Wyoming House Committee Voted Down Two Efforts to Protect Your Second Amendment Rights

On Friday, February 3, 2023, the Wyoming House Appropriations Committee TWICE voted against your Second Amendment Rights!

In what may be the most egregious act, the Appropriations Committee voted down THE STOP RED FLAGS ACT – HB0250, sponsored by Representative Mark Jennings [R] from Sheridan County. This bill would have prohibited the implementation and enforcement of Red Flag Laws in Wyoming and stopped Biden’s money from coming to the Cowboy State for these efforts.

Red flag laws allow unproven accusations to be used to take your firearms without giving you a chance to defend yourself and without “Due Process” protections commonly accepted as paramount to our American system of justice.

In June of 2022, the Biden Administration made massive amounts of funds available to the states to implement and enforce Red Flag Laws, and Wyoming’s House Appropriations Committee clearly was unwilling to do anything to stop this gun control and protect law-abiding Wyoming citizens.

As if this act alone doesn’t tell you what the House Appropriations Committee thinks about your Second Amendment Rights, just prior to killing the Stop Red Flags Act, the Committee voted down a bill to repeal many of Wyoming’s remaining gun free zones.

HB0105, sponsored by Representative Haroldson [R] from Laramie and Platte Counties, would have repealed firearms restrictions in many places currently off limits to firearms, including many government buildings, the Capital Building and Legislative Meetings, public schools, and colleges and Universities. Private property owners would have retained their ability to restrict firearms on their own property under this proposed law.

HB0105 would have removed unconstitutional restrictions placed on Cowboy State residents and brought Wyoming law closer to the law in many neighboring states that allow variations of these practices. 

Consider that five neighboring states and 21 total states allow Capital Carry. Furthermore, the states of Utah and Kansas as well as Colorado State University allow concealed carry holders to carry firearms on school grounds. Despite numerous examples of nearby states repealing these unconstitutional restrictions, the Wyoming House Appropriations Committee refused to advance this bill to the House floor for a vote by the entire House.

Below is a list of the Wyoming House Appropriations members and how they voted on each of the two bills. Representative Clark Stith [R] from Sweetwater County is the only member of the House Appropriations Committee that voted to support both bills and protect and advance your Second Amendment Rights.

HB0105 (Repeal Gun-free Zones). Representative Sherwood [D] from Albany County made the motion to “Do Not Pass”. Therefore, an “Aye” vote was a vote to kill the bill, and a “Nay” vote was a vote to support the bill.

Representatives who voted anti-gun with an “Aye” Vote were: Representative Lloyd Larsen [R] Fremont County, Representative Tom Walters [R] Natrona County, Representative David Zwonitzer [R] Laramie County, Representative Bob Nicholas [R] Laramie County.

Those who voted pro-gun by opposing the “Do Not Pass” motion were: Representative Bill Henderson [R] Laramie County and Representative Clark Stith [R] Sweetwater County.

Representative Sherwood also voted against her own motion, but this is a common ploy. Representatives often work to seek one outcome, then they vote the opposite way if they know their desired outcome is secure. They can go home and tell their constituents they voted the right way! By making the motion to kill the bill, Representative Sherwood was obviously working against it!

So, effectively, everyone on the House Appropriations Committee, except Representatives Henderson and Stith, worked or voted to kill HB0105.

HB0250 (Stop Red Flags Act). If you look at the Wyoming House website, you will see that the Stop Red Flags Act “died in Committee Returned Bill Pursuant to HR5-4.” This flowery language is trying to hide the truth. As video of the Committee Hearing shows, five of the seven Committee members were openly hostile to the concept of “stopping red flag laws” and worked or voted to kill the bill.

On a positive note, Representative Stith [R] from Sweetwater County made a motion to “Do Pass” the bill.

Pro-gun supporters of “Do Pass” with an “Aye” Vote were: Representative Lloyd Larden [R] Fremont County and Representative Stith [R] Sweetwater County.

Those who voted anti-gun by opposing the motion to pass the bill were: Representative Tom Walters [R] Natrona County, Representative David Zwonitzer [R] Laramie County, Representative Bob Nicholas [R] Laramie County, Representative Bill Henderson [R] Laramie County, and Representative Trey Sherwood [D] Albany County.

The only member of the House Appropriations Committee that voted to support your Second Amendment Rights on both HB0105 and HB0250 was Representative Clark Stith [R] of Sweetwater County.

The following Representatives opposed BOTH BILLS: Representative Tom Walters [R] Natrona County, Representative David Zwonitzer [R] Laramie County, Representative Bob Nicholas [R] Laramie County, and Representative Trey Sherwood [D] Albany County.

It is a sad commentary about the Wyoming House that a sitting Committee would demonstrate such disdain for Second Amendment Rights in the Cowboy State. The House Appropriations Committee failed to give the full House a chance to have a hearing and vote to bring Wyoming “Gun-free” zones more in line with neighboring states. More importantly, the Committee failed to protect the law-abiding firearms owners of Wyoming from federal over-reach and the almighty federal dollars available for red flag gun confiscation orders!

Please contact the House Appropriations Committee now by clicking here. We have provided a pre-written message to let your Appropriations Committee members know how you feel about their actions in regard to HB0105 and HB0250.

More Second Amendment legislation may come before this Committee before the 2023 Legislative session is over. Time is critical, so please act now to let this Committee know how you feel and to protect your rights!

Contact the House Appropriations Committee to Express Disapproval!

P.S. Please contact the House Appropriations Committee members now by clicking this link. Also, please be watching for updates on these and other bills in the coming days, and be on the lookout for information about other important GOA efforts to protect or advance your Second Amendment Rights!