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CHEYENNE A bill to allow school district employees to have firearms on school property passed a final hurdle before heading to the governors desk.

House Bill 194 passed third reading in the House Feb. 1 on a 46-14 vote. It was passed in the Senate 28-2 on third reading Feb. 27 with amendments. On Tuesday, the House concurred with the Senates version on a 57-3 vote and the House Speaker signed Enrolled Act 93 Wednesday.

According to the bill, The board of trustees in each school district may adopt rules and regulations, in consultation with local law enforcement, to allow the possession of firearms by employees possessing a valid concealed carry permit under W.S. 6-8-104 on or in any property or facility owned or leased by the school district.

The employee must carry the firearm on his/her person at all times or in a concealed biometric container or lock box.

The district must also establish ongoing training requirements and the employees must pass an initial training course.

The district must notify law enforcement agencies in the area of the names of the employees. The names are to be kept confidential and are not part of the public record.

All area legislators voted in favor of the bill, which was co-sponsored by Rep. Mike Greear (R-Worland and Rep. Nathan Winters (R-Thermopolis). Also in favor were Senators Wyatt Agar (R-Thermpolis) and Ray Peterson (R-Cowley) and Rep. Jamie Flitner (R-Greybull).

In an interview earlier this week, Agar said, This is a complete local control issue. This bill is geared toward school districts such as Burlington or Meeteetse who do not have a school resource officer in the building.

He said he spoke with Jay Curtis from the Meeteetse school district and was told the turnaround time, if they have an incident, for law enforcement to arrive is 45 minutes.

A lot can happen in 45 minutes, Agar said.

He added, This simply gives the administrators and the school board the ability to choose whether they want to arm a teacher in the building and then have control over the training and regulations that they will make the teacher go through before they arm them.

Its a local control bill that just sends it back to the local school board and the administrators at the school, Agar said.

He said he did support the bill because I have school districts that are completely unprotected if something were to happen.

WYOMING REPEAL GUN FREE ZONES ACT

Regarding House Bill 137, the Wyoming Repeal Gun Free Zones Act, which is headed to a joint conference committee, will allow concealed carry firearms in government meetings. The bill specifically allows a concealed carry weapon in any meeting of a government entity on public property, any meeting of the Legislature.

Absolutely its a Second Amendment issue. We heard a lot of testimony on it. My takeaway is I trust my people in my local government entities such as our county commissioners. Washakie County Commissioners Fred Frandson and Terry Wolf, those individuals, I trust them completely to be armed themselves if they feel they need it. But No. 2, I trust that they are extremely good at their jobs. Theyre not going to let a meeting escalate to the point where you have to worry about arms in the building.

When we read our state constitution and we read our U.S. Constitution, its very clear on Second Amendment rights, he added.

Worland Mayor Jim Gill said the citys position on HB137 is that Worland supports the Wyoming Association of Municipalities position that it should be a local control issue.

It would have been nice to have local control, he said.

He added, however, Im like so many people in Wyoming. Im a real advocate for the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms. I guess at some point you have to have faith in our local legislative unit to make decisions that fit the state, not just Washakie County. It kind of looks like the direction theyre heading is that it will be the state that will determine that.

Gill said, I dont think it will be a major issue here. I hope it doesnt. He said the five years as a council member and his short time as mayor there hasnt been any issues at a meeting. He noted that Chief of Police Gabe Elliott does attend all council meetings.

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School safety and Second Amendment rights prompt Agar to support gun bills - Northern Wyoming Daily News Worland Wyoming