A school district in east-central Wyoming could become the latest in the state to allow employees to conceal carry firearms.
Residents can comment on a proposed rule that would allow some teachers to carry firearms concealed, on which the Converse County School District 1 is scheduled to vote in October.
The proposed rule would allow district employees who pass a training and mental health examination — along with other rigorous requirements — to carry firearms concealed on school grounds.
The rule outlines an application process, training, tenure, qualification and mental health exam requirements, drug and alcohol testing, secure-carry or secure-storage requirements and investigative procedures to follow any discharge of the weapon.
The policy is similar to those in other Wyoming school districts that have concealed carry for employees, including in Uinta, Fremont, Park and Campbell counties.
It’s been a couple years in the making, Converse County School Board Chair Shane Stinson told Cowboy State Daily on Monday.
“At one of our school board meetings we had some community members ask us to look into this to see if it was something we’d be able to do,” said Stinson.
The board formed a conceal carry committee made up of staffers, school board members, law enforcement agents and other local residents, which formed the outline and turned it over to the board’s policy committee.
Now the rule is before the school board on a public comment phase, with a vote scheduled for Oct. 8.
Douglas-area residents already voiced their thoughts at the first of two public forums Aug. 28.
“It went well,” said Stinson. “We didn’t have as many people as we were hoping, probably 25 in attendance.”
Of those, about six or eight people spoke and asked questions. Most stood in favor of the rule and no one spoke altogether against it, and some people voiced concerns that the board is now considering, such as what sort of counseling and investigation to furnish after a weapon discharge, Stinson said.
The next public forum is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Douglas High School auditorium.
Stinson said he hopes for a significant turnout so the board can work through the community’s concerns.
“We are sincerely, honestly — we’re just trying to gather opinions and information. That’s what our two community forums are about,” said Stinson. “We’re trying to understand what our community wants.”
Maybe Won’t Need That Law
Stinson offered another thought on the proposed rule: If enough Wyoming school districts pass something like it, perhaps the state Legislature will stop trying to repeal gun-free zones at schools altogether.
House Bill 125, which Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed, was a 2024 bill that would have repealed gun-free zones in schools statewide.
While the bill would have allowed districts still to govern their own employees’ carry requirements generally, it wouldn’t have let them regulate parents or others carrying concealed on campus.
One issue with the bill was that it would have stripped school boards of their local control over the issue, said Stinson.
“We hope if enough districts are doing something like (this); then (the Legislature) won’t have to bring that bill back around, or they won’t see the need,” he said. “Because we’d like to control who can carry or not in our schools. We like that local control instead of that being mandated or dictated to us.”
Teacher’s Group, Different Thinking
The Wyoming Education Association (WEA), a support and policy group for teachers and schools, opposed HB 125 during its legislative discussions. However, its argument against the bill did not focus only on local control, but on the concept of guns in school altogether.
“To be clear, the vast majority of our teachers do not want guns in our schools,” Tate Mullen, WEA government relations director, said at the time. “If you wish to debate this bill as a means to extend freedom, please recognize that comes at the expense of the security and safety for some of our most vulnerable Wyoming citizens.”
Neither WEA’s executive director nor president responded by publication time to voicemails requesting additional comment. Mullen was not in the office Monday, a staffer said.
Hey Lander, How’s It Going?
School districts in Lander, Evanston, Cody and Gillette already have conceal-carry rules in place.
In Lander, Fremont County School District No. 1 passed its rule five years ago.
It’s going well, Board Vice-Chair Scott Jensen told Cowboy State Daily on Monday.
“We have staff that are concealed-carrying now, there have been zero incidents (such as) people might have been concerned about when the policy was being debated,” he said. For example, teachers haven’t had accidental discharges or mental health outbursts.
No one likes that school shootings have reached a frequency at which arming teachers is even contemplated, added Jensen.
“(School shootings) are a terrible blight on our country, the causes of which are myriad,” he said, adding that the staffers who’ve become carry-authorized probably aren’t happy with the thought of having to defend the school – but at the same time, “I can’t imagine anything worse than finding yourself in a situation where your school is actively under this sort of attack, and being helpless to stop it when you know you were capable of doing so – if you’d just been provided the one tool necessary.”
In Gillette, The Hybrid
Campbell County School District 1 also has had an employee conceal-carry rule for about five years, but it’s a hybrid rule. The school board opted at that time to beef up police security at the more populous schools, such as in Gillette and Wright, while allowing conceal-carry at the more rural schools, such as in Recluse or Little Powder.
Board Chair Anne Ochs said the policy has been going well. She considers its hybrid nature an example of the community coming to a compromise.
“There are people that feel strongly on both sides,” she said, adding that the policy itself is “extensive” in its requirements.
Extensive
Converse County School District 1’s proposed rule is extensive so far as well.
Here are its provisions:
• Employee must possess a concealed carry permit, timely renewed.
• He shall be an employee for at least three continuous years – with some exceptions possible at the board’s discretion.
• He shall complete an initial training course with no fewer than 40 hours’ life fire handgun training, 16 hours’ scenario-based training using nonlethal methods, guns, and ammo designed for active shooter situations, hostage situations, and situations with armed students presenting a threat to themselves or others – plus life-saving medical care training for gunshot victims.
• He shall provide documentation of recurrent training, of not fewer than 12 hours every six months with a board-approved instructor.
• He shall submit to a psychological suitability exam by a board-chosen examiner. He may have to submit to subsequent exams.
• The employee shall consent to drug and alcohol testing, which could include random testing.
• The school will pay for a concealed biometric container or lock box, ammunition, training, the psychological exam, and the drug and alcohol testing – while the employee will buy the gun and holster and pay for any other expenses.
• The employee has no authority to carry the gun on school district business that isn’t on the district’s property.
• The employee must keep the gun on his person at all times or in a concealed, locked, biometric container or lock box within his direct control at all times.
• Employees will disclose to their administrators any circumstance that would reasonably reflect on their competence to carry guns at school, including citations and arrests for crimes other than parking or minor traffic violations. They also must disclose any incident resulting in contact with law enforcement, and the use of any medication or substance that could impair his judgment, plus any medical, mental or other condition that could impair or interfere with his ability to bring a deadly weapon responsibly onto school property.
• The employee must only brandish the gun if his life or others’ are in imminent danger of death or serious injury.
• The board can revoke his authorization at any time without notice.
• If the employe fires or brandishes the gun for any reason, he’ll be placed immediately on paid administrative leave pending an investigation. The district will require a fit-for-duty exam taken and passed prior to his resuming his duty; the board will require the employee to follow any recommendations resulting from that district-funded exam. The board then will have to reapprove his carry authorization.
• The superintendent will let the parents know if the rule passes. The superintendent will also tell law enforcement agencies in the region, and school building superintendents, which employees are authorized to carry.
• An authorized employee who doesn’t comply with the policy will be disciplined and could be fired.
The policy also says it should not be construed to conflict with any state or federal law. For example, a convicted felon could not carry under federal law, unless he’s had his rights restored.
Clair McFarland can be reached at [email protected].
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