Since his first election in 2010 Governor Matt Mead has worked to make Wyoming a “gun-friendly state”, but after the recent State House approval of House Bill 114 Wyoming may become just a bit too “gun-friendly” for comfort. House Bill 114 – also known as the Wyoming Repeal Gun Free Zone Act – would allow guns to be carried on public K-12, college, and university campuses as long as the carrier has a concealed weapons carry permit. Legal permit carriers would be able to carry at sporting and other events put on by public schools.

House Bill 114 was approved by the State House with a 42-17 vote of approval, and is currently being considered by the State Senate. Those in favor of the bill claim that having guns on campuses would deter potential school shooters and protect students if a gun is actually drawn by firing back and stopping the gunman. The only ones eligible to carry a gun on public school campuses would be those that can legally hold a concealed weapons carry permit, so K-12 students would not be permitted to bring guns to school because the legal permit age is 21.

Lyman representative Allen Jaggi (R), said in an interview with the Casper Star Tribune, “(This bill) gives the bad guys, who don’t care what the laws are, something to think about as they go in. I would like to tell you that most of the bad shootings – just about every bad shooting – have been in a gun-free zone.” While Jaggi is not wrong in the fact that all school shootings committed since 1980 with a firearm in Wyoming have taken place in gun-free zone. In reality there have only been two school shootings in Wyoming since 1980, He also fails to mention that those two school shootings both were committed by adults rather than students.

In 1986 Doris and David Young entered Cokeville Elementary school in Cokeville, Wyoming and took 150 students and teachers hostage. The Youngs demanded a $300 million ransom, but Doris accidentally set off a bomb, killing herself and injuring 78 others, before David injured a man who was attempting to flee then committed suicide. Seven years later, 29-year-old Kevin Newman entered Sheridan Central Junior High and opened fire, wounding four students before committing suicide.

Wyoming takes pride in its “western” views on life. The ever-present, rootin’-tootin’; pistol-packing cowboy is part of the Wyoming culture. Many believe than an armed society is a safer society, but recent Wyoming history doesn’t support this view. Two school shootings in 35 years doesn’t scream of a state of emergency. Inviting guns into the classroom will cause more concern than cure.