HB 113

CHEYENNE -- The Wyoming House of Representatives on Monday passed legislation under which a permit would no longer be required to carry a concealed weapon in Wyoming.

If passed, Wyoming would become the third state, after Alaska and Vermont, to allow conceal-carry without a permit.

The bill, House Bill 113, passed 42-15. It now advances to the Senate, where it will be taken up as soon as the end of the week. But although the bill has Senate sponsors, Senate Majority Leader Jim Anderson, R-Glenrock, said the proposal will "probably be received with more scrutiny on the Senate side" than in the House.

Under the bill, anyone who meets the current requirements to obtain a concealed-weapons permit from the state would be allowed to carry a concealed weapon -- except that proof of firearms training would no longer be required.

If the legislation passes, Wyoming would still issue concealed-weapons permits to residents, as such permits are needed for Wyoming residents to carry a concealed weapon in several other states.

State Rep. Lorraine Quarberg, the Thermopolis Republican who sponsored the bill, said the legislation asserts Wyoming residents' Second Amendment right to bear arms.

"It's sad when law-abiding citizens have to get permission -- have to get permission, have to get the permit -- from the government," Quarberg said. "There's just something inherently wrong with that whole philosophy of the role the government should play in our lives."

Opponents said that the permit system helps weed out those who shouldn't be carrying concealed weapons. Law-abiding citizens, they said, have few problems being able to get a concealed weapons permit under the current system.

Anderson said following concerns expressed by law enforcement officials and others, there will likely be attempts in the Senate to restore some firearms training requirements and lengthen the six-month residency requirement in the bill. Senators will also likely try to merge HB113 with a second concealed-weapons bill in the Senate that attempts to clarify Wyoming law dealing with reciprocity with other states, he said.

If those issues are addressed, and the two bills are merged, "we'll come forth with something that will be acceptable," Anderson said.

Contact capital bureau reporter Jeremy Pelzer at 307-632-1244 or jeremy.pelzer@trib.com. Read more about Wyoming politics and government at

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Constitutional Carry appears to be dead. The switchboard operator for the Senate in Cheyenne says the bill did not make it out of committee. Here are the names of the senators in the Judiciary comm. that the bill was assigned to. Tony Ross R- Cheyenne. ( I believe he was a co-sponsor of the bill) Bruce Berns R- Sheridan, Saundra Meyer D- Evanston, Drew Perkins R- Casper, Kathryn Sessions D- Cheyenne. I think we need to do two things in respsonse to this bill being killed. First we need to contact these senators and find out which ones were responsible for the bill not getting out of committee and then help them OUT of office. Second we need to respond with Open Carry whenever we can as an exercise of our rights. A strong showing of Bearing Arms is going to be necessary to maintain our freedom in Wyoming. We need to put the legislators on notice that they work for us. The bill overwhelmingly passed out of the House. It shows very strong support by the people. Yet it was not even allowed out oc committee. We need to stay involved to keep the legislators feet to the fire.

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