought that in as a standing committee amendment to address that very issue,” Hicks said. “We provided those protections in the bill. We will continue to have the ability to enforce both federal and state law associated with domestic violence or abuse.”

Muir said the amendments were a start.

“At this moment, with the amendment, and the words that the bringer of the bill and law enforcement have said to date, we feel OK that they will enforce the federal laws as they relate to domestic violence victims,” she said Thursday. “But it will be up to citizens to make sure that local law enforcement do confiscate those weapons when they are supposed to.”

Perhaps, she continued, the bill and its amendments will make the responsibility law enforcement has to ensure that convicted abusers should not possess firearms even more clear.

“Now, we’ve got more clarity that they should (confiscate those firearms),” Muir said. “That is the hope.”

On Monday, the bill passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, in a 4-0 vote. It has since been approved on third reading in a 22-8 vote by the Senate, and will head to the House next. Several supporters of the bill spoke at the meeting, but Jackson resident Liz Prax said she was not allowed to speak against the legislation.

“I know a lot of people who oppose this bill, including other gun owners,” Prax said. “Hunting is a big part of our heritage. We hunt and eat elk, deer and antelope. We own many guns, including an AR-15 that my husband shoots in competition. I am totally fine with people using guns for those reasons.”

But the gun violence epidemic is also real, she continued, and it is proven “without a doubt that where there are stronger gun laws, there is less gun violence,” she said.

There was almost no discussion in the committee about the state’s gun violence rate. Wyoming has the sixth-highest per-capita rate of gun deaths in the U.S., according to EveryStat.

“Our state Legislature should make passing strong protections to prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands their top priority,” Prax said. “We need to prove to the general public that we’re taking our state’s terrible gun death rate seriously. Until then, bills like SF 102 give gun owners like us a bad name.”

Prax said in an interview with the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that she tried to testify during the committee meeting via Zoom on Monday, but was not given a chance to speak. She has spoken in front of legislative committees before, and said the process is usually such that the chairperson gives individual people a time limit for testimony.

”Once this started, that didn’t seem to be happening, so I raised my hand on Zoom. … and still nobody called on me. I was really disappointed. It seemed that all but one of the people allowed to speak were in support of the bill,” Prax said.

She said the chairperson has been “very fair” in the past, and that she did not want to make assumptions about the meeting process. However, as Nethercott is also a sponsor of SF 102, Prax said she was concerned.

In an email to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Nethercott said there is no restriction on who may testify, but that, generally, the only restriction is time, and that was the case on the gun bill.

“During a budget session, there is very limited time, and it is simply not possible to hear from every single person that may want to testify,” she said. “I do try and get to all individuals, as I value all public comment. I generally have no knowledge what people will testify to before public comment, nor do I prescreen public comment. I certainly did not do that on Monday, and am disappointed and deny this allegation.”

Hicks said Thursday, in response to concerns that people opposed to the bill have not been heard, that SF 102 has gone through all the steps necessary during the public process.

“We have had public meetings and taken public input through this process,” Hicks said. “It is a long, arduous process to introduce a bill, particularly in a budget session, and to get it across the finish line. There has been more than ample opportunity (for public comment).”

Beth Howard of Cheyenne, legislative lead for Wyoming Moms Demand Action, said she registered for the Zoom link in advance to testify at the meeting and raised her hand on Zoom when the committee moved on to address SF 102. She did not get the chance to testify.

“Honestly, this was the most disturbing part. I have been doing advocacy work and testifying for five years now, and the way in which this meeting was conducted was a complete departure from the past,” Howard said.

There may be a reason for the change in process, but Howard said she was not aware of it. People on both sides of the debate appeared upset, she said. She proceeded by sending her testimony as written remarks to the committee members.

“We had volunteers from across the state who registered online and were prepared to testify on their own behalf. We had a volunteer in the hearing room who had driven over from Laramie to testify on her own behalf. She raised her hand several times and moved to the front row. There were five of us preparing to testify, I believe, and none of us were able to speak,” Howard said.

She has also since learned, she said, that there is a backstory.

“This appears to have become a huge battle within the Republican Party, primarily because of the failure to introduce SF 87 on the Senate floor and the failure to introduce its mirror bill in the House,” she said. Subsequent upset has taken place when “the Wyoming Gun Owners, other legislators and the public are verbally attacking” Nethercott and Hicks, she said.

“This is also a devolution of democracy. There are winners and losers in politics, and making it ugly and personal is not useful and harms the process,” Howard said.

SF 87 has been backed by Aaron Dorr, who is not a Wyoming resident, but identifies himself as a “strident and unyielding advocacy for unfettered access to guns.” In a post on Dorr’s website, he also said he was not allowed to testify Monday.

Howard said she does not have a dog in the fight within the Republican Party, but simply wanted to advocate for safer gun laws in Wyoming.

“There are no federal laws, current or pending, that infringe on a Wyomingite’s freedom to own or use a firearm, though I’ve heard a good deal of speculation about such proposals in previous testimony,” Howard said.

For Wyoming’s 582,233 residents, there are 132,806 registered firearms.

“This bill will cause confusion and undermine the rule of law. It will encourage extremists to not enforce federal laws that they personally disagree with, and, further, it may cause violent criminals and other people legally prohibited from having guns to violate the law,” Howard said.